Thanks for writing such a thoughtful, feeling post, Blossom.
But I also think that we get a real sense of Frodo’s ‘pluck’ here. The weakness is a passing thing; a moment later he hears Sam’s voice, and Frodo’s thoughts return to the Shire on a ‘sunlit early morning, when the day called and doors were opening.’ He ‘smiled grimly,’ and reminded himself, ‘What he had to do, he had to do, if he could.’ He held the Phial, the light of Earendil, against his heart, and took the upward road.
That made me all sniffly. I couldn't resist -- if ony for me to look at, I must transcribe the passage you lifted up.
Sam urges Frodo, who has been deep in thought, to 'wake up.'
Frodo raised his head, and then stood up. Despair had not left him, but the weakness had passed. He even smiled grimly, feeling now as clearly as a moment before he had felt the opposite, that what he had to do, he had to do, if he could, and that whether Faramir or Aragorn or Elrond or Galadriel or Gandalf or anyone else ever knew about it was beside the purpose. He took his staff in one hand and the phial in his other. When he saw that the clear light was already welling through his fingers, he thrust it into his bosom and held it against his heart. Then turning from the city of Morgul, now no more than a grey glimmer across a dark gulf, he prepared to take the upward road.
You are right: whatever Frodo was feeling, he was able to put it aside and just get the job done.
I do not believe he unburdened his soul and left his demons behind between the pages of the book. He didn’t ‘get it all out of his system’ in that cathartic sense, as he left so much of his own suffering unsaid, so many of the horrors he alone experienced untold; he carried his worst memories with him into the west.
This is quite true, and I misrepresented those fics that I have read by implying that they portrayed Frodo as "getting it out of his system" in the writing. In fact, none of these authors thought Frodo told everything, but prepared a final draft that is terse, and reserved when it comes to his part of the story. But their point was that in recalling it all, and mulling over what he should include in the tale, Frodo was made to remember, really look at, and even relive what he had been through. It was clear in all of these fics that not a fraction of what happened from Frodo's POV went into the Red Book. And they differ considerably on what constitutes the "story behind the story" -- i.e. what Frodo did not put in the Red Book. ;)
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Date: 2006-05-18 09:59 pm (UTC)But I also think that we get a real sense of Frodo’s ‘pluck’ here. The weakness is a passing thing; a moment later he hears Sam’s voice, and Frodo’s thoughts return to the Shire on a ‘sunlit early morning, when the day called and doors were opening.’ He ‘smiled grimly,’ and reminded himself, ‘What he had to do, he had to do, if he could.’ He held the Phial, the light of Earendil, against his heart, and took the upward road.
That made me all sniffly. I couldn't resist -- if ony for me to look at, I must transcribe the passage you lifted up.
Sam urges Frodo, who has been deep in thought, to 'wake up.'
You are right: whatever Frodo was feeling, he was able to put it aside and just get the job done.
I do not believe he unburdened his soul and left his demons behind between the pages of the book. He didn’t ‘get it all out of his system’ in that cathartic sense, as he left so much of his own suffering unsaid, so many of the horrors he alone experienced untold; he carried his worst memories with him into the west.
This is quite true, and I misrepresented those fics that I have read by implying that they portrayed Frodo as "getting it out of his system" in the writing. In fact, none of these authors thought Frodo told everything, but prepared a final draft that is terse, and reserved when it comes to his part of the story. But their point was that in recalling it all, and mulling over what he should include in the tale, Frodo was made to remember, really look at, and even relive what he had been through. It was clear in all of these fics that not a fraction of what happened from Frodo's POV went into the Red Book. And they differ considerably on what constitutes the "story behind the story" -- i.e. what Frodo did not put in the Red Book. ;)