Chapter 9: Flotsam and Jetsam
Jacob's Thoughts (8/4/15)
Some of my same concerns from "The Road to Isengard" carry over to this chapter, namely that so much of this, well, "Flotsam and Jetsam" (and Tolkien's choice to so name this material is hardly a rousing endorsement) could have been excised from both chapters and the relevant portions combined into one tighter sequence. For example, the chapter opener, what with the reunited Fellowship shooting the breeze, wondering what's around to eat or smoke, is so aggressively low-stakes that is almost feels like a parody of all the action that came before.
Moreover, hearing these characters recount, yet again, for the umpteenth time, events that we just read about for ourselves a scarce few chapters ago, is not only needlessly redundant, but has a bizarre sort of recursive feel to it (in the next chapter, are they going to recount the time they last recounted what they recounted about? Will they just keep remembering their remembering? What is this, a Borjes story?).
But this chapter does at least partially justify its existence, as we finally get to hear about the Ents' righteous assault on Isengard. I'm still on the fence about the virtue of hearing Merry and Pippin narrate it for us, but I suppose that extra level of mediation is not appreciably different from just hearing Tolkien narrate it directly; and in spite of the laid-back framing device, wherein (unlike "Helm's Deep") we already know from the start how this battle will end, it's still a rousing sequence. It's almost as though Tolkien is preemptively declaring that spoiler alerts are overrated--already knowing the ending by no means ruins the pleasure of getting there. Or at least he so implies.
This chapter also answers my concern as to why Merry and Pippin were so blase about Gandalf's reappearance--they had already re-met him again during the battle of Isengard, although even that reunion feels weirdly off-hand and perfunctory. It would appear that now that Gandalf is back, Tolkien is radically disinterested in continually reemphasizing that fact (even if he lacks any similar restraint against having his characters endlessly repeat to each other what just happened).
Eric's Thoughts (8/15/15)
I didn't mind this chapter. Anything that involves smoking and contemplating is far more engaging than the endless fields of the last chapter.
What I liked about this chapter was that it felt like actual characters were beginning to engage with each other. Sometimes it's hard to do that when they're just running on horses together. The hobbits describe the battle of isengard, which was done well. Tolkien shows the ruin, then describes how it happens. The details don't give a blow by blow account, but hit a few highlights. Especially fun is the cameo by Wormtongue in this chapter, and how Treebeard was aware of Wormtongue's game because of Gandalf. (Remember, Wormtongue is the most interesting character so far in the series!)
I agree with Jacob that this chapter should have been combined with the last.
Ben's Thoughts (8/20/15)
I have a lot less to say about this chapter than the last one. It's certainly deflating to hear about the assault on Isengard after the fact; the outcome is predetermined, so the reader is robbed of any sort of tension. We even know that Quickbeam, the only other Ent we have had any kind of connection with from the text, is going to be all right when he goes chasing after Saruman, because the party saw him alive and well in the last chapter guarding the doors of Orthanc.
So I do have to question Tolkien's choice in giving this afterthought of an explanation to the hobbits' simplified rendition. Wouldn't it have been better to see the thing in person? The question, I suppose, is whether a direct depiction of the assault is more important than the buildup to the big reveal that Gandalf & Co. don't have to attack the place themselves; it's already been done for them. I'd argue that a direct depiction would have been much more useful than this awkward recounting. The astute reader can already guess that Isengard has been taken care of: Gandalf's complete nonchalance about the whole matter, as well as the fact that the Ents and Hurons are obviously hanging about the area kind of gives up the game well before we see the torn-down doors and flooded interior.
So here's how I would have divided these chapters: I would have lumped the clean-up at Helm's Deep at the end of "Helm's Deep" itself, and then I would have had a new chapter (perhaps entitled "Rock and Stone," after Treebeard's statement about his "business" with Isengard) recounting the assault and the aftermath, ending with Treebeard talking to the hobbits about the king and Gandalf's impending arrival. Then a third chapter could have brought the company down the road to Isengard and taken them all the way to the doors of Orthanc, ready for their confrontation with Saruman that's about to take place in the next chapter. Part of me is suspicious that Tolkien had it like this at one point, what with all of the verbatim dialogue that Merry and Pippin spout out to Aragorn and friends when they're lounging about; for the life of me I can't see how the way it was done was better. Two back-to-back exciting battle chapters, each very different in format, setting, and characters than the other, seems to be better than having two completely-blase chapters like these.
The most interesting thing about this chapter is the continuation of the ominous foreshadowing about "things" going badly in the Shire in the hobbits' absence. "Scouring of the Shire" is the highlight of the end of the series for me, and it's nice to see some seeds planted slowly along the way.
