The Hobbit Experience

A while back when I was comfortably entrenched on my sofa with my afghan, reading and probably giggling a little, my son had some friends over. One of them came over to my corner wondering what I was reading because it looked like I was having fun. When I said "The Hobbit' his immediate response was "I read that when I was 12." (Twelve seems to be the magic number.) He went on to tell me that his father had, almost with ceremony, given him the book, telling him he had read it when he was 12 and was passing it down. His fiancee came over and I read some of the amusing parts to them. They decided they were going to dig up the book and read it to each other. And they are. (By the way, his copy is some 1975 special edition.)

I was going to save this and ask this question later, but belongfellow's post made me want to do it now. What is it about this book? Why is it read over and over by some? What was it when you were 12 and what is it now? Tell me now or, tell me later, but I'd really like to know.

This is what I remember. I read it when I was 12. I remember I liked the book and went on to read LOTR and didn't like that as much. No specifics other than thinking the hobbit world was cool.

I can honestly say I am probably enjoying it much more now. I like the way he creates his setting, or world, and characters in the context of the story. I have trouble with some fantasy when the explanation and description of the world and it's inhabitants takes over the book and the story gets lost. Tolkien uses enough of the familiar so I can easily incorporate anything new without distracting me from the story.

And that being said, it's all about the language and the style. I am enjoying this in the same way I enjoyed Lemony Snicket. I love the way he speaks to the reader. His phrases and descriptions are unique, amusing and very visual. I can't help but smile when I read it.

The Bathroom

I'd forgotten how much I loved The Hobbit. Last weekend I had the house to myself and I was walking around reading. It didn't take more than a minute to sink into the story. I sunk in so much, in fact, that a few minutes later when I heard voices outside and steps on the stairs, I had a brief moment of disorientation and I didn't know where I was. I felt like I had gotten caught doing something, but I soon realized I was just at my own house, holed up in the bathroom, and not really in Middle Earth traipsing mountains with Bilbo & Co. I wish more books made me feel this way, and I can't believe I've never labeled The Hobbit my favorite.

The Inn

The inns are one of my favorite places in Tolkien's (and other fantasy writer's) literature. They are always small with a warm, cozy fire softly heating the main room, and they always feature a few mysterious travelers to compliment the local regulars. Everyone eats, drinks, and tells tales long into the night. This sounds like a fun place to be.

Under Canopy & Earth

It was not long before they grew to hate the forest as heartily as they had hated the tunnels of the goblins, and it seemed to offer even less hope of any ending. But they had to go on and on, long after they were sick for a sight of the sun and of the sky, and longed for the feel of wind on their faces. There was no movement of air down under the forest-roof, and it was everlastingly still and dark and stuffy. Even the dwarves felt it, who were used to tunnelling, and lived at times for long whiles without the light of the sun; but the hobbit, who liked holes to make a house in but not to spend summer days in, felt that he was being slowly suffocated.

For my first seven summers my parents directed a church camp in the Shanendoah Valley of Virginia, so I grew up hiking through the mountains and woods of Virginia and West Virginia. Once we moved to Kansas we went to the Rocky Mountains in Colorado and New Mexico nearly every year. I've also traipsed around the Smokey Mountains in Tennessee and Georgia a couple of times and the Ozarks in Missouri. My experience and exposure aren't super extensive, but I'm not just talking about Kansas woods here.

I've never encountered the type of forest that Tolkien describes as Mirkwood (and others repeat in their fantasy tales). I've never known the woods to be that dark and spooky. Disorienting perhaps, and seemingly endless, but never the total lack of sun and air and joy that Bilbo and the dwarves encounter. Have I never been in that type of forest before, or is it just a matter of perspective? I guess I bring it up because I have trouble buying into their misery in and hatred of Mirkwood.

I've also never done any caving in my mountain experiences. The way they appear in this and other books, you'd think I'd have stumbled onto at least some. The ones I have seen depicted on TV are rough and random and very hard to negotiate, nothing like the networks of tunnels and glorious caverns that play such a role in fantasy settings. Are there actually underground passages in existence that lead miles and miles from one side of a mountain range to another, or is that just an invention of writers like Tolkien? I've never investigated this topic before, so I truly have no idea.

