The Hobbit of Tolkein

Reviewer: Siddharth 

[ I am a teenager school going artist; I love to draws cartoons, writes poems on occasions and an avid reader of Sunil Gangopadhaya's Kakababu series, Satyajit Ray's Feluda series, Tolkein's LOTR-Hobbit Series and many more. But above all, I am a Tolkein fan. Join me to celebrate the launch of Hobbit with my book review of the same name.]

In the years gone by, till the 1920s, the world of English literature knew very few stories intended for young teenagers. There were many fairy tales for young kids, and a lot more for the older generations, but books for this reader group were far and few.

And it is at this phase of scarcity of novels, that J.R.R. Tolkien, one of the pioneers of modern fantasy novels, stepped forth.

Though The Hobbit was not his first book ( the earlier being Silmarillion, which was published much later), it was the creation which identified Tolkien as one of the distinguished writers of his time.

HISTORY

 In early 1930s, Tolkien was pursuing a career in Oxford with a fellowship at Pembroke College. At that time , two of his poems had been published in small collections Goblin Feet and The Cat and the Fiddle: A Nursery Rhyme Undone and its Scandalous Secret Unlocked. By this time he had started his work on a new language, Elvish.

According to Tolkien, in early 1930s one day, when he was marking school certificate papers, he found a blank page. It suddenly came to his mind, what was to become The Hobbit’s first lines ‘ In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.’ He had completed the story by ’32 and lent the manuscript to friends and members of his writer’s group, including C.S. Lewis.

Cover of The Hobbit first edition ( designed by Tolkien himself)

One of these friends, Elaine Griffiths lent the book to Susan Dagnall, a staff of the publishing house, George Allen and Unwin. She was impressed by it and gave the book to Stanley Unwin. Stanley Unwin gave the book to his 10 year old son for reviewing. His son liked it very much and thus the book finally hit the markets on 21st September 1937.

OVERVIEW

The Hobbit is often considered as an introduction to Tolkien’s fictional ‘middle-earth’ and a prelude to Tolkien’s more famous work the Lord of the Rings.

In the fantasy world of Middle-earth, Tolkien has created many parallelisms with the 'real' world. Familiar human traits, both good and evil, thrives in the actions of the hobbits, elves, dwarves, goblins, wizards, dragons, and other more unusual inhabitants of this world. Tolkien himself goes on stating that such stories are important to understand and to get a clear vision of the real times we live in. While the adventure  is an entertaining, well-constructed narrative, it is also an appreciation of the simplicity of life—good and regular meals, comfortable homes, songs and traditions, and the joys of companionship. In The Hobbit an unlikely hero learns that courage, honesty, and ingenuity counts far more than physical strength.

A map of middle-earth, drawn by Tolkien for The Hobbit

Much of the evil that the forces of good must overcome in Middle-earth are fantastic beings: an all powerful dragon, dumb trolls, cruel goblins, and horrific giant spiders. The kind of evil that they represent, especially greed and vengeance, is quite familiar to all readers. It also shows how malicious evil can be, by luring the leader of the dwarves Thorin to fall in greed and in the process almost destroy his companions. It is Bilbo's carelessness for treasure and his desire to “ have a puff of smoke inside his home”, combined with his sense of duty , that unites the protagonists against a common enemy.

SETTING

The story begins and ends in The Shire, in the Village of Hobbiton, a  fictional place which resembles a medieval village unspoiled by modern inventions. In one major way Hobbiton differs from a real world village, even one in the Middle Ages: it is inhabited by hobbits, creatures shorter than even dwarves who prefer to live in hobbit-holes rather than in houses above ground. Geographically, Middle-earth resembles modern earth, with its terrain, seasons, and natural beauty. It is the inhabitants of Middle-earth who add the touch of fantasy. 

THE CHARACTERS

1. Bilbo Baggins:

He is the main protagonist and the title character. It is mainly due to his simplicity that he defeats greed which ensnares the companions in his quest. Also Tolkien found his ideal hero in Bilbo. Bilbo is a hobbit and thus much shorter than humans, elves, goblins and dragons. But Bilbo manages to complete his quest not by his physical strength, but by his courage and cleverness. He is easily identifiable with the common man, as he loves food, drinks and security and his home.

2. Gandalf:

      Gandalf is one of the most mysterious characters of The Hobbit. At the start of the story, he literally appears out of thin air, and frequently vanishes during the quest only to return at times of peril. A very powerful wizard, he is the chief instigator of the quest and almost forces Bilbo to join the company.

Gandalf is both inspiring and reckless at times. And obviously, he  is an unshakable wall against evil, and yet he seems to have an  almost godlike knowledge of every  place in the world.
Gandalf can be viewed as a stereotypic figure of a fantasy wizard, long beard, gleamy eyes, pointed hat on the head and staff in the hand. However what separates Gandalf from the rest of the characters is his all knowing wisdom along with a good sense of humour. 

