LotR = productive

So last night I did some Lord of the Rings reading...I'm into what I call the "killer section" which is my LEAST favorite part of the books..I personally find Gollum heartbreaking and it is difficult for me to read this section of the book ( the travellings of Frodo, Sam and Gollum)-however, I've come across some beautiful passages ( in my opinion) and I am always struck by the character of Faramir who owns the last two quotes...His character, well, dont get me started...I'll go on for days..

“I do not feel any pity for Gollum. He deserves death."
"Deserves Death! I daresay he does. Many that live deserve death. And
some that die that deserve life. Can you give that to them? Then be not too
eager to deal out death in the name of justice, fearing for your own safety.
Even the wise cannot see all ends.”

For a moment it appeared to Sam that his master had grown and Gollum
had shrunk: a tall stern shadow, a mighty lord who hid his brightness in
grey cloud, and at his feet a little whining dog. Yet the two were in a some
way akin and not alien: they could reach on another’s minds.

“Ach! No!” he spluttered. You try to choke poor Smeagol. Dust and
ashes, he cant eat that. He must starve. He cant eat hobbits’ food. He will
starve. Poor thin Smeagol.
“I’m sorry,” said Frodo, “but I cant help you, I’m afraid. I think this
food would do you good, if you would try. But perhaps you cant even try, not
yet anyway.”

He was now beginning to feel it as an actual weight dragging him
earthwards. But far more he was troubled by the Eye; so he called it to himself. It
was that more than the drag of the Ring that made him cower and stoop as he
walked. The Eye: that horrible growing sense of a hostile will that
strove with great power…Frodo knew just where the present habitation and heart
of that will now was: as certainly as a man can tell the direction of the
sun with his eyes shut. He was facing it, and its potency beat up his brow.

Even to the (Dead Marshes) some haggard phantom of green spring would
come, but here neither spring nor summer would ever come again. Here nothing
lived, not even the leprous growths that feed on rottenness…
They had come to the desolation that lay before Mordor: the lasting
monument to the dark labour of its slaves that should endure when all
their purposes were made void; a land defiled, a diseased beyond all
healing-unless the Great Sea should enter in and wash it with oblivion.
“I feel sick,” said Sam. Frodo did not speak.

Gollum in his own way, and with much more excuse as his acquaintance
was much briefer, may have made a similar mistake, confusing kindness with
blindness. At any rate (Frodo’s) speech abashed and terrified him. He
groveled on the ground and could speak no clear words but nice
master.

It was Sam’s first view of a battle of Men against Men, and he did not
like it much. He was glad that he could not see the dead face. He wondered
what the man’s name was and where he came from; and if he was really evil of
heart, or what lies or threats had led him on the long march from his
home; and if he would not really rather have stayed home in peace-all in a
flash of thought which was quickly driven from his mind.

“Yet (Frodo) felt in his heart that Faramir, though he was much like
his brother in looks, was a man less self-regarding, both sterner and wiser. “

“Whether Boromir erred or no, of this I am sure: he died well,
achieving some good thing. His face was more beautiful even than in life.”

War must be, while we defend our lives against a destroyer who would
devour all; but I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the
arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which
they defend: the city of all the Men of Numenor; and I would have her loved
for her memory, her ancientry, her beauty, and her present wisdom. Not feared,
save as a men may fear the dignity of a man, old and wise.”