Post by Stormrider on Jan 19, 2009 18:59:48 GMT -6
From: AnnieofTR (Original Message) Sent: 6/22/2003 7:47 AM
The picture called "Unwelcome Return" by Alan Lee was lost
Wk14, Bk6, Ch8, DISCUSSION: Impressions of the Old Village across the water
"It was one of the saddest hours in their lives. The great chimney rose up before them; and as they drew near the old village across the Water, . . . they saw the new mill in all its frowning and dirty ugliness: a great brick building straddling the stream, which it fouled with a steaming and stinking outflow. All along the Bywater Road every tree had been felled."
Sam had a vision of this in Galadriel’s mirror but he was not prepared for what they saw. Why was the reality of actually being there more devastating than what was revealed in the vision? What was the breaking point that made Sam burst into tears? "This is worse than Mordor," Sam had commented. His next words made me stop a moment and it all sunk in. "Much worse in a way. It comes home to you, as they say; because it is home, and you remember it before it was all ruined." As readers we knew and could picture the Shire as Sam remembered it. What thoughts went through your mind or what feelings were you experiencing as these sad and tragic images were being described?
Sam’s words reinforced for me the importance and affection we have of what we call home. It reminded me of beloved places I have known, where memories, friends, and family mean so much. For me those places lie in the Colorado Rockies and I experienced a deep longing to return. But I was also reminded of the brown balding hills above Black Hawk and Central City where so much mining has uprooted all the trees destroying the natural beauty there; the new highway through the serenity of ancient forests and rocks in Glenwood Canyon to convey more tourists to the area; and natural lakes and streams that have been so polluted that no one dare drink the water as we once did. Do the changes that Saruman brought to the Shire reflect Tolkien’s England in any way? In our own world ?
This chapter is full of devastating and depressing pictures of the Shire and the hobbits of the Shire. Does it seem possible for things to have deteriorated in such a relatively short period of time? How could the hobbits have allowed this to happen? In Sam’s vision the hobbits were slaves in chains. It seems to me that this was the situation when Sam and the others returned home and encountered the "Rules," oppression, and profiteering. What were the "chains" that held his friends and relatives in "slavery"? What gave these frightened gentle folk the courage and vision to take back the Shire?
The picture called "Unwelcome Return" by Alan Lee was lost
Wk14, Bk6, Ch8, DISCUSSION: Impressions of the Old Village across the water
"It was one of the saddest hours in their lives. The great chimney rose up before them; and as they drew near the old village across the Water, . . . they saw the new mill in all its frowning and dirty ugliness: a great brick building straddling the stream, which it fouled with a steaming and stinking outflow. All along the Bywater Road every tree had been felled."
Sam had a vision of this in Galadriel’s mirror but he was not prepared for what they saw. Why was the reality of actually being there more devastating than what was revealed in the vision? What was the breaking point that made Sam burst into tears? "This is worse than Mordor," Sam had commented. His next words made me stop a moment and it all sunk in. "Much worse in a way. It comes home to you, as they say; because it is home, and you remember it before it was all ruined." As readers we knew and could picture the Shire as Sam remembered it. What thoughts went through your mind or what feelings were you experiencing as these sad and tragic images were being described?
Sam’s words reinforced for me the importance and affection we have of what we call home. It reminded me of beloved places I have known, where memories, friends, and family mean so much. For me those places lie in the Colorado Rockies and I experienced a deep longing to return. But I was also reminded of the brown balding hills above Black Hawk and Central City where so much mining has uprooted all the trees destroying the natural beauty there; the new highway through the serenity of ancient forests and rocks in Glenwood Canyon to convey more tourists to the area; and natural lakes and streams that have been so polluted that no one dare drink the water as we once did. Do the changes that Saruman brought to the Shire reflect Tolkien’s England in any way? In our own world ?
This chapter is full of devastating and depressing pictures of the Shire and the hobbits of the Shire. Does it seem possible for things to have deteriorated in such a relatively short period of time? How could the hobbits have allowed this to happen? In Sam’s vision the hobbits were slaves in chains. It seems to me that this was the situation when Sam and the others returned home and encountered the "Rules," oppression, and profiteering. What were the "chains" that held his friends and relatives in "slavery"? What gave these frightened gentle folk the courage and vision to take back the Shire?