I love the novel The Lord of the Rings, and I love Tolkien more. I think The Lord of the Rings is the most amazing novel, and it’s also the best novel I have ever read. It was a brand new world and history created by Tolkien all by his imagination. This world has its own rules and system. It is full of mystery but still so clearly seen – A middle-earth world! The world is clearly like a myth and it has a clear distinction between good and evil. And it is full of metaphors. The most essential and clear metaphor is, no doubt, the RING itself.
“One ring to rule them all, One ring to find them. one ring to bring them all, in the darkness bind them.” The ring symbolizes the absolute and supreme power to run the people. In Tolkien’s words, this power is dark and cheating. What makes The Hobbits have a resistance to the rings? That is a very interesting question. Nobody can give a clear answer, but it also seems obvious. The Hobbits’ natural power is opposite to the RING’s power. And the Hobbits, they are not feeling any desire, even they have their greed. But the power of the RING is quite a strange thing for them. The RING is made by someone, its power is out-towards and destructive, but the power of the Hobbits is natural, it’s from inside, and with life. It’s difficult to know where the power of Hobbits comes from, but it comes from nature, and Valar, from the creator. Everyone is standing between absolute evil and good and has to face their own “the RING” temptation. And everyone has their test to know if he/she can hold the belief of love.
In reality, it’s full of temptation. When everything is desperate, what should we do? Whether should we insist on holding the belief of beauty? Yes, of course, we should. Only if we hold the belief, hope, and love can we defeat all the blocks in relationships.
The friendship in the story also gives me great inspiration for my views of friendship. What are the best benefits of friends? I think it is companionship.
At the story’s beginning, three friends accompany Frodo and take the adventure. Frodo lost his parents when he was young. Lucky for him that he has sincere friends who accompanied him his whole life. Frodo wasn’t expecting to drown his friends in this at the beginning because he knew that he was going down a road with no return, and he didn’t want his friend to die with him.
Most of us want to be loyal to our friends, and we think we are loyal people too. But “when friendship is involved in the desires, we can easily find an excuse to stop or shorten the commitment we made”. Companionship is not hard, but with loyalty and trust, it is not easy as we thought.
There’re lots of touching moments in the novel. And the most typical ones, of course, it’s Samwise and Frodo. Samwise accompanies Frodo with no doubt and is willing to give all his life, which is very admirable. But Samwise’s companionship experienced a test. He had a second thought, but the firmness of their friendship is built after his consideration when facing a crisis. The friendship that is willing to give up life doesn’t come from anywhere. Samwise’s determination to support Frodo was made at first, but after testing with suffering, to be standing like a rock.
After sharing weal and woe, we can bear failure together. Such friends must be cherished.
The role of a lover in a relationship is like a friend. We accompany, keep our promises, and bear failures together. Only this way can lead to a bright future.