Ok, so this chapter's not as much fun. In fact, all things considered it's pretty fairly unpleasant. Still, we get to know Merry and Pippin better -- very plucky the both of them. <3
In case anyone's getting confused, basically we have a band of orcs made up of troops from Isengard, serving Saruman, and Mordor, serving Sauron. The big bullying captain Ugluk is from Isengard and the sneaky, sneering-voiced Grishnakh is from Mordor. They're fighting and arguing all the way along about where to ultimately take their prizes and in the end they all get wiped out by the Rohirrim.
As for Merry and Pippin: though they don't feel it, both are really impressively heroic in here -- what with Merry hacking off orc arms and hands at the beginning and Pippin running off like that to drop his brooch + worrying that even if Strider comes to rescue them it will throw off their plans. And both keeping their wits about them, observing what's happening and later stringing Grishnakh along etc.
I also found it impressive when it says, "He (Pippin) ate the stale grey bread hungrily, but not the meat. He was famished but not yet so famished as to eat flesh flung to him by an Orc, the flesh of he dared not guess what creature." Of course, I totally concur, but I have to say, this is one already vastly adventure-toughened hobbit.
Finally, a bit later:
"He slipped the cords off his wrists, and fished out a packet. The cakes were broken, but good, still in their leaf-wrappings. The hobbits each ate two or three pieces. The taste brought back to them the memory of fair faces, and laughter, and wholesome food in quiet days now far away. For a while they ate thoughtfully, sitting in the dark, heedless of the cries and sounds of battle nearby."
It's a little moment, but popped out at me as being rather unusual. I'm not trying to extrapolate too much from the section itself, but from a Christian perspective it immediately reminded me of the Eucharist: God spreading a table -- good and living bread for His people -- right in the midst of our enemies and darkness and battle.
Quotes:
- "I wish Gandalf had never persuaded Elrond to let us come,' he thought. 'What good have I been? Just a nuisance: a passenger, a piece of luggage. And now I have been stolen and I am just a piece of luggage for the Orcs."
- "...Merry stood up, looking pale but grim and defiant, and very much alive."
- "Evil dreams and evil waking were blended into a long tunnel of misery, with hope growing ever fainter behind."
For thought:
Do you tend to identify more with Merry or Pippin? Or both equally?
I'm not sure I really identify with either Merry or Pippin. Merry seems a bit more planning-oriented, though, whereas Pippin is better at thinking on his feet, so I'm more like Merry in that respect.
ReplyDeleteI love that it turns out that Merry and Pippin coming along is a HUGE help to the cause as a whole, even though they think they're useless. One thing that struck me here is when Grishnakh says, "Little people should not meddle in affairs that are too big for them." A total opposite from "Even the smallest person can change the course of the future," and I think that really highlights the difference between the forces for good and for evil in Middle-earth. Sauron's forces do not value the individual at all, and those on the side of good do.