Six & Seven

"Well, it is the first time that even a mouse has crept along carefully and quietly under my very nose and not been spotted," said Balin, "and I take off my hood to you." Which he did.

"Balin at your service," said he.

"Your servant, Mr. Baggins," said Bilbo.

----------

"Nori at your service, Ori at . . . " they began; but Beorn interrupted them.

"Thank you! When I want your help I will ask for it. Sit down, and let's get on with this tale, or it will be supper-time before it is ended."

I'm with Beorn. What's with all this "at your service" stuff? That's rhetorical; I understand it was good manners. But do you really intend to put yourself literally at the service of everyone you meet? It's an interesting mindset. And Beorn doesn't have the same expectations of hospitality that the more "mannered" folk in this book do. I guess he's less "civilized" because he's half beast?

The wizard, to tell the truth, never minded explaining his cleverness more than once.

I think Gandalf comes across as more human and fallible in this book than in LOTR.

And as a man he keeps cattle and horses which are nearly as marvelous as himself. They work for him and talk to him. He does not eat them; neither does he hunt or eat wild animals.

It works because the other animals are portrayed as his friends and all, but bears eat meat and humans eat meat, so why wouldn't a bear-human hybrid eat meat?

Bombur is fattest and will do for two, he had better come alone and last.

Bombur takes a lot of grief for his weight. Tolkien's not exactly sensitive and PC in his treatment of the obese, is he? Doesn't really go over today, but I bet it's a reflection of his time.

The [plot devices]! The [plot devices] are coming!

I'm done, and I still can't get over how useless the dwarves are.

I always wanted to hear the story of what happened when Gandalf left the party to go after Sauron. Anyone know if this is in any of the histories books? I've got a bunch of them, but looking would take, you know, effort.

On to Samarkand!

Precious

I've set up a system where I'm reading three books at a time. One at home and other places I go, an audiobook in the car, and The Hobbit during meals and breaks at work. Unfortunately, I haven't been making as much progress at work as I should. I was unfaithful a few days ago and took a lunch to finish a different book I was enjoying (The Burning Bridge by John Flanagan). And yesterday I was sick. So I've just finished up Chapter V.

The end of their argument was that they sent Fili and Kili to look for a better shelter. They had very sharp eyes, and being the youngest of the dwarves by some fifty years they usually got these sort of jobs.

I'm really glad I live in a day and age of spectacles and contacts instead of one in which it's simply accepted that your eyes get worse with age. The day I got glasses was one of the most amazing days of my life, walking outside and realizing that trees had individual leaves.

It is not unlikely that [goblins] invented some of the machines that have since troubled the world, especially the ingenious devices for killing large numbers of people at once, for wheels and engines and explosions always delighted them, and also not working with their own hands more than they could help.

This reminds me of the descriptions of the trolls that cdl pointed out, assigning sins and uncivilized behaviors to monsters, except in this case he's talking about something a bit more malevolent. I also wonder if Tolkien isn't a bit of a pacifist.

After some time he felt for his pipe. It was not his broken, and that was something. Then he felt for his pouch, there was some tobacco in it, and that was something more.

So when he's lost in the dark when all hope seems lost, the one thing that can comfort him is a good smoke. I have to wonder just what the pipe represents for Tolkien. The comforts of home, conversation with good friends, and all that is safe and cultured?

He knew, of course, that the riddle-game was sacred and of immense antiquity, and even wicked creatures were afraid to cheat when they played at it.

Oh? Was this so in Tolkien's time or is it something he created for his fantasy world. I'm not familiar with the riddle game in my world. Is it actually an old tradition?

When I was looking at colleges my senior year in high school I almost decided to go to K-State to study Engineering. Eventually, though, I decided I was undecided, and stayed home to get my basic credits at the local juco instead of pouring money into directionless classes at a university. After two years I still didn't know what I wanted to do, so I took a semester off to work and think about it. I finally decided I wanted to major in Wildlife Biology at Emporia with the career goal of being a park ranger. After talking to the counselors there, I enrolled in Chemistry 2 for the spring semester at the juco so all my basic classes would be out of the way. After one class, though, I remembered how much I had hated Chemistry 1, decided the track wasn't for me, and dropped the class. I finished the semester with the other classes I'd enrolled in just for fun to have a full class schedule. Realizing that two of them were literature-based (Shakespeare and Oral Interpretation of Literature) and reading was what I really enjoyed, I resolved to go through with my plans to attend ESU but as an English major. And that's how I ended up getting my teaching degree in English (how I became a librarian is a tale for another day). Anyway, one of the pieces I chose to perform for Oral Interp was a section from "Riddles in the Dark." It's always been my favorite chapter of the book.

