Lord of the Rings
Many experts consider the novel Lord of the Rings to be a classic piece of literature.  I will attempt to find evidence supporting this classification.
Lots of novels are created each year, and presumably the authors of most of them want to write something classic but end up failing to achieve this objective. The books are not  nominated for any prizes, few copies are sold, book clubs don’t bother discussing them, teachers don’t make students read them, they are not adapted into movies, and they are soon forgotten and rarely reprinted. As well, there are the pleasantly enjoyable novels created by pragmatic authors whose only goal is to tell a story that appeals to a reader who has time to fill and money to spend on the book. No deep thought required or expected, and no experts are ever likely to call it a classic and add it to the curriculum at any school.

So how did J.R.R. Tolkien manage to avoid this type of novel? Did he really set out to tell a simple story about young hobbits looking for adventure, or did he have some deeper meaning in mind? Is Lord of the Rings considered a classic by readers of both genders or just by boys? What makes it appealing now, some 5 decades after it was published? How many awards did it win, and how universal was the critical praise for it? How much publicity did the author push for when it was released? Did he have to explain its importance himself, or was the quality of the book evident on its own? Would I read it for basic entertainment while waiting for a bus, or am I supposed to learn something from it that would change my outlook on life? Is it supposed to be an accurate reflection of normal human behavior in response to events, or wishful thinking that, instead of what would happen in the real world, the plot would unfold the way the fictional characters affect it. Are the good guys and the bad guys clearly define? Does the story document the struggle between good and evil, or does one side always win easily?
I need to find a definition of a classic novel, so turning to Wikipedia, I learn that the definition of a novel comprises the following terms.

According to official definitions of novels, we expect the author to create and describe in detail an entirely fictional setting. This has been achieved. Middle Earth is described at length, so that the reader can picture the landscape looking similar too, yet not the same as, the real world. Middle Earth is also populated with enough characters to set it apart from any people none of the characters or locations are related to any events in history that the reader would be able to identify with. For example, we have no orcs running around killing people and kidnapping hobbits. Middle earth is also populated by elves and dwarves, none of which exist in the real world
There is a letter JRR Tolkien wrote to a fellow author Carole Batten-Phelps  in which he explains that he wrote LOTR for his own pleasure, but he acknowledges that he was trying to create a major work. For someone who grew up in relative poverty, and whose only other source of income was as a professor, it seems more likely than not that he intended to make a profit from publishing his novels.




The author was known to be against modern industrial and scientific advances that developed during his lifetime. Instead of writing science fiction that looked into the future with these new inventions, he created a world looking back to a simpler and quieter time.

As LOTR grew in popularity, many readers and critics tried to say that the book was a reflection or a commentary on the England in the middle of the 20th century, with great wars, evil dictators, and the spread of communism. The author publicly denounced these interpretations, so perhaps he really did mean to stick with a story about adventure in a world existing entirely in his own imagination. The fact that he had the names of minor characters inscribed on his tombstone, as if he himself was that character, is another indication that he was more interested in his fictional world than anything going on in the real world. LOTR is a lengthy story, and introduces a large number of characters. Most characters fall into either good or evil, and the whole premise of the plot is that the good guys are trying to overcome the bad guys and get rid of the ring to make the world a nicer place.

The hobbits selected to destroy the ring were chosen because they would be impervious to the effects of the ring.   Should we all try to be like Frodo – was he strong-willed and not interested in gaining power for himself. Is this a common trait in humans, is it even possible to be like this, and is it a good thing if we all were indifferent to power? I don’t think a civilized society could function like this – it certainly would not advance, but then again, Tolkien didn’t want the world to advance much. Probably this is why it took until the turbulent 1960s for people to take much notice of LOTR and start to think so highly of it,Some people would say LOTR is a classic because of its length and amount of detailed description of the settings and the languages. However, the author had already invested many years effort into creating these things. He’d written other books set in the same Middle Earth.

Journal 4

Entry 4
They get lost, of course, because Gandalf is not good with directions. They encounter the Orcs, which are big scary beasts. The Mithril coat saves Frodo. Gandalf casts a spell on the door so that they can get away. They’re still not out of the mines yet, and now they come across the bridge with an evil monster. Gandalf fights off the monster while the rest of them escape. Gandalf is dead for now. The rest escape the mines, but they don’t know they are being followed by Gollum. Gollum wants the ring back because Bilbo stole it from him. They go to Lorie,n an elf city. The Elves appear to be good guys. They meet Galadriel and receive from gifts from her. They continue on their journey in boats. Frodo discovers Gollum is following them, not that this is relevant yet.A black rider flies over them, and Orcs are in the vicinity, so they hide and discuss what to do next. Boromir wants to return to his hometown because it’s nearby, Aragorn wants to go with him because he’s the rightful king of that city. Boromir tries to convince Frodo to give him the ring. Good thing Frodo doesn’t because Boromir is killed by Orcs. The Orcs capture Merry and Pippen. The book ends with Frodo and Sam missing, Merry and Pippen captured, Boromir dead, and Aragorn looking for Frodo.

