: : That was not what I was referring to: It was just that the same
: : guy posted a series of questions (including this one) in the
: : newsgroups. It was his homework (literally) and he asked for
: : our help, without him telling us what it was for. That's all -
: : I didn't mean to be provocative.

: I guess it would have helped if you had made that clear. The question in and of itself is certainly well worth discussing, and if I were feeling better I probably would have joined in the thread myself. Even Tolkien quibbled over whether Frodo's failure was a true failure.

One of the most interesting of the letters tackles this subject. JRRT seemed to feel that the task was, in the end, beyond Frodo's abilities, spiritual resources or whatever you want to call them. He was in a "sacrificial situation" and was saved by grace, in the unlikely (but vey suitable) form of Gollum, whose fall into the fire cannot simply be dismissed as an accident: there was Frodo's curse a few pages prior; a realization that he (Gollum) lacked the power to keep the Ring from Sauron and so by casting himself into the abyss he was saving himself, the Ring, and the Master who had shown him mercy; and by both gaining possession of his Precious and destroying his the source of his torment, both sides of his personality were gaining fulfillment.
But I stray: this is about Frodo. Tolkien felt that Frodo had not failed in the sense that he continues the quest in good faith until all of his physical and spiritual resources had been spent: yes, he claimed the Ring for his own, but only there at Orodruin, where it could be destroyed, when he had had many previous chances to do so and had passed them up. (Frodo with the Ring had no power to command the Nazgul, but I sometimes wonder, if he ahd claimed it earlier, could he have commanded some of Sauron's lesser servants, say the band of Orcs that overtook them on the road north to the Isenmouthe?- a move that might have temporarily saved them but revealed him to Sauron and thus been ultimately disastrous.)
Finally, there is a line overlooked in discussions of this issue. Frodo takes out the Phial of Galadriel (in which light of Earendil, two removes from the Trees of Valinor themselves, is housed) and it does not shine: "He was come to the heart of the realm of Sauron and the forges of his ancient might, greatest in Middle-earth; all other powers were here subdued." If the light of the Silmaril could not shine here, how much more could the already near exhausted will of a small Hobbit function in such a place?

As for homework: well, teachers do make assignments, but whatever the source, as long as a topic is worth debating, let's debate. Hopefully, though, teachers won't keep asking the same questions over and over, but there is enough turnover and interesting perspectives on this board to bring something new to almost every subject.