⋆.ೃ࿔࿐ྂfaith & fantasy⋆.ೃ࿔࿐ྂ discussion
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The Fellowship of the Ring
✯Book of the Month✯
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⭒July/August 2022 - The Fellowship of the Ring [Reflection Questions]⭒
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1. Sam! I love his loyalty to Frodo and his kind demeanor!2. Boromir. It wasn't that I hated him, but he didn't have much of a part in the book.
3. Either the "You shall not pass!" scene with Gandalf and the Balrog in Moria or the scene where the company becomes stuck in the snow on Caradhras and Legolas just skips by them on top of the snow...😂
4. It's beautiful! I know a lot of people can't get past it, but it was Tolkien's writing that truly made me love the series. It has the ability to encompass you in the world and forget reality. It feels like home.
5. I would and I have! I've also read The Hobbit, Farmer Giles of Ham, Smith of Wootton Major, and the last two LOTR books, The Two Towers and The Return of the King. I hope to pick up The Silmarillion soon.
6. I would delete the scenes with Tom Bombadil...he didn't have any significant role and the chapters with him took up something like 80 pages. Otherwise, I'd shorten the Council of Elrond. (Took me forever to make it through that chapter!)
7. It was so suspenseful! (view spoiler)
8. A timeless fantasy that I will continue to be adored by me and many others for years to come!
Mod
1. Radagast! He’s the fairytale version of myself with his animals and herbs. Tom Bombadil is also a favorite 😂 . I like that he has his own little oasis in the world but still helps the hobbits in any way he can. The mystery of him fascinates me. To me it is a sign that no matter what, when the hobbits need help the most, help will be there… even from the most unlikely creatures. Out of our main characters, I love Pippin. He’s such a comic relief that it’s a breath of fresh air. 2. My least favorite character would have to be… Lobelia Sackville-Baggins 😂 … Need I say more on that one? 😂
3. There have been two scenes that I’ve stuck with me the most and both for very personal reasons. One is when they were describing the relationship between Gollum and the ring; he loves the ring and that’s obvious but all at the same time, he hates the ring. The other is the scene where the rest of the fellowship is beginning to mourn Gandolf in Lothlórien. The quote I had posted about it yesterday is the reason for that. I have had tragedies in my life that have also happened simultaneously with some terrible injuries. Basically it wasn’t until after the fellowship healed a little bit themselves from what they had gone through can they really start to even comprehend that Gandolf was gone. I’ve been there.
4. The writing of JRRT is nearly unmatched. He is brilliantly descriptive yet evasively philosophical. The idea that this was a children’s book when it was first written really gives a culture shock when you compare to children in today’s day and age. Also…is it just me or does his writing persuade the reader to decide what race he/she belongs to in middle earth 🤔
5. Of course! I would want to read absolutely everything by this author. I believe I do have all of his collections of writing, but I have not read it all yet.
6. My only complaint is it’s too short. 😝 I love how it’s a collection of poems, songs, letters and narrative. It inspires me to write more poetry.
7. To refrain from giving spoilers… I will skip this question
8. Overall…. This book (specifically The Fellowship of the Ring) has been my favorite in this genre and perhaps my favorite book ever aside from The Bible. My reason? I Love the shire scenes and this book has the most lol.
Lilyyy wrote: "((Adding a few more questions than the previous months had!))1. Who was your favorite character? Why?
2. Who was your least favorite character? Why?
3. Which scene has stuck with you the most?
..."
1. I love Merry and Pippin. XD
2. I don't know...
3. I'll think about that and maybe edit this...
4. The writing is amazing! I think people get bored of it easily because it's long but it gives you more to visualize.
5. hehe, done!
6. I don't think I would...
7. (view spoiler).
8. It's a beautiful adventuresome story!
Mod
2. Least Favorite: Gollum. He's creepy.
3. Most memorable scene: Gandalf's encounter with the Balrog.
4. The writing: Alas, I know I am in the minority here, but I find the writing laborious to read and filled with unnecessary information. However, when willing to mine, it is filled with beautiful gems.
5. I re-read this trilogy and The Hobbit periodically, but I don't desire to branch out.
6. A part I would change: Tom Bombadil's contribution to the story does not seem to have any purpose. I *like* Tom, but I don't understand why he's in the story.
7. Ending: courageous
8. Overall opinion: pretty much covered in #1-7. :)
I did not technically do the read along with you all, but I did just re-read the series a month or two ago, so I hope you don't mind me joining in.
Those are really good points, Elijah!Tom Bombadil has always felt a bit random to me, he seems so for out of theme with the rest of the story.
My favorite literary critic, Joseph Pearce, made an interesting point in his book Frodo's Journey. he suggested that Tom may have been a alagory of pre-lapserium (before the fall) man, and that his immunity to the power of the ring is similar to Adam's immunity to sin before he ate the forbidden fruit.
