Living in a Story

"I wonder what sort of a tale we've fallen into?" -Samwise Gamgee

When asked what my favorite book is, as I was this past week, my answer is The Lord of the Rings.  I think the reason this book resonates with me, is that its ending is the most powerful and satisfying that I have ever read.  Upon recently concluding my second reading of Tolkien's novel, I was left with a perfect feeling of awe.  What contributes first to the potency of the ending is the epic nature of the work.  A lot is at stake in the book, and many different interconnected threads are brought together.  The Lord of the Rings is able to take that powerful build up and resolve it in the most fitting way imaginable.  The novel takes the time (6 chapters) to really tie up every imaginable loose end.  This might drive some people crazy, but to me it seems necessary after the hundreds of pages of build up.  This combination of a complex, yet well connected story with a well-contrived, fitting and smooth ending is something The Lord of the Rings does exceptionally well.
 
As amazing and satisfying as the Lord of the Rings is, I want to propose that even the Lord of the Rings has a certain dissatisfaction, but that this dissatisfaction is true to life.  The problem?  The story has to end somewhere.  At some point, Tolkien had to stop writing.  When it's all said and done, after all the loose ends are tied up, we are left with Sam sitting in his home, wondering how life will go on.  We are left to ponder if he will ever join Frodo across the sundering sea and what life will be like for him and Rosie and his children.  How will middle earth get on after Aragorn is dead?  Although Frodo and the elves going into the West seems fitting, why did the elves have to leave and will Frodo be fully healed of his wounds?  Even if we did continue the story to learn how many children Sam had and to learn if Sam was reunited with Frodo, there would always be more we could say. What about Sam's grandchildren?

This dissatisfaction is the very thing Tolkien prepares us for by his characters' understanding of themselves as part of a larger story:
 "'Don't the great tales never end?' [asked Sam].
'No, they never end as tales,' said Frodo. 'But the people in them come, and go when their part's ended.'"
Sam and Frodo know they are a small part of an ongoing story.  In fact the whole 'story' of the Lord of the Rings is only a small part of the larger story of Middle Earth.  The writing itself reflects the smallness of the events which are happening.  Sauron, the Lord of the Rings, is only an old servant of Morgoth, the one who first brought evil to Middle Earth.  Shelob, the spider-like creature which Frodo and Sam encounter, is only a child of Ungoliant, the original such creature which destroyed the trees of the Sun and the Moon long ago in Valinor.  Aragorn and Arwen are but a reminder of Beren and Luthien, the original romance between a mortal and an immortal.  The events in the Lord of the Rings are hardly the most important that have ever happened in Middle Earth.  They are just a small part of the story.

This is why we can never be truly satisfied with any story.  The story is never actually over, and we can only ever tell or listen to a part of the greater story.  Tolkien’s writing reflects this.  I want to propose that our feeling of satisfaction or dissatisfaction with storytelling is true to our experience of satisfaction or dissatisfaction with life.  As amazing and exciting as all our plans and achievements are, at the end of the day we are dissatisfied.  This is true no matter how complete or how fulfilling we think they will be and how satisfying they actually are.  There is always a lingering dissatisfaction.  This is because the things we do are just part of the larger story.  After we graduate, life goes on.  After we win the Nobel prize, life goes on.  When our lives our complete, our story comes to an end, but new characters enter the story and the tale continues.

Are we doomed to be forever dissatisfied?  And if we are just small players in an enormous story, does it really matter if we play our part well?  What was even the point of everything that happened in the Lord of the Rings and what is the point of our lives?

Recall the experience Sam had nearly despairing deep in the heart of Mordor:
"There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach." 
Sam could have given up because the shadow was only a passing thing, but instead the realization filled him with hope.  He had hope that good would triumph in the end.  Assured of that, all he could do was his best.

If we find our efforts frustrated, dissatisfying, or pointless, our greatest source of hope is remembering that we are part of a great story.  Goodness will triumph in the end, and all our human efforts can help bring that about.  When goodness finally triumphs and the great story, the story behind every other story, comes to The End which is beyond our imagination, then we will find true satisfaction.  This, I suggest, is the tale we have fallen into.  We are living in a story.