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What is straight? If you walk in a straight line on this planet or on Arda (post 'bending') you will evntually come back to the same point, and thus have walked on a circular path.
I do not see cirlces as 'evil'. A round (3 dimensional circle) shape is a 'perfect' shape that things form into. Whether we talk of a star, or a planet, or a bubble, these are perfect shapes. The universe itself maybe contained in on itself and therefore circular.
The journeys we see in the book are to me not whether it is a linear or circular story, but that is 'multi dimensional'. ie we have characters and events going off at tangents throughout the book. I love the way when reading LOTR you can see Tolkien's plot from different viewpoints.
This is what helps makes Tolkien's story great. I remember a discussion thread on another site a year or so ago where the question was - Would it have been better if Glorfindel went with the fellowship instead of Pippin. I was chosen to bat for the 'Glorfindel' side, and as valiant as I tried, in the end I was 'defeated' and realised you could not BETTER Tolkien's plot.
But it goes beyond LOTR itself. Without mentioning the whole raft of history befre the third age, just taking into account small parts of the story one picks up from Unfinished Tales, etc, and you can see an even MORE interwoven plot, (for example the viewpoint of Rohan and the battle of the Fords of Isen).
So to me I think it is too simple to call the story 'linear' or 'circular'. It is mult-dimensional.
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