For the entirety of Fellowship, Frodo is our avatar. We know only what he knows - rarely are we let in on the thoughts of other characters. This allows the story of unfold slowly. Unless the reader has already read the text, the reader would know as little as Frodo about the Outside World. It's why we fear the Black Riders and the Old Forest and the Balrog. The book is driven upon fear of the unknown. Of course, if one has already read the text (Or read the appendices, or watched the films), one will know a great deal more about Middle Earth than Frodo - but the book is clearly designed that we can sympathize with Frodo's ignorance. "It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door... There's no knowing where you might be swept off to." Such is our fate, as well. And such is the book structured. There is a mystery in almost every chapter - uncertainty is ever present.
When The Two Towers begins, The Hunters have become our guide. We're not given insight into their thoughts, as we were with Frodo. We know only what they say and do. The text doesn't even focus on one of the three - it follows the three of them as one group.
This week's chapters shifts the perspective yet again. "The Uruk-Hai" and "Treebeard" bring us back to the Hobbits - specifically to Pippin. And here we are brought into his thoughts. His memory of how he was captured (The only time when we hear, in any detail, what happened to Boromir), his concern over what the orcs want with him, etc. We return again to the potential fear off the unknown. Pippin knows maybe less than Frodo, judging from his past actions. It would be strange to be guided by one so ignorant.
But there is one difference. We have met Eomer, who has told us that he and his Eorling met and destroyed the orcs. The hunters find the battle field and "Searched far and wide about the field of battle...By nightfall they had found no trace of Merry and Pippin." We know how this ends. The mystery, then, is what happens to the hobbits. They are either dead among the wreckage, yet to be found (Many bodies were burned by the time the hunters got there - it is plausible that they were among the first to be burned, and thus their bodies would not be recognizable), or they had escaped. But surely Aragorn would have found tracks...
But we know the fate of the orcs - they will die. It takes a lot of the suspense out of the story. In fact, it makes them look incredibly foolish. We see the orcs argue amongst themselves (Some are Saruman's, some are Sauron's, some are out of Moria) - they cannot get along. Since they will all die soon, it is all quite futile.
It also removes a lot of the mystery. Pippin is in a new world. "All that he could remember about Rohan was that Gandalf's horse, Shadowfax, had come from that land." The orcs threaten him, "The Whiteskins will catch you and eat you!" Without the previous chapter, this is basically all we know of the Rohirrim.
Particularly mindful readers will remember other things: The rumors that Rohan pays tribute to Mordor, and that, when Gandalf rode out with Shadowfax, the King of Rohan was displeased by this. With the chapter, Pippin is a character, but not our avatar. We know far more than he does, and the text is weaker for it. Without the previous chapter, it is unclear whose side they are on. Since the Orcs are arguing over the Hobbits (It is evident that whoever returns the Hobbits to their boss is in for a big reward), it is possible the Whiteskins are similarly motivated.
The suspense is in the earlier chapter - what has happened to the Hobbits? Eomer says they killed everyone, and found no bodies that were not orcs. The hunters find the battlefield, but no sign of their companions. Do we believe the Creative Wizard will kill another pair of characters? Is the suspense real?
I don't think so. It would be unfathomably dark for Merry and Pippin to die without a trace. While it's possible to read "The Uruk-Hai" under the constant fear Merry and Pippin might die, that seems more like an active effort on the reader's part to worry than any work of the Creative Wizard. This is the first chapter with any sort of "rewind," that is: it begins sometime during "The Departure of Boromir." The text is no longer being written consecutively. It would seem unusual, then, for the text to rewind just to show us their deaths, when so many other major events have been shown through the eyes of observers (or told second hand). They are not found at the battlefield. They must have escaped - but when? The suspense is ever-optimistic.
Now we begin to delve into story-writing tricks. Presenting the chapters in this way makes "The Uruk-Hai" a fundamentally optimistic chapter. But imagine the chapters were switched.
Let's pretend we had not met Eomer yet. The Whiteskins could be a viable threat. There are three competing parties for the hobbits - why not a fourth? And wouldn't the fourth, the unknown, be the most terrible? This, again, plays into our understanding of Middle Earth - there is much that is unknown, especially to a Hobbit.
Not only that, imagine we read "The Riders of Rohan" after this chapter, after the battle and that the Hobbits have escaped into the forest. The early confrontation between Eomer and the hunters, before they determine they are on the same side, would have so much more suspense. We've seen them in battle - if the conversation goes ill the companions are doomed. Of course, the discussion of the battle loses its suspense - we know the hobbits have escaped. But the end of the chapter takes on a new meaning:
"'Yet Fangorn holds some secret of its own. What it is I do not know.'
'And I do not wish to know,' said Gimli."
At the end of "The Uruk-Hai," Merry and Pippin recall they were warned against Fangorn, but enter it anyway, seeing no other way to safety. And now the hunters, such brave and noble heroes, fear to enter it. Who could say Merry and Pippin have escaped danger? And then an old man in all white (Is it Saruman?), appears, and their horses flee. Disaster on all counts! The Two Towers would have a very grim opening, indeed!
This would then make the following chapter, the second in this week's reading, "Treebeard," an excellent breath of fresh air. It ends with the Ents marching to war against Isengard. While Treebeard entertains the notion they may not succeed, and in fact die in the attempt, it would be heartening to know that such an "unhasty" race has taken up the call.
The chapters, as they are, make for a squandered opportunity. It is hard to come to that conclusion, but I must. A holy text is not a perfect text. While we are not within our rights to change it, we can criticize it as we can criticize any other piece of art. After all, if a text is beyond reproach, it must be on its merits, not on principle.
The Lord of the Rings is a great and excellent text, and one which contains many lessons. But one of its lessons is that imperfection is inevitable. The only thing worse than making a mistake is refusing to acknowledge it. But mistakes do not undercut the entirety of a thing. Looking for perfection is a poor use of time. Look for value and look for lessons.
But similarly, after you acknowledge the mistake, don't obsess over it. But do not throw away an entire labor because of a wrench in the gears, big or small. Even if you squander great opportunities, don't let that break your spirit. I'm frustrated at this detail, but that doesn't cause me to look upon Lord of the Rings with any less reverence. Nor should your own errors cause you great despair.
Tolkien believed Shakespeare had squandered an opportunity when, in Macbeth, "Birnham Wood is come to castle Dunsinane," it amounted to men with leaves in their hats." Squandered opportunities, then are not so squandered. They may inspire others. So don't despair at all! Your mistake might be just the thing that inspires someone to greatness. And if your mistakes may have that kind of impact, just think of your successes!
(I'm entirely open to someone rebutting my opinion on these chapters in the comments).
No comments:
Post a Comment