"1. Again, can you remember your first reaction to this scene?"
First, I was impressed with Gandalf's strategy of misdirection and applied
power; rather than trying to match the Balrog's might (not knowing they were
actually equals in essence). I was also struck by the subtlety of Tolkien's
treatment of magic in how only half of the bridge crumbled.
But the fall...now that struck me almost as much as Luke Skywalker's defeat in
The Empire Strikes Back had four years earlier. That had stunned; this shocked
and saddened me. Gandalf was my favorite after Frodo. But in the best heroic
fiction, the good guys have to lose sometimes.
And then there are those final words as he slid into the abyss, marking what a
true Hero that Gandalf was. No wail of protest, no treacly last request, only
his devotion to his Purpose: to protect the Ringbearer. "Fly, you fools" would
be my first indelible memorable scene in Tolkien.
"2. Now is the time to assess the entire action sequence as a literary work.
Go back over the chapter and comment on it as a piece of writing. Does it
accomplish the writer’s purpose? Does it engadge the reader? How does it
succeed of fail? "
Does it! It's got everything: action, foreshadowing, comic relief (Boromir
gloating at the failed fire-trap), magic, and an old-fashioned shock ending.
"3. Note the curious puncuation of the ‘He staggared’ line. It is very
deliberately chopped into four separate bits, rendering the moment into slow
motion. How’s that for effective writing (I know we have English teachers out
there)."
I'm no English teacher, but do have two degrees in writing disciplines. For an
unprofessional writer, Tolkien sure knew how to write.
"CHALLENGE
How many times does Gandalf use the term ‘fool!’ Show your work."
"You will be a fool if you do, Bilbo." in "A Long-Expected Party."
"Fool of a Took!" to Pippin in "A Journey in the Dark."
"Wise fool." of Sauron in "The White Rider."
"You have become a fool, Saruman, and yet pitiable." in "The Voice of
Saruman."
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"In that hour I looked on Aragorn and thought how great and terrible a Lord he might have become in the strength of his will, had he taken the Ring to himself. Not for naught does Mordor fear him."
