"Cliff Notes - the hobbit & the lord of rings" - читать интересную книгу автора (Tolkien J.R.R)

Bilbo sets out for home with two chests of gold and silver, and the friendship of dwarves and elves. When Bilbo and the dwarves say good-bye, you can see how they have come to reconcile their differences. Even though Balin's farewell is stiff and formal and Bilbo's is comically casual and more modern, the message is the same: stop by and visit. Through this, Tolkien points out that, despite surface differences, there are underlying similarities uniting them. Against a common enemy, all disagreements over wealth and all past grudges about perceived wrongs seem petty in comparison. Friendship emerges as something of great value.

The war has had its positive aspects. Tolkien tells you that, in the years following, the few surviving goblins hide in fear and the Wargs vanish completely. The forces of good are free to settle the land unmolested.

Bilbo begins his journey home, accompanied by Gandalf, and stops in Rivendell on the way. The songs of the elves repeat Tolkien's antiwar theme: moonlight and starlight and a fire in the hearth are more important than gold and silver. But they also add a new twist: the elves, who are strongly allied with nature, sing about nature's permanence. Kingdoms rise and fall, yet in the valley of Rivendell the grass is still growing and the elves are still singing.

Gandalf and Elrond reveal their awareness that this war has not vanquished evil; evil has been destroyed before, only to appear again in another place. This theme may seem to be an intentional foreshadowing of the events later told in The Lord of the Rings, but it is not. Tolkien at this point had no intention of taking the story of Bilbo and Middle-earth any further.

Still in possession of the magic ring, Bilbo returns home to find that he is presumed dead and that his effects are being auctioned off. His adventures have prepared him to cope with this problem, however, and he soon regains possession of Bag End.

^^^^^^^^^^THE LORD OF THE RINGS: BOOK I, CHAPTERS 1-6

Frodo Baggins inherits Bilbo's magic ring. Frodo learns that the ring belongs to the evil power, Sauron, and flees the Shire with it. He and his friends become lost in the mysterious Old Forest, where they meet Tom Bombadil.

*

Sixty years have passed since Bilbo returned from the adventure told in The Hobbit. He is now preparing for an extended journey, intending never to return to the Shire. He plans to give his house and the magic ring to his young cousin and heir, Frodo Baggins. Bilbo finds it difficult, however, to part with the ring.

In The Hobbit, Bilbo's ring seemed quite innocent, almost a toy. But already it's beginning to take on a sinister aspect. When Gandalf presses Bilbo to leave the ring behind, the hobbit becomes uncharacteristically suspicious and angry. He even calls the ring by Gollum's name for it: "My precious." There seem to be two sides to his personality--his old self who honestly means to leave the ring behind, and another self who contrives to keep it. This other self could be interpreted as Bilbo's subconscious, acting out his secret wish to keep the ring. But there's another possibility--that the ring has somehow gained a hold in his mind and is controlling his actions. Gandalf, at any rate, finds the change in Bilbo alarming, and at last convinces him to leave the ring behind. Do you think Gandalf was right to be concerned? Did he force Bilbo to leave the ring, or did Bilbo leave it of his own free will?

The story then jumps ahead almost twenty years. Gandalf visits Frodo with disturbing news. At the end of The Hobbit, Gandalf had mentioned that the Necromancer had been driven out of Mirkwood. Gandalf now tells Frodo that this Necromancer is none other than Sauron, an evil power believed to have been killed long ago. He has returned to his ancient stronghold in Mordor and is gathering strength to conquer Middle-earth.

NOTE: Throughout the trilogy, Tolkien uses shadow as a metaphor for the evil power of Sauron, giving an impression of evil as being somehow insubstantial. Yet its presence is very real. Be alert for references to shadow as you read, and in each case try to determine how it may relate to evil.

Sauron once had a ring of power that was taken from him at the end of the last war and subsequently lost. It was found again by a small hobbitlike creature named Deagol. He was murdered by his friend Smeagol, who used the Ring to steal and to spy on his people. Given the name Gollum, because of the gurgling sounds he made in his throat, Smeagol became so wicked that he was exiled from his home. Eventually he found his way to the Misty Mountains and made his home in a subterranean lake deep in the mountain's heart. It was there that Bilbo met Gollum and gained ownership of the Ring.

