“The Lord of the Rings” by J. R. R. Tolkien (post 14): Like Sméagol-Gollum (widely recognized for multiple personality), Sam Gamgee debates himself.

Most readers of this novel do not recognize the following dialogue as being between Sam and an alternate personality, because the latter does not have its own name. But regular readers of this blog know that in real-life multiple personality, alternate personalities are often nameless (search “nameless” and “namelessness” in this blog) or at least decline to volunteer their names.

When persons who do not have multiple personality debate themselves, the same “I” takes both sides, so “I” is never surprised or taken aback by what is said. The debate is not a true dialogue in which two independent thinkers argue.

But the following is a true dialogue in which Sam and his alternate personality argue:

     “He could not sleep and he held a debate with himself. ‘Well, come now. We’ve done better than you hoped,’ he said sturdily. ‘Began well anyway. I reckon we crossed half the distance before we stopped. One more day will do it.’ And then he paused.

     ‘Don’t be a fool, Sam Gamgee,’ came an answer in his own voice… ‘And you can’t go on much longer…’

     ‘I can go on a good way though, and I will.’

     ‘Where to?’

     ‘To the Mountain, of course.’

     ‘But what then, Sam Gamgee, what then? When you get there, what are you going to do?

     To his dismay Sam realized that he had not got an answer to this. He had no clear idea at all…

     ‘There you are!’ came the answer. ‘It’s all quite useless…You are the fool, going on hoping and toiling…You might just as well lie down now and give it up. You’ll never get to the top anyway.’

     ‘I’ll get there, if I leave everything but my bones behind,’ said Sam. ‘And I’ll carry Mr. Frodo up myself, if it breaks my back and heart. So stop arguing!’ ” (1, p. 939).

Comment

The above is what I have called “gratuitous multiple personality”: the author probably did not intend to portray multiple personality, per se, but does so inadvertently, because, in the author’s own personal experience, it is just ordinary psychology. The author does not realize that everyone does not think this way.

Like the author, most people with multiple personality think that other people probably have similar subjective experiences (internal dialogues, memory gaps, etc.), but that other people don’t mention it, because it is too mundane or personal. Novelists might discover that their spouse does not have similar subjective experiences, but that other fiction writers do.

Sam’s unintentionally portrayed multiple personality is one more example of how an author’s multiple personality inadvertently pervades his novel.

1. J. R. R. Tolkien. The Lord of the Rings [1954-55]. 50th Anniversary One-Volume Edition. New York, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2004.