Open Prompt #4

1970 Also. Choose a work of recognized literary merit in which a specific inanimate object (e.g., a seashell, a handkerchief, a painting) is important, and write an essay in which you show how two or three of the purposes the object serves are related to one another. 

In The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien there is a special ring and whoever puts it on will be all-powerful.  The ring has incredible power and just wearing it around one’s neck is enough to turn a normal person mad with  power.  That is where one of the main character’s, a Hobbit named Frodo, comes in.  He is the only person that can refuse the urge to wear the ring and stay somewhat sane.  Throughout the story Frodo attempts to destroy the ring as its power is too great for one person.  Along the way many people try to take the ring from him so that they can harness its  incredible power. 

The inscription on the ring reads: “One ring to rule them all, one ring to find them, one ring to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them”. This really shows the purposes of the ring as intended by the author.  The ring is meant to rule others and bring power to its beholder, and it is meant to bind people and bring them together.

One of the purposes of the ring is to empower its beholder.  It has been used by many evil people in the past to rule the kingdom but somehow it ended up in the hands of small Frodo due to destiny.  Throughout the books Frodo wrestles with his conscious.  He knows he should not wear the ring but the ring constantly tempts him to try it on.  Frodo’s internal struggle is best shown by the character Smeagol.  Smeagol is basically a bipolar character that goes by both the name Smeagol and Gollum.  He has a good side (Smeagol) and a dark side (Gollum) that years of wearing the ring brought out from within him.  He is willing to kill to get the ring back when he is Gollum but knows that the ring is evil when he is Smeagol.  The wearer of the ring has the ability to teleport and all sorts of other powers.

One of the purposes of rings is to bring people together.  Rings have a circular shape that is meant to symbolize eternity.  They are often used to symbolize eternity in marriage but they can also be used to  symbolize eternal friendships and promises.   In The Lord of the Rings the ring brings unlikely people together, such as Frodo and Sam.  Before the novel they were not friends and didn’t like each other all that much but their adventures through dark places and close encounters with death created a tight, eternal bond that not even the power of the ring could break.   

The ring brings people together (“one ring to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them”) and it is a symbol of power (“one ring to rule them all”).  How do these purposes relate?  Both of these purposes are eternal as a rings shape.  The power the ring brings when it is worn is eternal and the relationships it creates are everlasting as well.  The ring brings great power, but alone one person cannot be all powerful.  The ring has the power to control all the other powerful rings in the land and utilize it.  This is very similar to the friendships it creates.  For example Frodo would not be able to do anything of great relevance alone but with his friends Sam and Gandalf he is able to do great things.