I have heard it maintained more than once that that is indeed the point of the book, and I've read a Tolkein quote to that effect. There's a reasonable point of view that Sam is actually the book's hero. He certainly gets the last word.
Well, a supporting argument for that is it being partly based on a Kurosawa film told from the point of view of the two peasants the droids were based on. So you can have Frodo and Sam spouting mediaeval Japanese now, if you like.
There's also Sam's comment about "I can carry you and it too", which I'd rather thought was intended to carry wider significance than straight physical truth. (He does literally carry Frodo at the time, but he's been doing it metaphorically all along.)
That's a bit odd in the light of the way everyone else is upper-class and furthermore part of the true bloodline, in the way that Aragorn is more qualified to run Gondor than Faramir is even though Aragorn was bushwhacking while Faramir was, er, learning how to rule Gondor, because of who Aragorn's great-grandfather was.
"My Sam Gamgee is indeed a reflexion of the English soldier, of the privates and batmen I knew in the 1914 war, and recognised as so far superior to myself" (The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, ed. Humphrey Carpenter).
See also here for Tolkein referring to Sam as the "chief hero" of the story.
Surely Aragorn is more qualified because he understands what a king is for - to defend the people. Faramir is too tied up with family issues, honour etc.
Exactly. Aragorn learned mainly from Elrond, whose domain is a tight-knit community that he leads as a friend and guide. Faramir learned from Denethor, who (even in Tolkien's version) is a cold, distant bureaucrat who doesn't connect properly with his people. It's remarkable that Boromir and Faramir turned out even as well-adjusted as they did.
The point of the book is surely what makes someone suitable to be a ruler - in particular what makes Aragorn suitable. The contrast between Sam and Frodo is some of the same questions played out on a smaller scale.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
(no subject)
I'm not really sure that was a good thing, because now my brain is transplanting all sorts of Artoo and Threepio's dialogue on to Frodo and Sam.
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
"My Sam Gamgee is indeed a reflexion of the English soldier, of the privates and batmen I knew in the 1914 war, and recognised as so far superior to myself" (The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, ed. Humphrey Carpenter).
See also here for Tolkein referring to Sam as the "chief hero" of the story.
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)