Roman Catholics believe that the eating of the fruit was the first (or original) sin. before that man was completely innocent, having no contemplation of evil. therefore they were incapable of sin.is that not a universal Christian belief?
Give me a moment to fact check myself. I don't want to give you glass information.
Okay I think I can answer now. I was wrong, and I'll explain why.the first thing to do is define sin. Sin is what is against God. it is preferring ourselves to God, therefore dividing ourselves from Him.
before they ate the fruit, Adam and Eve were in complete and perfect union with God, living in total innocence. But God gave them the freedom to sin, if they chose to. when they ate the fruit, they doubted in Him, and freely chose to disobey, believing they knew better (this is the sin if pride).
in conclusion, because of the gift of free will, Man was technically capable of sinning before eating the fruit, but because of his perfect innocence, he didn't understand what sin was, and had no desire for it.
does this make sense? I am not very good at explaining through writing.
Of course! thank you for your patience.
Elijah wrote: "At first, I also didn't know what Tom Bombadil's purpose is. However, after some thinking and rereading, I came up with my own explanation. In my opinion, Tom's purpose is a symbolic one. I don't k..."I love that! Thanks for sharing!
Elijah I love your perspective on Tom!!!Also I read the thread on sin and I could kick myself for not jumping on here 5 days ago. The reason I was absent was partly because I was doing a study on sin!😆 *Be Prepared for a long but cool revelation I’ve had!*
From my understanding (found in Romans 7) this is sin:
Before the Ten Commandments were given, sin was something different. We had free will, like Mary said, to pick how we were going to function. We had the choice to either
1: Function as designed (which is the actual Hebrew meaning of the word “good” )
2: or not function as designed (or not be good)
To not function as designed is eventually Going to cause death because you’re betraying your very being of what you were Created to be. When you don’t use anything in its Proper way…it eventually breaks.
But until Moses, there were no commandments given so how could there be a law to even break? How did we fix what we were doing wrong if we had no boundaries set in stone.
This is what The First Covenant (Ten Commandments) did. We literally were making covenant with God liken to a marriage. The only thing God put in the Ten Commandments were the things causing us death in the first place. Only now, when we did these things, we were doing them against God.
For Example, if a woman commits fornication before she’s married, she’s really doing herself the biggest injustice. If she commits fornication after she’s married though, she’s doing her husband the biggest injustice. The only way she can take on a new “husband” and not be considered an adulteress is if her husband died.
So God became our Husbandman at the first covenant (Ten Commandments) and when we sinned after that, we were actually breaking a scared covenant with Him. It was like we were the adulterous woman. This is why God constantly refers to Himself as The Husband (like in Jeremiah 31).
We needed to be free of that covenant or be considered a sinner forever. But instead of having us condemned to death Christ died in our stead. The covenant is now broken and we’re free. We make a New Testament (or Covenant) when we accept Jesus as our Savior. We’re taking ownership of our sins but also accepting His sacrifice for us. We are now known as “The Bride of Christ”.
I really love this topic and if anyone wants to go into further detail, just message me!😃😃😃
That is REALLY interesting, Shannon! thank you so much for taking the time to share it!just one thing, you referred to the ten commandments as the 'first covenant', but if I remember correctly, the first covenant was with Noah through the rainbow. and I know for a fact that God made multiple covenants with Abraham (most notably with the 'your descendants with be as numberless as the stars' promise)
This is a great topic! :)Mary-Therese, I believe the first covenant that God ever made was the covenant with Adam and Eve when He promised to send a Savior to redeem us. The covenant with Noah was the second.
Right. that's correct. thanks, Isabel!
Of course, Mary-Therese. I hope I didn't come across as rude. :)
Oh, no. not in the slightest. thank you for correcting me. I would have been upset if you didn't, lol.
Oh, ok! No problem. ;)
Good observation Mary! I say the first covenant because it’s the first one WE made. Noah: God alone made the covenant.
With Abraham, (I just learned this yesterday lol) He struggled to do the covenant. As ancient blood covenants go, certain animals were slaughtered. The two people were supposed to walk in between the deceased animals where their blood spilled (kinda morbid) The terms were “if you don’t keep this covenant, what happened to these animals will happen to you”. Not only was Abraham being called to this covenant but so were ALL of his descendants. How could anyone make that kind of promise? So, Abraham couldn’t do it. He didn’t walk
Instead, he saw a light walking for him. It’s widely accepted that the Light walking was Jesus (A Way, The Truth and THE LIGHT).
Isn’t that neat🙂 I was so excited to learn that yesterday.
Oops and I just saw Isabel’s comment about Adam and Eve. Again though, God alone made that covenant, WE had nothing to do with it. At Mt. Sinai however, we made the agreement with God to be faithful, We built Him a Tabernacle, and did other things as our part of the covenants. Before this time, no other person had to do anything as their part of the covenant. Adam, Noah and Abraham didn’t do anything as their part of the covenants; God did it all. But it was different at Mt. Sinai. I will hasten to point out that Yes, circumcising was something that even Abraham did, but in Romans, Paul points out that God made the covenant with Abraham and his decedents before they even did that. Circumcising for them was just a sign that God made the Covenant.
