Frodo cannot resist the Ring, and only the forces of chance and circumstance can separate him from it. While some individuals are more easily and swiftly affected by the Ring, like Gollum, no one, not even Bilbo Baggins can fully divest themselves of the desires it sparks in their hearts. Even Sam, the most stalwart and stable of all of the characters knows: "He himself, though only for a little while, had borne the Ring, and now dimly he guessed the agony of Gollum's shriveled mind and body" (Tolkien 955).

As Tolkien wrote the Lord of the Rings, the entire world was gripped in a struggle of good vs. evil, in the form of the Axis powers that were threatening the rest of the world. Tolkien resisted an easy characterization of his novel as a mere translation of the historical events of his age. "The Ring was not meant to...
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