I seem to see ahead, in a kind of way

Archimago

New Member
In the discussion about Frodo and Sam's post-Gildor conversation, Sam's new desire is described as "a sense of purpose." I don't disagree with this, but I think something essential is missed by characterizing it so simply. I think Sam already knew his purpose quite clearly, as he tells the Elves: to stick with Frodo to the end, come what may ("Leave him! I said. I never mean to."). What we see him struggling to describe to Frodo the next morning is something more complicated. It's something beyond his experience and even his imagination, so that he can't articulate it even to himself.

"I don't know how to say it, but after last night I feel different. I seem to see ahead, in a kind of way. I know we are going to take a very long road, into darkness; but I know I can't turn back. It isn't to see Elves now, nor dragons, nor mountains, that I want - I don't rightly know what I want: but I have something to do before the end, and it lies ahead, not in the Shire."

I think we're seeing the result of a genuine, profound transformation in Sam as a result of his encounter with the Elves. If it were merely Sam's discovery of his purpose, I don't think either he or Frodo would have trouble understanding it. This is something much more than simply Leave him! I never mean to. The suggestion that Sam had a sense of doom (in the Tolkien sense) was dismissed in the discussion, but that actually seems nearer the mark to me.

Consider: what Sam is describing is something that "lies ahead" and "something to do before the end." This sound like something he has yet to do rather than something he's already doing (such as serving his master faithfully). And at the moment, their only goal is to reach Rivendell; "a very long road, into darkness" is something that none of the hobbits (I think) have yet foreseen. It's easy to dismiss Sam's phrase, "I seem to see ahead, in a kind of way," as mere metaphor, but I wonder. Sam's vague, shadowy sense feels very much like a true glimpse of what is to come.

If something like this is correct, what do we call Sam's revelation instead of "a sense of purpose?" I don't think I can do any better than Sam, but I feel like it's a realignment of Sam's purpose and desire so that they mesh with his (barely glimpsed, barely understood) doom. Although that still doesn't quite capture it. Sam's description is better.
 
Thank you for addressing my question in the last discussion – it was very illuminating! I think I was indeed undervaluing Sam’s desire as a component of his newfound Purpose. (And I like the suggestion to capitalize it; that gives it the weight and moment that I felt were missing in the original discussion.) I’m curious now about the why of Sam’s transformation. Checking “Elves, Sir!” off his bucket list is a necessary but trivial component, but I think it was the actual substance of the encounter that was responsible for the change. Though it’s hard to say with any certainty, since we have only Sam’s brief account of what it was like.

This new Sam has a seriousness and something like wisdom that he didn’t have before, though they haven’t diminished his good-naturedness. I don’t want to go too far in suggesting that, in some sense, he’s “so old and young, and so gay and sad,” but I feel like there may be a legitimate comparison to be made. Perhaps his transformation is due to his acquisition of some essential element of Elvish nature.
 
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