The Hobbit - Chapter by Chapter Discussion

[Ibalissi]

As most people who visit the book board seem interested in a chapter by chapter discussion on The Hobbit/LOTR and The Silmarillion, I think the obvious place to start is The Hobbit. So, opinions/discussions/thoughts on the book....

Chapter I: An Unexpected Party

In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.....

[Lessa]

Not read this for a while so a little rusty.  As I recall Tolkien goes into a lovely description of Bagend and Bilbo's cosy life then he meets Gandalf one morning after breakfast..... His life is never the same again.

Lessa

[Haldir]

lol yeah. I love the way Tolkien describes hobbits first to introduce the type of story it is going to be. And it is sooo peaceful at first...Bag-end I mean. And then Gandalf appears...hehe.

[Afirewiel]

its the only Tolkien book i've actually read, i loved the description in it, its been ages since i read it tho...and my memory is terrible

[Niniel]

I love the confusing good morning bit  

"What do you mean?" he said."Do you wish me a good morning, or mean that it is a good morning whether i wish it or not;or that you feel good this morning; or that it is a morning to be good on?"

not sure why  
stuck out for me so i ended up using it on my dad who got thoroughly confused.

[Elwood]

Well I have just now read the first chapter "The Unexpected Party" hehe I just notised that's it's similar to the first chapter of lotr "The Long expected Party.."   ANYWAY I think Tolkien begins the striy beautifully, the description of Bag end, and hobbits in general is done in such deatil and yet a kind of light fun style which draws the reader in.

LOL I love the good morning bit too Ninny! I think I'll try that answer on someone soon.... hehe.

I think my favourite bit is that song the dwarves sing "That's what Bilbo Baggins hates!" hehe it had me grinning.

[Dagger]

Have you notcied how the language changes between the beginning of The Hobbit and its end? The change is subtle, but quite dramatic. It begins almost in a conversational way - as though Tolkien himself is reading it to you by the fireside - quote:
    "As I was saying, the Mother of this particular hobbit - of Bilbo Baggins, that is - was the famous Belladonna Took, one of the tree remarkable daughters of the Old Took, head of the hobbits who lived across The Water, the small river that ran at the foot of the Hill."

   By the end of the tale he has changed to a much more formal and archaic style, quote:
    "Even a fourteenth share was wealth exceedingly great, greater than that of many mortal kings. From that treasure Bard sent much gold to the Master of Lake-Town; and he rewarded his followers and friends freely. To the Elvenking he gave the emeralds of Girion, such jewels as he most loved, which Dain had restored to him."

   The same can be said for Lord of the Rings, and the similar way in which that story begins, and ends with prose that isn't far off from the near-poetic style of the Silmarillion. It's pretty remarkable the way Tolkien is able to submerge the reader deeper into the world of Middle-Earth this way.

[Pipsqueek]

I love the confusing good morning bit  

"What do you mean?" he said."Do you wish me a good morning, or mean that it is a good morning whether i wish it or not;or that you feel good this morning; or that it is a morning to be good on?"

Yes!  For me, this section touches so closely on what The Hobbit is all about and why, for me, it is the most important of Tolkiens' books;  it's pure storytelling, and it's about the creation of narrative (Bilbo is forced into a story by an archetypal 'story' figure, a wizard- genius!) and also about the means by which narrative is created, i.e. language.  By showing us, in such a subtle, clever and witty manner - and so early in the text - the problems that language can pose and the obstacles to true understanding - Tolkien reveals to us this bittersweet nature of language.  This occurs again and again in the book (eg letters that can only be read by moonlight, riddles etc.)  Of course, these ideas are played out in his other works too, but for me, The Silmarillion is too bogged down in its attempts to create a vast mythology and the 'story' of LOTR is too wide for these ideas to be seen in all their glory.  It's a book about the importance of stories and words and language and symbols, how they are central to human existence.  

