Need help on LotR-based Term Paper (1 Viewer)

[Morgan Jolley]

I'm writing a term paper about how the theme of "everything has it's purpose, whether for good or evil" is prevalent in the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. I need some good quotes from all 3 books (not The Hobbit/Silmarillion/etc., only the trilogy) that illustrate this point. I have some already (such as the part where Frodo wishes death upon Gollum and Gandalf says he still has a part to play in everything and Elrond's comments about the Hobbits near the end of the council). Does anybody know of a site that would be helpful or know any quotes themselves? I just need the Book # (if you've read the books, you know what I mean) and chapter.

Thanks in advance.

 

[JustinCleveland]

Um... I hate to call you on this, but if you're going to cite something, it's generally a good idea to read it yourself. Very often quote snippits are taken out of context and you will get called to the carpet for misquoting a passage, especially of a well-known document like LotR.

Sorry to threadcrap.

 

[Morgan Jolley]

I have read the books (within the last couple of years, actually) but I don't have the spare time to read through them again. I've been able to actually find a few good quotes online and then search for them in the books, and when I find them they DO refer to what I'm trying to research.

 

[andrew markworthy]

Morgan, a good start would be to punctuate 'its' correctly.

 

[Dome Vongvises]

As preparation for college, have the St. Martin's Handbook ready. It helps a shit load.

Reread "parts" of the book. If you're teacher's any good, he/she will have a lot of skepticism from website stuff.

Otherwise, just drive down to a chain book store and hang around the philosophy/myth section of the book store. That should assist in some of the finer points.

 

[Morgan Jolley]

All I need to do is find quotes from the trilogy. I own the books, but between all the other work I have to do right now, I don't have the time to reread them. I've found some quotes online, but I always verify them and have to be able to correctly cite them (by page number, which is specific to my copies of the books). So its not like I'm just getting random quotes and writing them down, I AM checking to see if they're in the books, if they relate enough to my topic, and if they are useable for my paper.

And the quotes I'm looking for have to come from the Lord of the Rings books, not outside books. We're writing a term paper about how a theme of our choice is prevalent through 3 different books (those books can be in a trilogy, by the same author, by different authors, whatever). We then have to find literary criticisms of the books and use those as sources to back up the topic of our papers (I already have some criticisms).

 

[Seth--L]

Ok, I'm going to threadcrap and say that this is incredibly lazy - as lazy as plagiarizing, but not as unethical. You're essentially asking other people to do your research for you. It's one thing not to have time to reread a text, but if you're not familiar enough with the text to quickly finds quotes in it, you shouldn't be writing about it.

 

[AndyVX]

Morgan,

I just want to say that you're going to have to find the time to re-read the books. Plain and simple. Yes, you can take the easy way out and get others to do the hard work for you, but that defeats the whole purpose of doing an assignment.

Suck it up, re-read the books, complete the assignment, and you'll feel a lot better about your work and about yourself.

Sorry to get all preachy on you.

*edit*
Just thought I'd add something else here. If you really don't have the time to read the books, I'd suggest picking something that is shorter and easier to get through.

 

[Scooter]

I gotta speak up for a sec..this kid is FAR from lazy!!!!

Ok..said my piece.

 

[Morgan Jolley]

I know some places in the book that I have to look through in order to find specific quotes (like where Gandalf and Frodo have the Gollum discussion) but I don't know where there are some other important quotes that could relate to my topic. I'm not asking anyone to do the work for me, I'm just asking if anyone knows of any good quotes or sites that have some good quotes from the books. I am still going to verify that they are real and I have to find what page they are on, so it's not like I'm making someone else do my work. I just don't have the time to read the whole trilogy over again.

 

[Mark Shannon]

This is, in my opinion, not beign lazy. It's just using your available resources to the best of our ability, plain and simple. When I posted a while back, asking for suggestions of television shows that portray violence on TV, no one called me lazy. I thought about things, and needed a little help. It's just the same as asking the local librarian for help with something, except there's a lot of "librarians" here.

