J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings -- Reading and Discussion Questions

Students in English 65, Fantasy, Brown University, 2003

The Fellowship of the Ring

• "I will take the Ring"
• Impossible Odds, Unexpected Salvation
• Guides
• Frodo Finds a Direction
• The Great Willow in the Old Forest
• At the Council of Elrond
• The True Nature of the Ring
• Living in a Poem
• Pursuit of the Black Riders
• Land of Lorien
• The White Wizards
• Tom Bombadil
• He Has "Tolken" the Backroads
• Magic and the Elves
• Gollum

The Return of the King

• Mordor's Pervasive Gloom
• The Very Wine of Blessedness
• The Hold of the Ring
• Frodo Finds a New Home
• The End?
• Unexpected Heroism
• The Scouring of the Shire
• The Many Sides of Sam Gamgee, a little hobbit from Hobbiton
• The Turning of the Tides
• Death in the Battle of the Pelennor Fields
• The Gollum/Smeagol Complex
• The Dominion of Men
• The Return of the King: The "Hop on Pop" Saga
• The West and the Grey Havens
• Many Partings

Related Essays

• The Unlikely Hero Bandwagon
• The Limits of Magic
• Transcending Death: Mortality and Immortality in Fantasy Literature
• The Role of Wizards in Fantasy Literature
• Time in the Fantastic Novel

Last modified 18 May 2004