How we cite our quotes: (Book.Chapter.Paragraph).
Quote #7
Hobbits, must see, must try to understand. He does not expect attack that way. His Eye is all round, but it attends more to some places than to others. He can't see everything all at once, not yet. You see, He has conquered all the country west of the Shadowy Mountains down to the River, and He holds the bridges now. He thinks no one can come to the Moontower without fighting big battle at the bridges, or getting lots of boats which they cannot hide and he will know about. (4.3.43)
This whole Ring quest has begun with the premise that Sauron is too cocky to be careful. He doesn't imagine that an attack can come from within Mordor itself, or he would be more careful about patrolling the lands he believes already conquered. Sauron is confident in his own isolation from the rest of Middle-earth because there are so many natural barriers protecting him in Mordor: the Dead Marshes, the mountains of Ephel Dúath and Erel Lithui, and even the River of Anduin.
Quote #8
Maybe Frodo felt it, not knowing it, as he had upon Amon Hen, even though he believed that Gandalf was gone, gone for ever into the shadow in Moria far away. He sat upon the ground for a long while, silent, his head bowed, striving to recall all that Gandalf had said to him. But for this choice he could recall no counsel. Indeed Gandalf's guidance had been taken from them too soon, too soon, while the Dark Land was still very far away. How they should enter it at last Gandalf had not said. Perhaps he could not say. Into the stronghold of the Enemy in the North, into Dol Guldur, [Gandalf] had once ventured. But into Mordor, to the Mountain of Fire and to Barad-dûr, since the Dark Lord rose in power again, had he ever journeyed there? Frodo did not think so. And here he was a little halfling from the Shire, a simple hobbit of the quiet countryside, expected to find a way where the great ones could not go, or dared not go. It was an evil fate. (4.3.59)
There is a moment very like this in The Hobbit (though of course, the stakes are much lower in that book). Bilbo is left by himself (since Gandalf is on the very trip to Dol Guldur that Frodo references here), alone in Mirkwood, knowing that his dwarf companions are in trouble and not knowing how to help. At that moment, Bilbo must become the decider, not only of his own fate, but also of his dwarf friends' futures. It is in this moment that Bilbo becomes a leader. Now, Frodo is facing much, much worse odds, but he'll become a much better leader for it.
Quote #9
"But the day is getting darker instead of lighter: darker and darker. As far as I can tell, it isn't midday yet, and you've only slept for about three hours."
"I wonder what's up," said Sam. "Is there a storm coming? If so it's going to be the worst there ever was. We shall wish we were down a deep hole, not just stuck under a hedge." He listened. "What's that? Thunder or drums, or what is it?"
"I don't know," said Frodo. "It's been going on for a good while now. Sometimes the ground seems to tremble, sometimes it seems to be the heavy air throbbing in your ears." (4.7.49-51)
Even though their quest is, to be frank, the most important part of the novel, Frodo and Sam are geographically isolated. That means they don't get to stay up to date on the latest goings on in Middle-earth. But this sudden perspective on the distant drums and the deepening darkness reminds us that what is distracting Sauron from his own backyard, which Sam and Frodo are currently creeping through, is probably Aragorn and the armies of Gondor. This chapter gives us a few paragraphs to stop and contemplate what the rest of the Company is doing, before we go into the narrow, creepy tunnels of Cirith Ungol.