Thursday, March 22, 2012
Destiny?
When asked if he wanted to live in Rivendell, Strider replies honestly; that he would like to stay in the comfort and safety of Rivendell is a given, but it is not his destiny. This raises a question: what part does destiny play in the lives of the characters? And, if literature is an imitation of life, or a mirror image, if you will, then what does that mean about real life? Thoughts?
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I believe that destiny does play a significant part of each of the characters' lives, however I believe that free will dictates more than destiny does. I believe that the characters make their own destiny by every decision they make. Some of these choices may lead to doom, but if one of the characters chooses one of these doomed destinies, that is just how it is. This interpretation is mostly due to my view on life; that there are paths along the way, one just has to choose their own path. It's basically that your choices...make your own destiny, in a way. I mean, if you want me to interpret this literally, then sure, every character has a destiny and no free will because an author dictates exactly what these characters do. And people who think that way probably believe that their every action is the doing of a higher power. And I am not dismissing that, for I do not know everything there is to know. I do believe in God...I just believe that he does not do everything for you; you have to make the best of what you've got. Skinner, out.
ReplyDeleteI find that destiny does indeed control most of the character's actions throughout the book. Like Skinner said, even though destiny does play a part in the lives of the characters...free will ultimately decides what the characters will do next. The one thing that I notice in the book that could be considered a "pushing force" for the free will of the characters is the ring. Frodo tries quite vigorously to keep the ring off of his finger, but when the Black Riders come calling, the ring seems to slip right onto his finger. The power of the ring doesn't only affect Frodo, it plays a role in almost every decision made by those around it. For example, Gandalf and the rest of the Fellowship take all precautions to protect Frodo and the ring, they make decisions against what they would like to do just that. Again, destiny does play a part in the lives of the characters, but it is not the one driving force that causes the characters to make the decisions that they do. If it was, people would murder everyone, and just blame it on destiny.
ReplyDeleteSometimes shooting someone, is just shooting someone.
The way I interpret your comment, Mr. Phillips, you are characterizing the ring as destiny. The way I see it, the ring is just another character. It's not flesh and blood and it can't talk, but it's a physical thing that Frodo interacts with. You know it's not a god, it's Sauron's soul manifested in jewelry. It "pushes" Frodo just as any other character does, just in an evil manner. It fights Frodo when he resists the urge to put it on and tries to get him caught by the riders. To say that the ring is destiny would make as much sense to me as saying that Sam is. Sam also pushes Frodo, just in the opposite direction. While the ring tries to hurt him, Sam tries to help him. Obviously, if you believe the ring is a form of destiny, you are a communist.
DeleteEric- Class Communist
DeleteBLOGGER FIGHT
ReplyDeleteI believe destiny plays a important part in the characters lives in the Lord of the Rings as well as the lives of real people. In my opinion everything happens for a reason. Frodo was meant to find the ring and ultimately save the world. Even though Frodo has free-will his choices can only lead him to one final event or one final goal. Just like in real life where real people have free-will or freedom of choice, whatever a person chooses will only lead them to what they are meant to do. I don't think that life is random and things just happen. There is a reason for them. Those reasons can be anything for helping an individual to learn or grow or even die in the end. It doesn't matter, there is always a reason.
ReplyDeleteFrodo didn't find the ring.. He inherited it from Bilbo.
DeleteDisregarding the fact that Tolkien made the decisions for all of the characters, I still believe that none of them have free will and that they all would have ended up in the same places regardless of what choices they make. Frodo was meant to be adopted by Bilbo to inherit and destroy the ring. Sam was meant to be found eavesdropping. The hobbits and Striders paths were meant to be crossed. They were meant to help the cause of destroying the ring.
ReplyDeleteIn real life, we have to make decisions all the time. Most decisions are as easy as choosing between an apple and a banana for breakfast and we don't even think about how simple that decision was. I believe everything we do is also predetermined and we really don't have much choice like we would like to believe.
A famous Cognitive Psychologist named B.F. Skinner once said that "free will is an illusion". He of course was bashing Abraham Maslows idea of Humanism, which stresses the idea that humans are unique because they have free will. I don't think we are that special. If every other single creature on this planet has a predetermined destiny, then what makes us, an ape that happened to have lucky and favorable genetic mutations, have free will?
Case in point: "FREE WILL IS AN ILLUSION"