J. R. R. Tolkien's The Two Towers begins almost in chaos. The fellowship of the ring has been shattered, Boromir killed, Samwise and Frodo headed by boat into Mordor, Pippin and Merry taken captive by Orcs. Despite this seeming disorder, however, Tolkien writes about an essentially orderly world. Thus, Aragorn and Legolas respond to Boromir's death with a song, invoking a ritual to place their mourning and loss in its proper place respective to the rest of Middle-Earth, Tolkien's invented world. Then, with Gimli the Dwarf, they set off to rescue Merry and Pippin in another attempt to restore order to the situation.

Tolkien believes that such actions on the part of an individual have meaning, that they matter. As Aragorn says, "And now may I make a right choice, and change the evil fate of this unhappy day." To Tolkien, each person has not only...