Redbeard's notes

Greetings, all. I've read the book through chapter VI so far. Here's what stood out to me.

From Chapter I -

Hobbits have no beards.

Could hobbits have beards? They can grow hair (on their feet). Are they like native americans, with some genetic disposition making them unable to grow beards, or do they just shave them off every day?

..said our Mr. Baggins, and stuck one thumb behind his braces, and blew out another even bigger smoke-ring.

I had to do a little research on this one. It would appear that Mr. Baggins' teeth weren't in good shape, or at least that the shire knew some sort of early dentistry. Sort of out of place for Tolkiens generally unfavorable outlook on technology.

In the part where all of the dwarves were arriving, I thought of a similar situation later in the book. I hope I'll remember to remark on it then. But I just noticed the similarity on this reading.

Also, Tolkien seems to make himself known in the narrative, which is completely opposite of how he wrote LOTR and the Silmarillion. It seems more like a storyteller telling the tale, more intimate than LOTR.

The dwarves of yore made might spells,
While hammers fell like ringing bells
In places deep, where dark things sleep,
In hollow halls beneath the fells.

Compared with this line from Fellowship:

There are older and fouler things than Orcs in the deep places of the world.

I can assume the dwarves' and Tolkien are referring to the Mines of Moria and the Balrog. Foreboding.

From Chapter II -

The dwarves were waiting at the Green Dragon Inn in Bywater. When I was first getting involved online, I spent many an hour in the Red Dragon Inn, a fantasy room on AOL. Does anyone remember that?

Dawn take you all, and be stone to you!

and later,

It was the wizard's voice that had kept the trolls bickering and quarreling, until the light came and made an end of them.

Does Gandalf (being a Maiar, and a creation of Iluvatar) have the power to make the sun rise? Or did he just delay the trolls until the sun actually came up?

From Chapter IV-

When the dwarves and Bilbo were caught by the goblins, they sang a song, which was written in the book. Later on, it says the meaning was clear. I'm assuming Gandalf could understand it, but I'm wondering how the dwarves or Bilbo knew what was said. Did Gandalf and Bilbo later consult about it when Bilbo wrote the Red Book? Curious.

From Chapter V -

'Chestnuts, chestnuts,' he hissed.

What in the world does this mean? Well, chestnuts would seem to be an old, frequently repeated joke, story or song (according to dictionary.com). I guess riddle would qualify for that definition too.

Manners (Chapter II)

In thinking of this as a children's book, I found some phrases to be interesting comments on manners and lessons for children of the time.

One must, at all times, have pocket-handkerchiefs. Although the Dwalin didn't see the need, Gandolf to the rescue, on a white horse, with pocket-handkerchiefs and pipe and tobacco.

Watch your language. Bilbo could tell they were trolls, by among other things, their language, which was not drawing-room fashion at all, at all.

And, hehe - He took a bite off a sheep's leg he was roasting and wiped his lips on his sleeve. Yes, I am afraid trolls do behave like that, even those with only one head each.

Of the Second Chapter, Consumed with an Overlarge Chinese Buffet Meal that I Will Regret the Rest of the Afternoon (But Was Delicious at the Time)

One of the wonderful things about this book is Bilbo's unintentional growth during the course of his adventure. He's so worried about being distinguished at the start, missing his pocket-handkerchief and thinking the expedition will be comprised of riding along on Ponies in the fine May weather. And then he thinks rainy weather will be the worst thing he'll encounter. He truly has no idea what he's gotten himself into.

One of the recurring themes of fantasy is race-relations. Except instead of Black vs. White we get Dwarves vs. Elves and the like. But there is still a strong metaphor for real interpersonal dynamics in many of the better books. I won't really go into that here, but it stood out to me that even the monstrous trolls are referred to as, "three very large persons."

