This week we read "The Shadow of the Past," in which Gandalf tells Frodo a lot about the Ring and it's history and how it came to him. As part of this history Gandalf tells Frodo Gollum is "hobbit-kind" (in the Creative Wizard's style, this to say Gollum's race is related to hobbits, not that he is a kind of hobbit). The text tells us Frodo's reaction,
Gollum-creature that Bilbo met? How loathsome!"
have happened to others, even to some hobbits that I have known."
"I can't believe that Gollum was connected with hobbits,
however distantly," said Frodo with some heat. "What an abominable notion!"
"Why does Frodo exclaim Gollum's name and then ask it?"
"Because Frodo is familiar with Gollum, but not in this context. Gollum has been some far-away evil of otherkind. But now he has become something closer. He shouts at the horror, and then he asks at the closeness."
"But he is not yet sure - his next sentence is to ask Gandalf to confirm he has understood."
"It is not a true question. His next sentence conveys disgust. He already knows the answer."
"Why is Frodo disgusted?"
"Frodo has always seen the Shire as something apart. Bilbo went into the world and found evil, and he brought it back with him in the form of the Ring, but still it remained separate. Bilbo and the Shire remained good. To know Gollum, an important villain in Bilbo's story, is of the Shire - or at least related to it - demonstrates the Shire may not be as apart as he believed."
"But why should that matter? Gandalf tells Frodo of Isildur and of Sauron and of the Rings of Power. Why is Gollum what disgusts him? What about that drives him to at last respond "with some heat"?"
"We expect the world to disappoint us, at least in some way. But our world, whatever that means, is safe. Isildur is a man, not a hobbit. The Rings of Power are from ages ago. Sauron is a distant enemy. These are all others. Of course they will fall."
"So Frodo is disgusted at Gollum because he shows the Shire may fall?"
"Exactly."
"Is Frodo right to have such a response?"
"Right and wrong are not the correct frame. Rather, he cares more because Gollum is closer to him. Men, powerful rings and Sauron are all the other. Frodo can ignore them when he wants - as the rest of the Shire often does. He has contempt for them because they are not like him. He doesn't bother to understand - they are too different. Consider the bar talk in the Shire. No one is worried the outside world is going to crush them - they just complain when the outside ecroaches on their plans. They should be more worried, but they are not. But an evil within? That's not possible to ignore. So Frodo responds more strongly."
"Frodo exclaims Gollum's name first, then asks it? Why not ask, then exclaim?"
"Because Gollum is not the answer. All consideration of Gollum leads only to more questions. As should be the case. When we find a selfkind which disgusts us it should elicit curiosity, not exclaimed dismissal. It is disturbing to see someone like us has fallen short because it means we could fall short. But it is an opportunity to learn. It is also, perhaps, an opportunity to help. Gollum, we know, will have moments of growth. Even though his life ends with evil, he is given opportunities to be less evil in the text and he takes some of them. Good is not a purity to be protected against all encroachment, but a road we strive to remain on, or return to when we stray."
"Gandalf says it is a sad story, but Frodo disagrees. Who is right?"
"Gandalf, obviously. His response is more empathetic, which we should assume is correct."
"But they know the same story. Why does Gandalf have more empathy?"
"Gandalf has been around longer and has seen and knows more of good people falling short. He knows it is not fair to pin the blame on Gollum for what was ultimately the Ring's corruption of him."
"So empathy is gained through age?"
"Not exclusively, but there are some perspectives we would not expect children to have."
"What perspective is that?"
"Frodo seems to believe the Shire is distinct from the rest of the world in its capacity to withstand evil. To learn it is just as susceptible is a hard lesson, and requires to a radical new understanding of the world. Frodo could, and initially does, hold Gollum in the same contempt as the rest of the world. Actually in worse contempt, as Gollum's fall chips away at the Shire's separateness. But Frodo later learns everyone is vulnerable to the Ring. The Ring does not seek out only the weak, avoiding those it could not corrupt. The Ring seeks out the weakness of everyone it encounters, and everyone has a weakness, so it can corrupt everyone (maybe not). But at this moment Frodo seems to believe the Shire, and thus him by extension. has some innate ability to withstand the Ring. The Shire would have to be defeated by evil - but everyone else can only fail to withstand it. Notice the subtle shift in responsibility. But that is wrong. Similarly, it is childish to believe they would fall for evil but I and my community would never!
"We are all vulnerable."
"And because we are all vulnerable it's better to ask why they fell to evil, and take the opportunity to gird that weakness in oneself. Gandalf's response is better because he does not blame those for falling to the power of the Ring, just as it would be silly to blame someone for falling to the power of fear. Even if we believe someone is too easily scared the ultimate fault lies with the thing which scared them. Even if we can say we would have withstood that fright, there is some level of fright which would overcome us, and it would be extremely arbitrary to say anything below our threshold is to be dismissed, anything above is to be cowered at."
"Gandalf knows we should judge people based on their own threshold."
"No - that leads us to say "Of course they failed, how could we expect them not to?" or "Of course they resisted - why would you worry they wouldn't?"'
"So then what?"
"Gandalf knows that everybody has a threshold, and we should not judge the differences. Rather when someone falls to evil (or anything which they had tried to resist) we should respond not as if they have failed, but instead that they have been defeated. Not to wonder how we could have done better but to step into their fray and help them rise back up. It is never too late."
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