Gollum - Tricksy Little Hobbitses Beware

        Upon reading Cohen's essay, "Monster Culture(Seven Theses)," I gained further insight into understanding how Gollum is an accurate representation of a  monster and the qualities that make him monstrous.  Gollum himself in my opinion fits into a few theses put forth by Cohen, in that he is a harbringer of category crisis and polices the borders of the possible.

       In the instance of Gollum exemplifying Cohen's thesis that a monster is a harbringer of category crisis, he does so quite well. For in the Lord of the Rings universe, Gollum has only a name to define him. He belongs to no race of men, elves, dwarves, orcs, or even hobbits. Now this is an interesting concept because there is a deeper level to his story of not belonging to a category and being definable. Originally around 500 years before the time period within the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Gollum at this time was actually a hobbit-like creature known as Smeagol. But upon his friend finding the Ring, Smeagol becomes infatuated with "the precious" and believes it to be his rightful birthday present. When his friend refuses to bequeath the Ring to him, Smeagol responds by choking him to death and taking the Ring for himself. It is here that we see the beginning of the transformation of Smeagol into the monster he will eventually become, known as Gollum. Over the hundreds of years that Smeagol spends as the wielder of the Ring, it corrupts and twists his mind, body, and soul into an unrecognizable creature that bears no resemblance to his former self. And this is a wonderful example for Cohen's thesis that a monster is a harbringer of category crisis, because in the beginning, Smeagol was an easily defined species, but upon becoming a monster, he no longer is definable due to how corrupted and twisted his mind and body become due to the power of the Ring.

     The second thesis of Cohen's that Gollum exemplifies is that the monster polices the borders of the possible. Gollum in my opinion is a great example as a monster who stands as a warning against a certain vice throughout the trilogy and the consequences that follow. As most of us already know, Gollum has a very unhealthy and unnatural obsession with the Ring, and goes to great lengths to protect it and eventually procure it when it gets taken from him. Gollum is the ultimate personification of the vice of obsessing over one's material possessions or possession in this case. And the lengths that he goes to obtain the ring are quite remarkable. He murders his best friend just to obtain it because he believes it to be rightfully his, sacrificing his humanity(hobbitness?) and innocence in doing so. During the hundreds of years that he dwells in the depths of a cave under a mountain engrossed with the Ring, any trace of his former self is eradicated in both body and mind, for he forfeits them to the Ring. And when the Ring is famously stolen by the tricksy hobbitses Bilbo and then handed down to Frodo, Gollum chases the Ring all across Middle Earth. Over mountains, through mines, and a range of other unforgiving terrains. But to me what is most impressive and at the same frightening, is that Gollum even goes so far as to revert back to his Smeagol-like nature and become a submissive servant and guide for Frodo all in order to exploit any opportunity that arises to take back the Ring. He defies his own current nature and in a sense, completely suppresses his monstrous self and puts on a facade that will lower the guard of Frodo. This behavior the Gollum exhibits is one that scared me back when I first watched the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and it also scares me in everyday real life. When looking at all of the people around me everyday, how do I know that they are not wearing a cheerful and friendly mask that obscures their true underlying nature. Overall, Gollum serves his purpose of as a warning to those who seek to obsess over their own material possessions.