Hehe: . . . before they were fighting like dogs, and calling one another all sorts of perfectly true and applicable names in very loud voices.

Considering the dwarves are supposed to be much more worldly and experienced than Bilbo, they're generally rather useless and do some pretty stupid things, such as wandering one at a time into a troll camp and letting themselves be captured.

A Certain Charm

I'm enjoying the way this book is written. It has a distinct storytelling feel. When I read it, I can almost hear someone telling the story. I like the long sentences and the way he defines and explains his world by working it into the narrative. For example, the whole development of dragon behavior woven into Thorin's story. Probably, for that is the dragons' way, he has piled it all up in a great heap far inside, and sleeps on it for a bed. And the rest.

I also find some if it very amusing. They need a Burglar, but if necessary you can say Expert Treasure-hunter.

So, will I find it so charming when things start to get a little messy?

Man, I need to get into gear

But, Pink has given me a window.

"Um...Blue...can I...um...play my Avatar game tomorrow night while you read...er something."

*chuckle*

Yes Pink.

The Great Escape

I just finished the part in which Bilbo and the dwarves escape the elven caves using barrels. Something about this passage never sat right with me, and I'm not sure what it is. I like it and all, but it just seems a bit off and I can't put my finger on it. Maybe it has something to do with the elves not checking on the supposedly empty barrels when they were weighted down by the dwarves.

Globalization

I wonder what it would be like to live in a world where everything "over The Hill and across The Water" is distant, unknown, and foreign? That sense of the world as wide, mysterious, and wild is in large part where the sense of magic comes from as I read a book like this. Everything is a new discovery for Bilbo from the moment he leaves his front porch. I sometimes feel almost cheated by the connectedness of our technological world.

Dipping My Toes In

Everytime I read the description of Bag End I want to live there. It sounds so comfortable and nice. Especially later in the chapter when we get an idea of everything in his pantries. I think I could be happy with Bilbo's pre-adventure life. Of course, it rarely registers that he's wealthy enough that he doesn't have to work. I suppose I wouldn't really complain about any life that comes with a nice house, plenty of food, and no necessity of earning a living.

Speaking of his pantries, does anyone still practice the kind of hospitality presented here? Strangers show up on your door unannounced and you invite them in without a question. Moreso, you not only feed them, but let them custom order anything they desire that's within your capacity to provide. It seems to me we take a different view of strangers and even guests these days.

As I was reading this I was struck by how much Rowling borrowed the idea of adventure as a bad thing in her depiction of the Dursleys. They aspire to everything a respectable Hobbit does. And while I can understand what the authors describe and see it around me to an extent, I don't think the society I live in emphasizes quite the same thing in quite the same way. People want to be "normal" and fit in, but without the same abhorence of "adventure" precisely. I wonder if this is just the way I see it, or if it's something that's more pronounced in Britain than the U.S?

From My Copy (ISBN: 0618162216)

The Hobbit was first published in September 1937. Its 1951 second edition (fifth impression) contains a significantly revised portion of Chapter V, "Riddles in the Dark," which brings the story of The Hobbit more in line with its sequel, The Lord of the Rings, then in progress. Tolkien made some further revisions to the American edition published by Ballantine Books in February 1966, and to the British third edition (sixteenth impression) published by George Allen & Unwin later that same year.

For the 1995 British hardcover edition, published by HarperCollins, the text of The Hobbit was entered into word-processing files, and a number of further corrections of misprints and errors were made. Since then, various editions of The Hobbit have been generated from that computerized text file. For the present text, that file has been compared again, line by line, with the earlier editions, and a number of further corrections have been made to present a text that, as closely as possible, represents Tolkien's final intended form.

Readers interested in details of the changes made at various times to the text of The Hobbit are referred to Appendix A, "Textual and Revisional Notes," of The Annotated Hobbit (1988), and J. R. R. Tolkien: A Descriptive Bibliography by Wayne G. Hammond, with the assistance of Douglas A. Anderson (1993).

I might have to check out one of recommended texts sometime. I'm curious to see what the original depictions of Gollum and the riddles were before he had LOTR in mind.

A Quick Read

Done!

Companions for the Journey

Well I guess I get to turn right around and reread the book, but it will be more fun with friends. Welcome to our next selection.