Of course people always grasp for what they know best when reading about a location such as the Dead Marshes. So immediatly the connection to WWI is made. I however also thought of Will o'the wisps and corpse candles. To me its always been a scary place however after re-reading LOTR I didn't find them as scary because I was reminded of Mordor and that to me is one of the scariest places ever created in literature.(that I've read)
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the lasting monument to the dark labour of its slaves that should endure when all their purposes were made void;
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I don't think these are just slaves. Aren't orcs slaves of Sauron as well? He controlls them completely so that they do exactly what he wants them to do.He has completely "brainwashed" them and deprived them of their free will.That is slavery another form. Of course orcs by themselves are stupid and evil but due to Sauron they do much more harm than they could have done by themselves. Besides, what about those who allied themselves with Sauron? Now they were truly brainwashed into joining him against the armies of the west. If Sauron hadn't made them obey by pouring honeyed words into their ears I'm sure they would never have joined him as easily, like mice walking into a mousetrap.
I think the slaves are Sauron's former armies and the monument is the dead marshes.
One part of this chapter that stays clearly in my mind is the nazgul flying across the marshes. It freaked me out because throughout the chapter there is a growing sense that if Frodo and Sam are discovered all will be lost.The need to hide from unfriendly eyes grows by every page thus it makes me feel extremely anxious. These feelings are very realistivplus they are a method that the author uses to keep the reader reading.