"The Departure of Boromir" - Jacob's Thoughts

So as I at last begin The Two Towers, I have some structural critiques of the opening chapter, viz: Tolkien shows us only the aftermath of an awesome action scene battling orcs, instead of, you know, actually describing it; Boromir's titular death skirts the line between being reverently understated ("But Boromir did not speak again") and merely perfunctory, as though Tolkien wanted to hurry up and get this guy out of the way so we could move on to the next episode; and of course we are treated to yet another long, needless poem. 

Yet although this chapter felt strangely brief and underdeveloped, I was surprised to find that, after 3-odd months away from the series, how delighted I was just to be reading Tolkien again at all!  I realized how happy I am to be hanging out with Aragorn again; shoot, I'm even excited to see Legolas and Gimli again, who are both still only bare sketches of characters at this point; and if I'm a little bothered at how quickly Boromir is pushed off stage, well, it's because I was more invested in him than I'd realized.

In fact, it's just a joy to be back in Middle-Earth altogether!  Yes, even this Middle-Earth that is plagued by wars, orcs, dark-lords, death, despair, and destruction, this world still feels like an old friend, a delightful place worth visiting and exploring.  Without me even realizing it, Tolkien throughout Fellowship of the Ring had caused me to care about this world, and therefore caused me to be happy just to be back in it once more.  I wonder if this is how first-time readers in 1954 felt, when they had to wait 4 month between Fellowship and Two Towers to continue the story.

I'm afraid I really don't have much else to say at this point, other than it's good to be back, and I look forward to your guys' insights on this chapter as well.  I might continue experimenting with shorter posts in the future, as a way to take pressure off myself  (and off you guys as well) to write long, in-depth, "profound" analyses and mini-essays about each chapter, and thus avoid giving ourselves undue stress about a blog that's supposed to be a break from grad school and real life, not competition with it--that's supposed to just be a fun way to stay in touch with old friends, not a chore--so that we can just kick back and enjoy our time revisiting this series together.