J.R.R. Tolkien's The Two Towers

J.R.R. Tolkien's Two Towers
Begin: 09/30/07
End: 10/05/07
Quality: Ten out of Ten.
Reason: Reading Plan.
Genre: Fiction. Novel. Fantasy. Epic. Classic.
Original Language: English.
Date of Publication: 1954.
Fog Index: 7.5/85% are harder
Flesch Index: 80.7/96% are harder
Flesch-Kincaid Index: 5.6/85% are harder
Complex Words: 4%/92% have more.
Number: Countless.
Synopsis: This story continues right after Fellowship of the Ring. It’s essentially two different books. The first one details Aragon, Gimli and Legolas chasing after Merry and Pippin who have been captured by Orcs. They then get caught up in the war between Saraman and the Rohan while Merry and Pippin get involved in the Ents battles against Saraman. The second book details Frodo and Sam’s journey to Mordor. They get lost trying to make their way to Mordor and capture Gollum who serves as their guide into Mordor.
Thoughts: Really good. This book, well the series, just sucks me in every time I read it. I lost my sheet with all my little page numbers for quotes but here is the only one I have.

“It was Sam’s first view of a battle of Men against men, and he did not like it much. He was glad that he could not see the dead face. He wondered what the man’s name was and where he came from; and if he was really evil of heart, or what lies or threats had led him on the long march from his home; and if he would not really have stayed there in peace” (646)

I did have a few thoughts on re-reading this novel.

The orcs weren’t necessarily evil. They didn’t even want to fight for sauron, they were more like slaves that were just doing their master’s bidding. They seemed to hate the Nazgul.

The scene where Frodo and Sam are at the crossroads and they see the statues head on the ground with the graffiti on it and the light is shining on it, giving it a crown. I thought this was profoundly foreshadowing the return of Aaragon to the throne of Gondor.

I also find it sad that in today’s world we have lost a lot of levels of friendship. The relationship between Sam and Frodo is not sexual in the least. They are not homosexuals. And yet that is what everyone is going to read them as in today’s world and that’s kinda sad. I mean, I’m all for revealing homosexual subtext if it’s there being a huge fag myself but sometimes it’s not there and we read it anyway and I kept finding myself doing just that and then getting annoyed. J.R.R. Tolkien seems to divorce sexuality from any of his characters. I just don’t really see any of them displaying passion which is one of his few failings.

I also would like a fantasy novel where the domain of the evil lord is not a wasteland. What about an evil lord who rules a beautiful city or a prestigious mountainside or a virgin forest, nope, all the evil guys here have horrible ecological balance.

I also find that Peter Jackson’s vision has infiltrated my readings of the books, which is very sad but happens quite a bit with good film adaptations.

On another note, I was reading this at work the other day and when I told two guests that I read it every year, they made fun of me. Evidently, they think it’s stupid to read the same books over and over again. I tried to explain that you can get something else out of a book every time that you read it but they weren’t having it. It irritated me. Honestly. I feel that some books are extremely rich, they have layers upon layers of meaning and that you can get something else every time that you read them that unlike say, a Danielle Steele novel, you are going to notice different things every time you read it. Plus, it’s also like hanging out with old friends again.