Richesse et pauvreté

[sosryko]

(8) Le cas de Bill (retour)

Le procédé que nous examinons est loin d’avoir été appliqué à Bill le Poney  une seule fois en :

[citation=I.11.175{204}]'A poor old half-starved creature it is,' said Bob; 'but he won't part with it for less than thrice its worth, seeing how you're placed, not if I knows Bill Ferny.'[/citation]

Aragorn aura un jugement identique à de celui de Bob :

[citation=I.11.175{204}]'I wonder,' said Strider. 'But I cannot imagine any animal running home to him, once it got away. I fancy this is only an afterthought of kind Master Ferny's: just a way of increasing his profits from the affair. The chief danger is that the poor beast is probably at death's door. But there does not seem any choice. What does he want for it?'[/citation]

et aussi [emphase]«  my poor old pony! »[/emphase] (I.11.176{206}), [emphase]« the poor beast »[/emphase] (I.12.194) et [emphase]« Bill Ferny's poor old pony »[/emphase] (I.12.199{231})… même si la compassion que l’on est en droit d’éprouver à l’encontre de Bill le Poney a autant (sinon plus !) à voir avec son vieil âge qu’avec les mauvais traitements qu’il a subit chez Bill Fougeron ([emphase]« Bill Ferny's treatment must have been very hard for the journey in the wild to seem so much better than its former life. »[/emphase], I.12.194).

La mention de la " pauvre bête " devient récurrente :

[citation=II.3.272{308-9}]All were well furnished by Elrond with thick warm clothes, and they had jackets and cloaks lined with fur. Spare food and clothes and blankets and other needs were laden on a pony, none other than the poor beast that they had brought from Bree.[/citation]

[citation=II.4.290{328}]Round the fire they sat, and those that were not on guard dozed uneasily. Poor Bill the pony trembled and sweated where he stood.The howling of the wolves was now all round them, […][/citation]

[citation=II.4.294{332}]`But in any case we cannot take the poor beast into the Mines,' said Gandalf. (…)

`Poor old Bill! ' said Frodo. `I had not thought of that. And poor Sam! I wonder what he will say? '
`I am sorry,' said Gandalf. `Poor Bill has been a useful companion and it goes to my heart to turn him adrift now. I would have travelled lighter and brought no animal, least of all this one that Sam is fond of, if I had had my way. I feared all along that we should be obliged to take this road.'[/citation]

Apparaît, pour la première fois, la mention du " pauvre Sam ", Sam qui s’attache, Sam qui aime, simplement, sans retour, Sam le sensible. Il faut avoir compassion des âmes sensibles, et être triste avec ceux qui sont tristes :

[citation=II.4.295{333}]'But you can't leave poor old Bill behind in this forsaken place, Mr. Gandalf! ' cried Sam, angry and distressed. `I won't have it, and that's flat. After he has come so far and all! '[/citation]

Si le nombre de mentions est impressionnant, c’est que Bill le Poney contient une belle leçon : Oui ! il faut avoir compassion de ceux qui souffrent et souffrent en silence ; de ceux qui n’ont pas les moyens de se révolter, de ceux qui acceptent leur sort, de ceux qui avancent courageusement, malgré toutes les bonnes raisons qu’ils auraient pour s’arrêter le long du chemin (la vieillesse, les mauvais traitements de Fougeron, la fatigue du périple, la peur des Loups…). Quel chemin parcouru par Bill qui nous avait été présentée, au tout début, comme une [emphase]« pauvre bête probablement au seuil de la mort »[/emphase] ! ! Quelle force a bien pu l’habiter si ce n’est celle due à la compassion que les membres de la Compagnie (Aragorn, Gandalf et Frodon) ont su lui montrer et à l’amour que Sam lui a donné en retour de son affection ([emphase]« [the pony] had begun to show an affection for its new masters, especially for Sam »[/emphase], I.12.194{225} ; [emphase]« Bill, seeming to understand well what was going on, nuzzled up to him, putting his nose to Sam's ear. »[/emphase], II.4.296{334}). Quoi de plus normal alors que la dernière mention avant longtemps de Bill soit celle de Sam :

[citation=II.4.301{340}]Sam, clinging to Frodo's arm, collapsed on a step in the black darkness. `Poor old Bill! ' he said in a choking voice. `Poor old Bill! Wolves and snakes! But the snakes were too much for him. I had to choose, Mr. Frodo. I had to come with you.'[/citation]

Étrange comme la mention de la capacité à compatir est liée par deux fois (au moins) au devoir de choisir : lors du Conseil d’Elrond, il a fallu choisir Frodon et sam ([emphase]« choosing poor Frodo and Sam »[/emphase], II.3.265{302}), ici, il faut choisir d’abandonner [emphase]« ce pauvre vieux de Bill »[/emphase]. Car si l’on peut compatir, si même, on le doit, pour être humain, cette seule vertu ne suffit pas : elle doit nécessairement s’accompagner d’agir et de courage pour ne pas devenir tristesse qui immobilise.

