Plot Analysis The Two Towers

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Plot Analysis Essay: The Two Towers “This is not for children…It is an extraordinary work – pure excitement.” This is what Donald Barr, a book reviewer, commented about The Two Towers. The Two Towers is the second book of The Lord Of The Rings trilogy, which is set in Middle Earth, a fantasy world of its own, inhabited by man, dwarves, ents, orcs, and elves. The plot handles the journeys of the Fellowship of the Ring, after their separation in the first book, until the start of the War of the Ring. In the latter half of the book, Tolkien tells about the journey of Frodo, Gollum, and Sam up to their confrontation with Shelob the spider. Perhaps, the book's exquisite plot is what has accomplished such a feat in its popularity and worldwide sales. In The Two Towers J.R.R. Tolkien successfully keeps the readers on the edges of their seats throughout the whole plot by adding events to add suspense and depth to the story. One of the biggest factors that helped maintain an intense mood throughout the beginning of the book was Tolkien’s masterful skill at manipulating conflicts to occur at once in addition to his twists. One example of this was the chase by Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas. For about twenty pages Tolkien dragged out their chase, but in the end, he put three conflicts on top of one another: Aragorn’s group confronted the Rohan cavalry, was delayed in the chase, and was uncertain whether the hobbits lived any longer. To a reader, such a turn of events would be more than sufficient to keep them reading on. Also, when they were in the Fangorn Forest, the three of them confronted a figure they believed to be Saruman. However, Tolkien wisely used this event as a very interesting twist to introduce Gandalf back into the book. It was quite surprising, because the three of them constantly talked about the area being under Saruman's control, and Tolkien had
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