Morgan, I would try looking up some of the parts with Treebeard and the Entmoot near the beginning of TTT. I think there's a bit mentioned about the age and importance of the Ents. Not too sure about that.

 

[FeisalK]

if you don't have time to read the whole 3 books all over again, this site might help

 

[Morgan Jolley]

That site is actually pretty funny.

 

[Steve_Tk]

Do you have to get up in front of the class and tell about what you wrote about? If so, good luck with that.

 

[DaveGTP]

That book a minute site is very amusing. I got a laugh off quite a few! I liked the Robert Jordan summaries the most.

 

[NickSo]

Slaughterhouse Five
Vonnegut: Death. So it Goes.
Easily manipulated reader: I hate war...

 

[Morgan Jolley]

For the assignment, I have to write a really long essay that shows how a theme is consistent between 3 books with similar parts (theme, author, plot, etc.). That's about it. The requirements are that we have to use quotes from the books, quotes from literary criticisms of the books, and then pretty much hand in a lot of stuff as we go along.

Let me say this again: I DID read the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Recently? No. Within the last few years? Yes. Do I have the time right now to read them again? No.

 

[FeisalK]

oh, okaaay.. here you go

hmm this site is temporarily unavailable - there must be a lot of people in your class writing the same paper.

are you at Princeton?

oh, heck.. here, Google it yourself

 

[Mary M S]

Geez Louise, cut Morgan some slack! the book worms have their indignant light bulb on!

Morgan how much time do you have? I can equivalent speed read (without retention) but handy for finding resources.

I will believe your statement (why should I other) that you have read these in your past, and just came for some freindly sign posts pointing out quotes pertinet to tighten in your scan time of 3 novels for your contemplation (as they will be familar once located)and fit these into what you yourself are composing.

Only problem being Christmas I have multi responsibilities with two hugh family gatherings and business.

These are the kind of 'treasure hunts' I enjoy for down time, (when I should be working)Would have fun doing this in front of a fire but could not get to it till sometime next week. When is your approx. deadline?

 

[Joe Szott]

Morgan,

One of the joys of English term papers is the ability (or practice) of taking quotes and bending them to support whatever point you choose. It's a time honored tradition among English majors (and minors like me) and I highly suggest it for this paper. Just pick a section that might have the quotes you are looking for and find something (anything) to twist into support for your theme.

Off the top of my head, here's a few good spots:

* Gandalf talking about his fight with the Balrog in TTT. If the Balrog hadn't existed and wasn't so evil and badass, would Gandalf have ever transformed from grey to white and helped save all Middle Earth?

* The orcs fighting over Frodo's mithril shirt in the ROTK and wiping each other out. Had their natures not been so greedy, would Sam and Frodo have ever been able to sneak past that mountain outpost? Probably not...

* Pippin and the Palantir. This pushes predetermination even further by suggesting that objects also have purposes in the schemes of life by Pippin revealing himself to Sauron and inadvertantly distracting the eye from Frodo. So the nature of the Palantir and its manipulations actually work for the greater good by performing its evil purpose.

* And if you are going to go there, why not go for the all-time LOTR evil purpose to greater good hum-dinger? That is to say, would Middle Earth have ever been saved if the One Ring had never existed (an artifact of unquestionable evil)? If Sauron's nature hadn't compelled himself to instill his essence in the One Ring (thus granting him the power to threaten the world), would the races of Hobbits, Men, Elves, and Dwarves have ever come together at all? When talking about the duality of good/evil, the ring is really the showpiece of the trilogy. I would look for quotes where the chars talk about the ring and end with that idea. I'm sure you can find some passages where the ring is discussed in the books?

One more suggestion about your theme, "everything has it's purpose, whether for good or evil". That's good, but maybe try to hone down a little deeper into your specific question. For example, are you talking about predetermination and the invisible hands of fate steering everything towards good (even evil beings)? Or by purpose do you mean that the natures of beings predetermines their endings in either supporting life (good) or destroying it (evil) and that each is wrapped up in the other? You don't need to state any of this in your paper, but it is good to work out for yourself a head of time and then steer the paper in that direction.

Good luck Morgan!