The Two Towers

November 23, 2004

The two towers

Did you ever have a goal? Everybody has goals, and there are a lot of things that help to reach these goals. Loyalty and friendship are really important goals in Lord of the Rings, written by J.R.R. Tolkien in1955. This work of literature is related to the time period when it was written. Tolkien compares World War Two to the war in the story and Hitler to Sauron. Furthermore, he reflects his own experiences of war in the character of Frodo. Lord of the Rings is a story about the journey on which the main character Frodo goes to destroy the ring. In the Two Towers J.R.R. Tolkien shows his readers how important loyalty and friendship are in reaching goals by using themes, symbols, and personification.

To begin with, the themes used in the story show how people can come together and help each other. One big theme is the priority of friendship. For Sam, friendship means absolute devotion to another person Sam more than one time risks everything to save Frodo's life. For example, he saves Frodo when Nazgul comes. Another theme is desperation and helplessness. The physical force of evil becomes heavier for Frodo on his journey. Frodo needs the help of his friend Sam. In addition, the war is a theme because it affects them all and the only chance to win is staying together and helping each other. This is valid for both sides. Sauron couldn't fight the war without the loyalty of all the Oarks and the black riders. There is one ruler who rules them all and this fact really shows and requires loyalty, so Tolkien uses the themes friendship, desperation, war, and loyalty to illustrate how people can help each other.

In the second place, he uses symbols for the war and the friendships between the characters. The jewel that Awen gives to Aragon is an example of a symbol of love. They really love each other, but Aragon has to leave her. Aragon carries this jewel with him all the time and Awen's love gives him the power to fight. Of course, the most important symbol in the story is the ring. It is the symbol of ambiguity of evil; it symbolizes a lot of power and the horror attributed to it if the ring falls into the wrong hands. This dark power causes the war because the people try to fight it. In contrast to this, there are also symbols for peace, like the white flowers or the white horse. When Pippin puts down something green, it represents hope. Tolkien uses these symbols of war, power, love, peace, and hope to illustrate that, while people can be desperate during war, the qualities of friendship and loyalty will help them to fight,