The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers Lesson Plan

Is Gollum a redeemable figure, in your opinion? Why or why not?

As an exercise, the teacher may find it useful to ask students what "redeemability" could mean in the context of The Lord of the Rings: does it mean that Gollum could recover from his addiction to the One Ring, for example? Does it mean that all the wrong which Gollum has done can be forgiven or atoned for?

Formally, Tolkien leaves these questions unanswered, but this question will almost surely draw divided responses from students. Some may think that Gollum surely cannot escape the Ring's grasp, while others may see the existence of a "Sméagol" personality within Gollum as evidence of a residual better...