Journal 3

Entry 3
They are now in Rivendell. Gandalf appears. Frodo recovers with the aid of Elrond, master of Rivendell Gandalf explains that he was captured by an evil wizard Saruman  who was trying to steal the ring too. Bilbo shows up again, and passes over Sting (a sword) and a Mithril coat (again, you need to have read the Hobbit to know all about these things). The elf leader of Rivendell wants to have a council decide what to do with the ring. More characters are introduced, (Boromir, Legolas, Gimli) and they form the Fellowship of the Ring to assist Frodo in travelling to cracks of doom in Mordor.  Since any character played by Sean Bean never survives long, I know that Boromir even though he’s a good guy, is doomed before the end of this book.
This larger group prepares  to leave Rivendell. Merry and Pippin are advised not to go, but they insist.
Several chapters are used to describe their journey towards Cadharas. They are trapped by snow in the mountains, so they decide to go through the mines of Moria. There’s drama when they finally the entrance to the mines. They are under attack by a monster and Gandalf needs to decipher the passcode to get the door open just in the nick of time. They seem safe for now going through the mines.

Journal 2

Entry 2

I’ve reached the end of Book 1. Frodo can’t wait long enough for Gandalf to escape and join him on his journey to destroy the ring, so Frodo and his posse of nosy friends Sam, Pippin, and Merry leave the Shire. They don’t know to get to the cracks of doom, but they know they have to leave the Shire and look for Gandalf. They narrowly escape a black rider (the black riders want to return the ring to its rightful owner) and they reach Frodo’s new house.  The next day they continue looking for Gandalf. They go to Bree. It takes lots of chapters  to describe their journey to Bree because they get lost, the find a crazy old man Tom who saves them a couple times. I can see why they left this part out of the movie because it takes a long time.
Once they get to Bree at night, they go to an inn, and Frodo is being silly in the common room and slips on the ring and Frodo disappears in front of all the onlookers. Strider is in the back of the room watching this, and he’s a Ranger, a friend of Gandalf, and he knows why Frodo disappeared.  As soon as Frodo took the ring off, he reappeared. The posse of nosy friends gets a letter from the innkeeper from Gandalf, instructing them to look for Aragorn  - who turns out to be the same person as Strider.
Next they go to Rivendell. On the way, Frodo is stabbed by the Witch King but Aragorn helps them escape.
At the big river, the elves assist their escape by drowning the black riders. And the book closes with Frodo in poor shape.

Journal 1

Entry 1

I’ve now read the first half dozen chapters of Fellowship of the Ring. So far the story has introduced the Shire where Bilbo and Frodo live. The story has also introduced Gandalf, Sam, and several other characters that don’t seem important yet.  I can tell that the story is going to revolve around Frodo and perhaps Sam.
The Shire has many trees. The main characters live in hobbit holes in this forest. It seems to be a peaceful place. The main characters seem to like living in the Shire, but Frodo wants to have an adventure somewhere else for a little bit. He’d be happy to come back home to the Shire after a little bit of adventure.
So far no hints of any enemies or anything bad going to happen to the main characters.
Bilbo has The Ring. To know where this ring came from, you’d have to read The Hobbit first, which I have, so I already know why The Ring is important. Bilbo leaves the ring with Frodo and stays out of the story for the time being. Frodo and Gandalf are talking about the ring because Gandalf knows that The Ring is evil and it needs to be destroyed. Sam is eavesdropping on this conversation, so Gandalf sends both Frodo and Sam off to destroy the ring. The only way to destroy the ring is to throw it into the cracks of doom. Otherwise, the story would be over right away because it should be easy to destroy any ordinary ring.

Hello, and welcome to my blog, were I will be reading, and posting about J.R.R. Tolkien's classic novel, The fellowship of the Ring. Published in 1951, Tolkien's epic tale of the journey of Frodo Baggins and his quest to destroy the ruling ring of power captivated it readers, and became an instant classic. Over the next few months i will be posting 4 commentary's on this novel, followed by an apologia on why this novel is considered a classic.