Friday, January 11, 2013
Notes From Middle Earth
I'm going to try and expand my comparison between Gollum and the underground man. Gollum, who appears to be almost bipolar and has talks with his two personalities, which seem to directly contradict each other- namely Smeagol and Gollum. Similarly, the underground man contradicts himself, and holds conversations with himself. Gollum and the underground man's inner conversations are slightly different though: while Gollum tries to grapple with good and evil, the underground man struggles with his place in society. Gollum and the underground are also very isolated, and seemingly "de-humanified" because of their isolation. The underground sincerely wishes he could be a fly, or an insect so that he could be noticed, while in contrast, Gollum is consumed by the power of the ring. I'm probably missing loads of comparisons, but I think the two characters really do have a lot in common.
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I agree with what you have to say Will and I also think part of their psyche they cope with, due to their isolation, stems from another aspect that you mentioned. This aspect being Gollum being consumed by the ring and the Underground Man feeling left out of society. I think the reason Gollum is so attached to the ring is because he wants some sort of recognition from the ring. How he'd get recognition from an object, specifically a ring, I have no idea, it's just a thought I have. Maybe he wants the maker of the ring to recognize him as a wearer of the ring. The Underground Man also wants recognition from society that he is an intellectual and one of the smartest men to ever live, or does he just want to be noticed in general, whether in a negative or positive way. Either way, both desire recognition from someone, but cannot seem to get it because they are so anti-social and refuse to interact with society, but simply stand at a distance and ponder.
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