My name is Emily Marvin. I am a sophmore majoring in Elementary Education. I am also concentrating and extending through Grade 9 in math. I watched all of the Lord of the Rings movies in theaters when they came out, and was captivated from start to finish while viewing each one. I never thought about reading the trilogy, but enjoyed reading them this summer. I am impressed with Tolkien’s detailed development of Middle Earth and the ages of it’s inhabitants. To invent such a complete and original fantasy world, to me, is something truely amazing. I loved getting to know the characters and their pasts in a new way when reading the book. I absolutely love “Samwise the Brave!” When watching the movie, my favorite line is, “I can’t carry it for you, but I can carry you.” Another aspect of the movies that I loved were the soundtracks that were exquisitly done; I have them on my i-pod for background music while I do homework.
I am also a Harry Potter fan. I was introduced to this series when my grandmother bought my cousins and my brother and me a copy of The Sorcerer’s Stone. My mother would read the books to us when a new one would come out. I can remember my mom reading as much as she could of the fourth book every night when she was sick and had nearly lost her voice. We even listened to the books on tape in the car all the way to Wyoming and back! Hermoine has always been someone I could relate to because I too am extremely uptight and studious. Ron and his brothers provide the comic relief, and I think everyone adored Dumbledore, who always seemed to wrap the story up. Dumbledore always had good messages, and I was devasted when J. K. Rowling took him away! When Dumbledore came into a scene, it made me feel like nothing bad was going to happen to Harry and his friends. I must say that I do not approve of the Dumbledore past the second movie; he seems less of a sweet old man to me than did the first actor.
I can think of two things I would like to have clarified during this course. The first topic I would like to discuss would be the difference of portrayl of Aragon in the movie and in the book. I think the movie glorifies Aragon more, than in the third book. He has a heart-wrenching speech when his men are before the black gate in the movie which communicates his leadership qualities effectively. The other topic I would like to delve into would be the relationship between Arwen and Aragon. They really aren’t talked about much in the book until Aragorn becomes King.