NOTE: THE RING: A DOUBLE-EDGED WEAPON From this point, Tolkien refers to Frodo's ring as "the Ring" because of its great importance. The Ring emerges through the course of the story as a symbol of the power to control others. The Ring is a dangerous weapon, however; while it gives its wearer the power to dominate others, it also has the power to dominate those who possess it. Remember Bilbo's unwillingness to give it up?

Some readers see the Ring as a symbol for the atomic bomb. Like the Ring, the bomb is a weapon of great power, but it's also dangerous to the country that possesses it. Tolkien, however, denied that anything in his book stands for any one thing in the real world.

Gandalf says that Gollum's story is a sad one that might have happened to others, including some hobbits he has known. Do you think he's referring to Bilbo? Gandalf also comments that even Gollum wasn't wholly corrupted by the Ring: "There was a little corner of his mind that was still his own..." He seems to be implying that Gollum wasn't evil at first. Gandalf pities Gollum and wonders aloud if he could be cured, speaking of evil as if it's a disease. In Gandalf's story about Gollum, Tolkien introduces themes that will be repeated throughout the book: Nothing starts out evil. Those who do fall into evil are hurt by it, but it's always possible for them to be redeemed.

Sauron has learned from Gollum that his Ring was found, and for the first time he hears of hobbits and the Shire. Sauron will come looking for the Ring, Gandalf tells Frodo. When he made the Ring, Sauron put most of his power into it, and without it his strength is limited. If he can recover the Ring, no one will be able to stop him. To keep Sauron from getting it, the Ring must be destroyed.

NOTE: The Ring must be destroyed because of its power to corrupt even the best of individuals. In this way it is similar to a treasure appearing in another novel, John Steinbeck's The Pearl. In that book a pearl of great value is found by a poor Mexican Indian. He finds that it's a curse rather than a blessing, however. The pearl appeals to the greed in others, who resort to apalling acts of violence in an attempt to possess it. In the end the Indian casts the pearl back into the sea, where it can no longer incite men to evil. The pearl symbolizes the corrupting lure of wealth, while the Ring symbolizes the corrupting effect of power.

Frodo tries to give the Ring to Gandalf, who refuses to take it. The Ring would corrupt even him; he would not be able to resist the temptation to use it for good. And Gandalf is sure that once he used it, the Ring would gain power over him and he'd become another Dark Lord, like Sauron.

Also, Gandalf says, Frodo was meant to have the Ring. He has been chosen by some higher will that has power for good in the world. But Gandalf emphasizes that it's Frodo's choice to accept or reject this destiny. Tolkien introduces two more of his themes here. One is that there is a benevolent force at work that opposes the power of evil, and that everyone has a role to play in its grand design. The other is that individuals should not be forced to do anything--even to follow their roles in the grand scheme of things. For good or bad, all people must be free to make their own choices.

Frodo is woefully unprepared for the challenge. At first he thinks the Ring can be destroyed with a hammer or by throwing it into the fire. But Gandalf tells him that it can only be destroyed in the volcano where it was made, in the Crack of Doom in Mordor. This information scares Frodo, and he doubts he'll be able to perform such a deed. But for now he accepts the responsibility of guarding the Ring and will take it to Rivendell, where it will be out of Sauron's grasp.

At this point, Sam Gamgee, the gardener, is discovered eavesdropping. He shows even less comprehension of the situation than Frodo does. When told he can accompany Frodo, Sam is overjoyed: "Me go and see Elves and all! Hooray!"

When Frodo at last leaves the Shire, he is accompanied by one of his friends, Peregrine Took (Pippin), and by Sam Gamgee. Gandalf was to go with them but hasn't been heard from in several months.

This part of the story is filled with vivid descriptions of the pleasures of the road: crackling fires, amiable conversation, and, most of all, the landscape--trees, fields, and stars. The richness of detail, while adding little to the plot, is an important part of Tolkien's style. Many readers find that these descriptions make Middle-earth and its inhabitants come alive.

The travelers soon find they are being pursued by mysterious Black Riders. Twice they are forced to hide in the woods as a Rider approaches. Both times they are nearly discovered, and both times Frodo is seized with an almost irresistible desire to put on the Ring. The first time, for an inexplicable reason, the Rider turns away. The second Rider is driven off by the voices of elves, who then offer the hobbits protection for the night.