Also an interesting point that made me sob yesterday, when the Abrahamic covenant was broken… Look Who died for our sins fulfilling the Covenant that Abraham couldn’t even make 😭😭😭 He kept His Covenant to Adam about Messiah - though Jesus
He kept His Covenant to Noah. When the Whole earth was impure, there was a cleansing of water…Now we have baptism - in The Blood of Jesus
He kept His Covenant with Abraham by Jesus Dying for our sins (just like the slaughtered animals)
And when we broke our covenant, He made a way for us to be free of it and make a new covenant that we could actually keep THROUGH Jesus🥹🥹🥹 can someone please bring me a box of tissues 😭😭😭
And finally, please forgive my typos. I hope I’m not coming off rude or argumentative. I’m honestly SO excited that someone even wants to talk about it 🥹🥹 I LOVE the Bible and I truly try to sponge in as much as possible. I’m so happy to be in a group where we can learn from each other and read awesome literature. This group has a special place in my heart ❤️
Mod
This is a special group, Shannon, I agree. I've been on GR for over a year, poking around in this group or that group looking for connections, but never found any group to be active, responsive, and amiable, if I may borrow an Austen word we don't use much anymore😊. F&F has been great.
And I love that we can have discussions such as the one you've started on sin and Christ's sacrifice for our sin. In a public group of over 500, this easily could have turned nasty, fb-style, but it didn't, and I am so glad to see that. Thank you to you and to Isabel and to Mary-Therese for your heartfelt, yet non-inflammatory comments and responses. And thank you to anyone who did not agree who chose to remain silent instead of stirring dissension. Totally "not-fb" of you to do so👍. (I have not been on fb for a couple of years now except to check group activity and marketplace. Imo, instead of it being a place of connecting, it has turned into a battleground of spilt blood and ruined friendships over things people should just agree to disagree on.)
Anyway, thank you for your posts! A book I just finished, which I savored over many months instead of just whipping though it like I could have, that you may be interested in is Gentle and Lowly: The Heart of Christ for Sinners and Sufferers. While not about sin and covenants precisely, it is a heart-rending look at just how much Jesus' and the Father's heart is FOR us. It might be a good follow-up to your study on sin and covenants.
Sharon, you’ve spoken the words of my heart! LolI’ve been off Facebook for years as well and it’s been the best thing I’ve ever done for myself. That book sounds interesting! I will check it out.
Mary, you seem so kind. I wish we were all in person. I could just picture us discussing these things over tea 🫖 lol. I think discussions like this is something God delights in!
I just re-read everything and Elijah’s point about Tom resonates more and more with me. Thank you Elijah!
Aw! Shannon, that is so kind. thank you! I know! I love these types of conversations, and I'm so glad that others in this group enjoy them, too!
1. Who was your favorite character? Why?this is such a complex question, and I could probably go on for hours about this, but I will try to narrow it down. I will say it was Merry or Sam. although I do love Boromir.
2. Who was your least favorite character? Why?
Bill Ferney. he's just such an unpleasant fellow. lol
3. Which scene has stuck with you the most?
most iconic scene for me? probably the Council of Elrond. I just found that absolutely fascinating. but my favorite scene is definitely the chapter A Conspiracy Unmasked. One of the biggest plot twist in all literature, and absolutely hilarious. lol
4. What did you think of the writing?
although I do find Tolkien's writing style a but drawn out at times, it really adds to the idea that this is a ancient myth that has been passed down orally, and now written down.
5. Would you want to read another book by this author?
with that cliffhanger? absolutely, lol
of course. I enjoy all of Tolkien's work that I've read so far.
6. If you could change one part of the book, what would it be?
jeez, this book has been so ingrained in me, I can't think of anything to take out, XD
7. What did you think of the ending? (Spoiler tags, please!)
I forgot how much more chaotic it is than the ending in the movie. well done on the part of Tolkien in my opinion.
8. What was your overall opinion?
loved it. so glad I got to revisit it.
Mod
Aw, I love these answers, Shannon!
Thanks Lily!(: This book was truly a joy!
Mod
You can still contribute something! :))
Mod
Mod
⋆.ೃ࿔࿐ྂfaith & fantasy⋆.ೃ࿔࿐ྂ
Books mentioned in this topic
Gentle and Lowly: The Heart of Christ for Sinners and Sufferers (other topics)The Two Towers (other topics)
1. Who was your favorite character? Why?
2. Who was your least favorite character? Why?
3. Which scene has stuck with you the most?
4. What did you think of the writing?
5. Would you want to read another book by this author?
6. If you could change one part of the book, what would it be?
7. What did you think of the ending? (Spoiler tags, please!)
8. What was your overall opinion?