The Hobbit readalong, week 2, J R R Tolkien

26 August 2012

Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Bilbo Baggins, J R R Tolkien, The hobbit readalong

3 responses

This week is week 2 of our Hobbit readalong being hosted by writers’ bloc.  Week one’s discussions can be found here and if you haven’t already read The Hobbit, then either please go and find a copy, catch up and join in or don’t read this post any further because it will spoil for you any future reading of this book.  This week myself and Matt provided the questions which start below.

1. If you’ve already read the LoTR (or for that matter seen the film) what do you make of The Hobbit so far as a prequel to that book?

I’ve been surprised on a few fronts with this book.  Last week revealed to me how very little I actually remember of this story!  This week I’ve been surprised at the similarities or parallels of The Hobbit with the Lord of the Rings.  If you consider the story so far there have been quite a few.  We started the adventure in Bilbo’s home town of Hobbiton, along the way the band ended up at Rivendell, they were accosted by goblins underground.  There are the scenes in the creepy forest – large spiders, talking eagles, wargs, another elven society.  They then come to the land of men.  Lots of similarities.  I suppose it makes sense that Tolkien used The Hobbit to cut his teeth on prior to LoTR.  The writing is much more simple but we also have the beginnings of the epic adventure in that the one ring has finally been discovered.

2. I haven’t found the writing in The Hobbit overly descriptive, it’s written almost in a way that takes it for granted that the reader will bring a certain element of knowledge to the reading.  Have you enjoyed Tolkien’s style of writing?  Does it make it easy for you to imagine the world that he’s come up with?

I do like Tolkien’s writing style although I can see why some people would not.  The Hobbit is less descriptive than the LoTR for sure and a much simpler read.  Tolkien doesn’t really go into any detail about the creatures – I think he just assumes you will know what a troll is or what an elf looks like.  I quite like that but I can’t deny that the LoTR films have overtaken any images I had going on in my mind anyway.  When I read this now my imagination is guided by that film – it’s impossible not to picture the world created by Peter Jackson.

3. Well, it’s been far from an easy journey.  The stretch through Mirkwood was particularly hazardous – although I’m a bit puzzled about the names – Flies and Spiders.  Spiders yes, but flies??    Anyway, given the situations that they’ve faced so far, which one would be your worst nightmare?

The most obvious answer is the spiders.  I’m not overly fond of spiders at the best of time and that’s when they’re just simple housespiders.  The notion of these huge spiders with their scary sounding voices is really quite terrifying  – I mean, they’ve got eight legs after all – the little tiny ones can get about pretty quick so I hate to thing how quickly these would come at you.  Why was the chapter called flies and spiders – I can only think that it refers to the dwarves being caught like flies in a trap?

Matt’s Questions

4. In Chapter VIII, “Flies and Spiders”, there is a moment when Bilbo kills his first giant spider, and something in him changes – he seems to make this dramatic and instant transformation from whiny, annoying hobbit to heroic slayer of beasts of burden. Do you think this transformation is too quick or forced, or too unrealistic (as far as realism goes in a forest with giant spiders)?

It was certainly a very quick transformation and I couldn’t help thinking he’d come on a fair bit when he was killing spiders left and right.  I quite like the way that Bilbo has developed but to be fair I think he finds that the ring lends him a lot of his new found courage.  He would never have escaped the Goblins or tempted the spiders away from their lair or got the dwarves out of their captivity with the elves.  I hope that the ring doesn’t make him over confident!  He’s not met Smaug yet after all.

5. On the topic of heroism, it seems a major idea in this book is that anybody can be a hero – Bilbo is a very ordinary person, living and longing for an ordinary life, yet he does have heroic traits in him which appear when they are finally needed. Do you agree with this idea? Can anybody be a hero? Could you rise up if you were put into this situation, or is there even a way of knowing without putting yourself into such a situation?

I suppose you don’t really know your own strength until it’s put to the test but it would be nice to think that we would all rise to the occasion if it became necessary.  That said, with the situations they’ve so far faced it’s quite simply been a choice of do or die.  I suppose if Bilbo had been more cowardly he could simply have snuck off and left the dwarves to their fate but would you really be able to live with that.  The good thing about Bilbo’s actions so far is that he takes his time and considers the best course of action.  I like that.  I think the temptation would be to rush in like a maniac but this more considered approach seems to be working better for them all.

6. For me personally, I have found chapters VI to XII much more interesting than the first part of the book. Have you found them more interesting, and if so, why exactly do you think so?

I have enjoyed these chapters.  There’s a lot going on after all.  Personally I think that this story follows a typical story format.  It feels like we had a very decided introduction.  We’re made familiar with the hobbit and his home and there’s a lot of shuffling backwards and forwards down corridors, making tea and cake.  Then the adventure begins and at first it feels like a nice little jaunt, until the party start to get into a few scrapes which gradually pick up in tempo as we reach the middle.  For example, the situation with the trolls was all resolved fairly quickly whereas the situation later with the elves took a bit more consideration.  It was as though the earlier trials were a rehearsal for what was really to come.  And now we just have to read the grand finale.

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