My grandfather got me started on LOTR when I was about 8/9. One of the many things I wish I had thanked him for. It's a fairy tale, it's an epic. It's both. It's escapist story telling drawn liberally from his researches into ancient languages. I have come to see it over my many re-readings over the years as a paean to the English country life and an indictment of industrialization and urban blight. Much more than this though is the history of the growth of Frodo and unyielding strength of Samwise.

You can still find the occasional sticker on a subway car-----

"Frodo Lives!"