The Two Towers Suffering Quotes

How we cite our quotes: (Book.Chapter.Paragraph).

Quote #4

"Well, what's to be done with it?" said Sam. "Tie it up, so as it can't come sneaking after us no more, I say."

"But that would kill us, kill us," whimpered Gollum. "Cruel, little hobbitses. Tie us up in the cold hard lands and leaves us, gollum, gollum." Sobs welled up in his gobbling throat.

"No," said Frodo. "If we kill him, we must kill him outright. But we can't do that, not as things are. Poor wretch! He has done us no harm."

"Oh hasn't he!" said Sam rubbing his shoulder. (4.1.114-7)

Up until now, we have seen Sam's devoted side, and not much more. But here, we see Sam's more practical and less sympathetic aspect. In fact, the hobbit is even a little cruel. Sam wants to kill Gollum, plain and simple. But Gollum is clearly suffering. It has been so long since he's talked to anyone else that all he has left is to talk to himself — and the fact that he refers to himself as "we," in the plural, suggests that he is less than well adjusted. Nonetheless, Sam looks at Gollum and sees, not a "him," but an "it," one who is sure to "throttle [them] in [their] sleep" (4.1.118). He has no pity and no sympathy for Gollum, and seems perfectly willing to cause Gollum even more suffering.

Quote #5

"Once, by accident it was, wasn't it, precious? Yes, by accident. But we won't go back, no, no!" Then suddenly his voice and language changed and he sobbed in his throat, and spoke but not to them. "Leave me alone, gollum! You hurt me. O my poor hands, gollum! I, we, I don't want to come back. I can't find it. I am tired. I, we can't find it, gollum, gollum, no, nowhere. They're always awake. Dwarves, Men, and Elves, terrible Elves with bright eyes. I can't find it. Ach!" He got up and clenched his long hand into a bony fleshless knot, shaking it towards the East. "We won't!" he cried. "Not for you." (4.1.133)

In a weird way, Gollum is a lot like Treebeard. We're serious. He isn't on anyone's side because no one is precisely on his side. Gollum may be a wicked, twisted creature, but he is no friend of Mordor. In this rant, he suddenly slips into the first person and admits that there is a difference between himself, Gollum, and the Precious, the Ring. It is Gollum who is tired and suffering (and the Ring has put him in this state). It is Gollum who can't find it. And it pains him to be without it, but at least he briefly has a sense of himself as separate from the Ring.

Quote #6

"I don't know how long we shall take to—to finish," said Frodo. "We were miserably delayed in the hills. But Samwise Gamgee, my dear hobbit—indeed, Sam, my dearest hobbit, friend of friends—I do not think we need give thought to what comes after that. To do the job as you put it—what hope is there that we ever shall? And if we do, who knows what will come of that? If the One goes into the Fire, and we are at hand? I ask you, Sam, are we ever likely to need bread again? I think not. If we can nurse our limbs to bring us to Mount Doom, that is all we can do. More than I can, I begin to feel." (4.2.35)

What's weird here is that Frodo doesn't sound that bummed by his and Sam's apparently inevitable deaths. He is completely sure that they are going to die; the only suspense is in whether it will happen before or when they destroy the Ring. But here's a question: if they know they are going to die, does that fact lessen or deepen the current suffering Frodo and Sam are experiencing?