It's an archetypal story - the hero's quest appears in every culture, and every story has an element of it.
But Tolkein is different. His characters are at once believable and fantastical, his setting familiar and completely alien. And everybody identifies with Frodo, the little person cursed with a task far too large for him, which he accomplishes.
Plus, it's moral without being allegorical. Tolkein deserves a high seat in Good Writer's Heaven.
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If a kid asks where rain comes from, I think a cute thing to tell him is "God is crying." And if he asks why God is crying, another cute thing to tell him is "Probably because of something you did."
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