Some of my same concerns from "The Road to Isengard" carry over to this chapter, namely that so much of this, well, "Flotsam and Jetsam" (and Tolkien's choice to so name this material is hardly a rousing endorsement) could have been excised from both chapters and the relevant portions combined into one tighter sequence. For example, the chapter opener, what with the reunited Fellowship shooting the breeze, wondering what's around to eat or smoke, is so aggressively low-stakes that is almost feels like a parody of all the action that came before.
Moreover, hearing these characters recount, yet again, for the umpteenth time, events that we just read about for ourselves a scarce few chapters ago, is not only needlessly redundant, but has a bizarre sort of recursive feel to it (in the next chapter, are they going to recount the time they last recounted what they recounted about? Will they just keep remembering their remembering? What is this, a Borjes story?).
But this chapter does at least partially justify its existence, as we finally get to hear about the Ents' righteous assault on Isengard. I'm still on the fence about the virtue of hearing Merry and Pippin narrate it for us, but I suppose that extra level of mediation is not appreciably different from just hearing Tolkien narrate it directly; and in spite of the laid-back framing device, wherein (unlike "Helm's Deep") we already know from the start how this battle will end, it's still a rousing sequence. It's almost as though Tolkien is preemptively declaring that spoiler alerts are overrated--already knowing the ending by no means ruins the pleasure of getting there. Or at least he so implies.
This chapter also answers my concern as to why Merry and Pippin were so blase about Gandalf's reappearance--they had already re-met him again during the battle of Isengard, although even that reunion feels weirdly off-hand and perfunctory. It would appear that now that Gandalf is back, Tolkien is radically disinterested in continually reemphasizing that fact (even if he lacks any similar restraint against having his characters endlessly repeat to each other what just happened).
Eric's Thoughts (8/15/15)
I didn't mind this chapter. Anything that involves smoking and contemplating is far more engaging than the endless fields of the last chapter.
What I liked about this chapter was that it felt like actual characters were beginning to engage with each other. Sometimes it's hard to do that when they're just running on horses together. The hobbits describe the battle of isengard, which was done well. Tolkien shows the ruin, then describes how it happens. The details don't give a blow by blow account, but hit a few highlights. Especially fun is the cameo by Wormtongue in this chapter, and how Treebeard was aware of Wormtongue's game because of Gandalf. (Remember, Wormtongue is the most interesting character so far in the series!)
I agree with Jacob that this chapter should have been combined with the last.
Ben's Thoughts (8/20/15)
I have a lot less to say about this chapter than the last one. It's certainly deflating to hear about the assault on Isengard after the fact; the outcome is predetermined, so the reader is robbed of any sort of tension. We even know that Quickbeam, the only other Ent we have had any kind of connection with from the text, is going to be all right when he goes chasing after Saruman, because the party saw him alive and well in the last chapter guarding the doors of Orthanc.
So I do have to question Tolkien's choice in giving this afterthought of an explanation to the hobbits' simplified rendition. Wouldn't it have been better to see the thing in person? The question, I suppose, is whether a direct depiction of the assault is more important than the buildup to the big reveal that Gandalf & Co. don't have to attack the place themselves; it's already been done for them. I'd argue that a direct depiction would have been much more useful than this awkward recounting. The astute reader can already guess that Isengard has been taken care of: Gandalf's complete nonchalance about the whole matter, as well as the fact that the Ents and Hurons are obviously hanging about the area kind of gives up the game well before we see the torn-down doors and flooded interior.
So here's how I would have divided these chapters: I would have lumped the clean-up at Helm's Deep at the end of "Helm's Deep" itself, and then I would have had a new chapter (perhaps entitled "Rock and Stone," after Treebeard's statement about his "business" with Isengard) recounting the assault and the aftermath, ending with Treebeard talking to the hobbits about the king and Gandalf's impending arrival. Then a third chapter could have brought the company down the road to Isengard and taken them all the way to the doors of Orthanc, ready for their confrontation with Saruman that's about to take place in the next chapter. Part of me is suspicious that Tolkien had it like this at one point, what with all of the verbatim dialogue that Merry and Pippin spout out to Aragorn and friends when they're lounging about; for the life of me I can't see how the way it was done was better. Two back-to-back exciting battle chapters, each very different in format, setting, and characters than the other, seems to be better than having two completely-blase chapters like these.
The most interesting thing about this chapter is the continuation of the ominous foreshadowing about "things" going badly in the Shire in the hobbits' absence. "Scouring of the Shire" is the highlight of the end of the series for me, and it's nice to see some seeds planted slowly along the way.
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