Through miss communications, the fellowship finds itself in more peril than necessary. Frodo and the other hobbits are sent out on their journey without much understanding of the dangers that roam throughout Middle-Earth because the hobbits were fond of the idea that The Shire would be all they need to know in their lives. Frodo was unaware of the danger putting on the ring could put him in. He was never told that by putting on the ring he would be exposing his presence to the black riders. At the prancing pony, Frodo receives a letter from Gandalf that was supposed to be received months prior. In the Letter Gandalf warns them of the dangers that lie ahead. Because of the letter’s delay, the hobbits blindly walk into the threat of the Black Riders. Hobbits are simple species and most hobbits believe that the world revolves around the Shire. If it were not for the assistance of Aragorn, the hobbit’s journey would have ended at the prancing pony.
In Book II: Chapter 5, Gandalf goes head to head with the deadly Balrog, their fight comes to an end when Gandalf sacrifices himself for the others in the fellowship. Just before he falls with the Balrog, Gandalf yells to the fellowship: “Fly you fools” (p. 331). This was Gandalf inferring that they should have the eagles fly the fellowship into Mordor. This is another great example of the miss-communications that ended up making their journey extremely long and perilous. The fellowship was so filled with grief at Gandalf’s sacrifice that they did not understand what he was telling them. If Gandalf had previously explained his plan to them, many deaths could have been avoided.
Volume II, Chapter 1 of The Gulag Archipelago presents a similar idea of miss-communication and the obliviousness of those who will soon be in transport. The prisoners are to be transported by train, but they are unaware of how they will be handled on the train. It is not until the last moment when it is discovered that there was a miscalculation of the number of prisoners that would be on the train (p. 491). This lead to a lack of rations on the train, which made the prisoner’s transit that much worse. If the number of prisoners had been fully accounted for, the prisoners would have been able to have their full rations, not that they were necessarily well fed.