The first sentence of the the first chapter is beautiful.  Its grammatical simplicity almost hides the gorgeousness of its rhythmic construction - it has a perfect, steady four beats to it!  If it had been written the other way around 'A hobbit lived...' this rhythm would  have been been lost - the mark of a great manipulator of language (or writer if you will) is to cloak the complexity and harmony of language in seemingly simple forms.  This is clear on every page of 'The Hobbit'.  The importance of rhythm is also clear in the songs.

[True_Ent]

I truely believe You cant know the hobbitness of hobbits without reading the first chapter of the hobbit no matter how many times you may have read Rings.

I love the whole Good Morning conversation between Bilbo and Gandalf. Their conversation says so much about each character.

" I beg your pardon, I havent asked you for anything!"
" Yes, you have! Twice now. My pardon!"

As much as i am against the hobbit as a movie, to see Ian and Ian act this out would be heaven!

[Haldir]

Ive just started(literally) the Riddles in the Dark chapter. I really like the bit where the dwarves and Bilbo are taken to the heart of the mountain. Had me on edge for a while I can tell you! The way the stone giants are representing the real heart of the thunderstorm, and the way that Gandalf is still suspicious of the cave even when Fili and Kili had routed through it...shows how wise Gandalf was even then...

[Shadowfax]

the whole "good morning" thing is just classic, totally my favourite bit in the chapter.

and the opening line, well.... its just *everything* isnt it

i agree with true ent

[misfit]

my mum first read the hobbit to me when i was very little and i've been hooked ever since...i loved the 'good morning' passage when i heard it and found that it doesn't lose any of its humour when read from the book. tolkien still makes me crack up every time with his description of bilbo's confusion and gandalf showing bilbo what he really means by his polite little expressions. if everyone could see what they truly meant in everyday conversation, the world would be a much less pretentious place. and gandalf..he's much more accessible in the hobbit than lotr. tolkien seems to me to use the hobbit to get you interested in the world of middle earth and then during the lotr trilogy, he expands your view and shows you the diversity of life, and finally with the silmarillion he explores the history. i find the whole idea fantastic and a brilliant example of great writing.

[ObiShawn]

After seeing (and falling in love with) the movies, I have begun reading the books, starting with The Hobbit, of course.

That's a lie.  I started with FotR, and after reading the introduction, which discussed how Bilbo lied to Gandalf about the ring, I decided I need to read The Hobbit.

So, then I get to Riddles in the Dark chapter and it hit me all at once, the brilliance that Peter Jackson showed in the movie: seeing Gandal sit in that chair mumbling to himself  "Riddles in the dark . . ."  It made that scene make so much more sence.  The first time I saw the movie, I thought that he was just trying to be vague.

In reading The Hobbit, I have come across something that makes me want to throw the book away.  In Queer Lodgings,  I can handle Beorn being able to turn into a bear, but the dogs that walk on their hind legs, carrying chairs?  Bears dancing in the moonlight?  That is almost too fanciful.

I will endure these things though.

[Morgul]

You have to bear in mind that The Hobbit was primarily written for a younger audience, so you do get the odd thing like you mention, it makes it all the more appealing to younger readers. Still that said, for me it has a charm of its own. I must admit after reading LoTR first, then going onto the Hobbit, the change in tone seemed very apparent. I did find the Hobbit difficult to read at first because of the manner in which it is written. However, let your imagination go and it is a wonderfull little story, that answers quite a lot of questions that you may have from viewing LoTR or reading it.

[Archer Queen]

Aye, I agree! My dad read it to me and my brother and sister several times when we were small, and he knows the whole of the first passage off by heart! You know, 'In a hole in the ground, lived a hobbit. Not a dry, bare, sandy hole, with nothing to sit down on or to eat...this was a hobbit hole, and that means comfort.' there's a lot more of it, but i couldn't remember it! we're a very tolkein- orientated family- we even named our cat after him! But that's off the point. I love the jovial style of the hobbit, and the way Bilbo gets so flustered with all these dwarves arriving and throwing his nice, neat world into uproar is so amusing!

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