[lfjokes] The One Ring rings true for the lives of PhD

[Simondo]

From: simondo <simondo at paradise.net.nz>


The One Ring rings true for the lives of hundreds!! (For those of you who
have done or are in the midst of a PhD... Read this and cry!)

 The saga of the Lord of The Rings is actually an allegory for the Ph.D.

 Let me take a few minutes of your time to explain ...

 The story starts with Frodo: a young hobbit, quite bright
 (allegedly), a bit dissatisfied with what he's learnt so far and with
 his mates back home who just seem to want to get jobs and settle down
 and drink beer. (Actually, what the frig is wrong with the last part
 of this statement)

 He's also very much in awe of his tutor and mentor, the very Senior
 professor Gandalf, so when Gandalf suggests he take on a short Project for 
him
 (carrying the Ring to Rivendell), he agrees.Frodo very quickly
 encounters the shadowy forces of fear and despair which will haunt the
 rest of his journey and leave permanent scars on his psyche,but he also
 makes some useful friends. In particular, he spends an evening down at
 the pub with Aragorn, who has been wandering the world for many years
 as Gandalf's postdoc and seems to talk considerably more sense than 
Gandalf.

 After Frodo has completed his first project, Gandalf (along with Head of
 department Elrond) proposes that the work should be extended. He
 assembles a large research group, including visiting students Gimli
 and Legolas, the foreign postdoc Boromir,and several of Frodo's own friends 
from his
 undergraduate days. Frodo agrees to tackle this larger project, though
 he has mixed feelings about it. ("'I will take the Ring', he
 said,'although I do not know why.'")

 Very rapidly, things go wrong. First, Gandalf disappears and has no more
 interaction with Frodo until everything is over. (Frodo assumes his
 supervisor is dead: in fact, he's simply found a more interesting topic
 and is working on that instead.) At his first international conference
 in Lorien, Frodo is cross-examined terrifyingly by Galadriel, and betrayed
 by Boromir, who is anxious to get the credit for the work himself. Frodo
 cuts himself off from the rest of his team: from now on, he will only
 discuss his work with Sam, an old friend who doesn't really understand what
 it's all about, but in any case is prepared to give Frodo credit for being
 rather cleverer than he is. Then he sets out towards Mordor.

 The last and darkest period of Frodo's journey clearly represents
 The writing-up stage, as he struggles, seemingly endless and filled
 with pain and anguish, towards Mount Doom (submission), finding his
 burden growing heavier and heavier yet more and more a part of
 himself; more and more terrified of failure; plagued by the figure of
 Gollum, the student who carried the Ring before him but never wrote
 up and still hangs around as a burnt-out, jealous shadow; talking
 less and less even to Sam. When he submits the Ring to the fire, it
 is in desperate confusion rather than with confidence, and for a
 while the world seems empty.

 Eventually it is over: the Ring is gone, everyone congratulates him,and
 for a few days he can convince himself that his troubles are
 over. But there is one more obstacle to overcome: months later, he
 must confront the external examiner Saruman, an old enemy of Gandalf,
 who seeks to humiliate and destroy his rival's protege. With the help
 of his friends and colleagues, Frodo passes through this ordeal, but
 discovers at the end that victory has no value left for him. While
 his friends return to settling down and finding jobs and starting
 families, Frodo remains in limbo; finally, along with Gandalf, Elrond
 and many others, he joins the brain drain across the Western ocean to
 the new land beyond.