LOTR Read-Along: Two Towers {Book IV, Ch. VI-X}

I did not anticipate liking this book as much as I did. It is, I confess, my least favorite of the movies; I thought I would feel the same about the slow pace of the book as I did about the slow pace of the movie. Nothing could be further from the truth! The book allows us in the thoughts and the emotions of the characters that is all but impossible in a movie. One of my classes is reading The Scarlet Letter and they told me that they would not have figured out who the father was so early if they had not seen the movie. Movies do such a wonderful job with interpersonal communication but often miss the mark when it comes to internal dialogues and nuanced conversations. This is very true of The Two Towers. The dialogue of the second half - between Frodo and Sam, Frodo and Gollum, Gollum and Sam, Faramir and the hobbits - all of it is immensely important to the story, adding the depth to the narrative for which fantasy is so well-known. The majority of this is lost in the medium of film (I am not saying the film is terrible, just different).

Talk about a cliff-hanger! I felt so badly for Sam in that last chapter. It is a wonder that he did not have a heart attack, truly, because of the wild disparity of the emotions he experienced in such a short span. I have a feeling I am going to devour The Return of the King.

1. What two impossible choices must Frodo make in Chapter VI? Why, do you think, does Tolkien keep putting his characters through this kind of thing?

2. In Chapter VIII Frodo, Sam, and Gollum encounter the Wraith King. Why is Frodo not tempted to hide using the Ring?

3. Sam, speaking of adventure stories, says, "I used to think that they were things wonderful folk of the stories went out and looked for... but that's not the way of it with the tales that really mattered, or the ones that stay in the mind. Folk seem to have been just landed in them". Do you agree or disagree? The stories that really matter (in your opinion), are they sought out or do they happen and the characters have to deal with them/

4. What are your thoughts on Sam's choices in Chapter X? Would you have done the same? Done something differently?

We are starting the last book this week. Time has flown by. We are reading Ch. I-V of The Return of the King. Hope y'all have a great week!