Finished THE TWO TOWERS

Yeah!  I'm moving right along through the LOTR series!  Three books down, I'm counting The Hobbit, and one to go!!!!  Yahoo!  In a few weeks I will finally be able to honestly say that I've read the WHOLE Lord of the Rings series!  And that I've seen all the movies!!!!  What a relief!  My students often choose to do something from Tolkien in my British Lit classes, so it's a good idea if the teacher has read the series herself if she plans on teaching it!!!

At the end of The Fellowship, the Fellowship has broken up.  As The Two Towers opens, we learn some of the details that broke up the Fellowship and we also follow the various members of the Fellowship through their separate journeys.  My favorite part is the story of Merry and Pippin.  These two Hobbits who seemed so unimportant through The Fellowship become vital to the story as a whole, suprisingly!  And their story is FUN to read about!  I love these two unlikely heroes!!!  It's wonderful how it's not just Frodo and Samwise who heroically continue on the journey to destroy the Ring--on their own (without the heroic warriors who guarded them, I mean)--but also Merry and Pippin who prove to be more valuable to the story than merely props!!!

The oddest part of The Two Towers is how Gimli and Legolas keep count of the number of Orcs they've killed and compare--as a real contest between the two of them!  I get that it is all part of the odd relationship between the two unlikely friends, a dwarf and an elf--"frienimies"--but it's still one of those parts of the story where I found myself scratchingI my head and wondering "What in the world are they doing comparing numbers like that in the middle of a major battle where their warrior friends are dying all around them?"  Of course, by the end of the battle, Gimli and Legolas' friendship is cemented--and is a part of the story I want to see more of.

The other aspect of The Two Towers I found worthy of note is how both Samwise and Gollum (Smeagle) consider Frodo their "Master."  Why is Samwise Frodo's servant rather than just his friend?  I thought the friendship between Samwise and Frodo (and the rest of the Fellowship) was a central theme to the story as a whole.  To me, it takes away from the meaning of friendship if Frodo is Sam's "Master."  Being a servant can certainly create a special relationship between two people, but at the same time, it is a different kind of relationshp than the bond of friendship I thought was so important to the story between Samwise and Frodo.

I don't like that Samwise calls and considers Frodo "Master."  (BTW:  my favorite line from The Fellowship--I can't remember if it's in the book, but it's in the movie for sure--is when Samwise runs out into the water after Frodo when Frodo is trying to leave the Fellowship and go to Mordor alone.  Frodo yells at Samwise that he's going to Mordor alone, and Samwise yells back, "I know you are!  And I'm coming with you!"  I LOVE that!!!)  As Gollum begins to refer to Frodo the same way as Samwise, it takes away from the friendship between Frodo and Samwise.  Gollum is supposed to be their guide as well as the one who is only looking out for himself and how he can get back his "Precious."  He is definitely in the role of servant within the story for Samwise and Frodo.  But Samwise is supposed to be Frodo's closest Friend.....not servant.

All in all, I'm enjoying the series.  I plan on reading more of the third and final book today while I have some time to myself.  Once school starts on Monday, it'll be harder to read often.  I consider the summer to be over by the end of August, so if I want to achieve my goal of reading the whole series this summer, I have to finish the last book by the end of August!  The way things have been going for me in reading this series, it will be all of that before I finally finish the last book!!!!!