Oui, suivre la compassion pousse à l’action, une action qui n’est pas forcément celle qui satisfait la conscience à court terme, une compassion différente de la pitié qui rapidement devient oubli. Sam n’aura jamais oublié Bill :
[citation=VI.7.968{1055}]‘But I’d like to know what became of that poor pony. He’s been on my mind many a time and the wolves howling and all.’[/citation]

Mais voilà peut-être une des plus belles traces de cette eucatastrophe chère à Tolkien : Bill est vivant, bien vivant ! celui qu’on avait abandonné le cœur déchiré, dans une nature si hostile pour un vieux poney isolé, à la merci des loups et des serpents, est vivant !
[citation=VI.7.972{1060}]‘Now, now, Mr. Brandybuck, don’t go reminding me of that! But there, you’ve broken my thought. Now where was I? Nob, stables, ah! that was it. I’ve something that belongs to you. If you recollect Bill Ferny and the horsethieving: his pony as you bought, well, it’s here. Come back all of itself, it did. But where it had been to you know better than me. It was as shaggy as an old dog and as lean as a clothes-rail, but it was alive. Nob’s looked after it.’
‘What! My Bill?’ cried Sam. ‘Well, I was born lucky, whatever my gaffer may say. There’s another wish come true! Where is he?’ Sam would not go to bed until he had visited Bill in his stable.[/citation]

À partir de ce jour, plus de regret à avoir, les terribles décisions qu’il a fallu prendre sont récompensées jusqu’au bout ; on comprend que plus jamais dans la suite du texte Bill le poney ne sera appelé " ce vieux Bill " ou " ce pauvre Bill ", son nom seul suffit pour traduire son contentement :
[citation=VI.7.973{1061}]They wished him farewell and rode away, and passed through the West-gate and on towards the Shire. Bill the pony was with them, and as before he had a good deal of baggage, but he trotted along beside Sam and seemed well content.[/citation]

Et c’est sous son nom, Bill, que le poney surprendra le lecteur en trouvant le moyen de se venger (avec mesure mais fermeté) de son ancien maître de qui il tient son nom, Bill Fougeron :
[citation=VI.8.976{1064}]Bill Ferny flinched and shuffled to the gate and unlocked it. ‘Give me the key!’ said Merry. But the ruffian flung it at his head and then darted out into the darkness. As he passed the ponies one of them let fly with his heels and just caught him as he ran. He went off with a yelp into the night and was never heard of again.
‘Neat work, Bill,’ said Sam, meaning the pony.[/citation]

L’eucatastrophe est totale. Bill coulera ses derniers jours heureux auprès de Sam qui trouvera paix et amour auprès de Rosie.
Car Sam, qui sait qu’il a accompli son devoir jusqu’au bout, s’il n’a jamais oublié [emphase]« that poor pony »[/emphase] (VI.7.968) n’a pas oublié non plus celle qui fait battre son cœur, Rosie, cette " pauvre fille " ([emphase]« poor lass »[/emphase], VI.9.1001{1091}) … seulement ‘pauvre’ d’avoir perdu un an de sa vie loin de Sam :
[citation]‘It’s Rosie, Rose Cotton,’ said Sam. ‘It seems she didn’t like my going abroad at all, poor lass; but as I hadn’t spoken, she couldn’t say so. And I didn’t speak, because I had a job to do first. But now I have spoken, and she says: "Well, you’ve wasted a year, so why wait longer?" "Wasted?" I says. "I wouldn’t call it that." Still I see what she means. I feel torn in two, as you might say.’[/citation]

(9) Conclusion :

Il est remarquable que la majorités des utilisations de ce procédé destiné à provoquer " la compassion ou le sourire du lecteur " apparaissent sous le mode du discours et non pas de la narration. Toutefois, il reste quelques traces d’une utilisation directe dans la narration, rares si on les compare à celles présentes dans Bilbo le Hobbit, rares mais qui maintiennent, très subtilement, cette " connivence avec le conteur. " L’exemple le plus manifeste est sans nul doute le moment où Sam, entourés d’Orques, désemparés devant le comportement irrationnel de son maître, ne sait que faire ; un texte qui n’est pas sans rappeler par sa thématique, sur un ton plus dramatique, la rencontre de Bilbon avec des Orcs sous la Montagne :

[citation=IV.9.708{777}]But nothing of this evil which they had stirred up against them did poor Sam know, except that a fear was growing on him, a menace which he could not see; and such a weight did it become that it was a burden to him to run, and his feet seemed leaden.
Dread was round him, and enemies before him in the pass, and his master was in a fey mood running heedlessly to meet them. Turning his eyes away from the shadow behind and the deep gloom beneath the cliff upon his left, he looked ahead, and he saw two things that increased his dismay. He saw that the sword which Frodo still held unsheathed was glittering with blue flame; and he saw that though the sky behind was now dark ; still the window in the tower was glowing red.
`Orcs! ' he muttered. `We'll never rush it like this. There's Orcs about, and worse than Orcs.'[/citation]