3. The Dwarves

•  Thorin Oakenshield: He is the royalty, the leader of the quest, the chief of the dwarves.
• His character is simply defined by two words: arrogant and greedy. He first dejects Bilbo as an unwanted burden. However as the story unfolds, His attitude towards Bilbo changes and they develop a good friendship.
• Fili and Kili: They are the youngest dwarves in the company and like jests.
• Oin and Gloin: Both are elder dwarves. Gloin is the father of Gimli, one of the protagonists in The lord of the Rings.
• Dwalin and Balin: Balin is the cousin of Gimli and is the eldest of all the dwarves in the company.
• Ori, Dori and Nori:  They are siblings are relatively minor characters in the book.
• Bifur Bofur and Bombur:  Bifur and Bofur too are minor characters. However, Bombur has a significant role. He is excessively fat and lazy and creates several hardships for his companions.

4. Smaug: The main villain. He is a dragon several thousands of years old. He guards what was once a house of treasure owned by Thorin’s ancestors. Tolkien gave him humane characteristics. Unlike in most stories, Smaug can speak, and is very shrewd as well as clever. It is this treasure, that the dwarves set to retrieve.


5. Gollum: 

An immortal character created by Tolkien. Though in this book he is mainly depicted as a villain, however in Lord of the Rings, he is shown with much more sympathy. In this book, Gollum’s origins are not mentioned. He is present in only one chapter of the book, which is the turning point of the whole story. Bilbo encounters him in an underground cave and gets into a battle of words with him. It is here, that Bilbo retrieves The One Ring, the central theme of The Lord of the Rings..

Bard of Esgaroth: He is another mysterious character. He is one of the heroes as he slays the dragon Smaug. Later, he becomes the King of Dale and helps the dwarves in the battle of five armies.

Minor Characters:

There are several minor heroes and villains including the Chief Orc,  The King of Wood-elves, Beorn ( a shape-shifter),trolls, wargs and eagles which play influential roles in the story.

    

THE PLOT:

 I won’t give up the whole plot as it may spoil the read for those who haven’t read The Hobbit yet. The Plot begins like this:

Bilbo Baggins is a traditional hobbit, who likes the uneventful ways of his life and hates adventures. One day,  a mysterious wizard, Gandalf arrives at his door and tells him of an opportunity to go on an adventure. At first Bilbo dismisses the idea.  The next day, due to Gandalf’s handiwork a band of dwarves along with Bilbo arrive at Bilbo’s home for dinner.

Bilbo is forced to please the guests. After dinner, the dwarves begin a conversation about a treasure and the inclusion of Bilbo in the quest as a burglar. Bilbo denies the offer, but when the dwarves speak of his cowardice, Bilbo joins the party. The leader of the dwarves is Thorin oakenshield,  a royal dwarf. According to him, several years ago a dragon named Smaug had attacked the kingdom of his forefathers and hence captured it. Now,  Smaug guards the same treasure. The thirteen dwarves are on a quest to retrieve that treasure.

The next day the company set off for the quest with Bilbo regretting his decision. What follows is a magical adventure through several different regions with a wide variety of characters and situations which include the heavenly abode of Rivendell, the Misty mountains, Mirkwood forests, The city of Dale and Iron hills.

SOCIAL SENSITIVITY

Although there is violence in several sections of The Hobbit, it does not become central to the plot. Both the trolls and the giant spiders talk of eating the dwarves, but no reader expects them to succeed. The emphasis is on the comic aspects of the two rescue scenes. Tolkien's sense of poetic justice turns the quarrelsome trolls to stone and has the stinging spiders wounded by Bilbo's newly named sword, Sting. In the first attack by the goblins the magic of Gandalf's wand and sword take priority over the killing of goblins. In relating the final fight with the goblins, the great Battle of Five Armies, the narrator calls it 'a terrible battle,' the 'most dreadful of Bilbo's experiences,' but he does not show much of the fighting as Bilbo himself is knocked unconscious by a falling stone.

In most fantasy tales, the forces of good and evil are expected to enter into physical as well as psychological conflict. Some amount of violence is, therefore, essential to the plot, but the author does not overdevelop this element. The three heroes of the book—Bilbo, Gandalf, and Bard—all stand out in their efforts to prevent internal fighting among the groups that represent the 'good': dwarves, elves, and men. At the end the alliance of the forces of good in mutual support allows them to defeat the forces of evil.

AWARDS AND ADAPTATIONS:

On first publication in October 1937, The Hobbit was met with almost unanimously favourable reviews from publications both in the UK and the US, including The Times, Catholic World and The New York Post. C. S. Lewis, friend of Tolkien (and later author of The Chronicles of Narnia between 1949–1964), writing in The Times reports:
The truth is that in this book a number of good things, never before united, have come together: a fund of humour, an understanding of children, and a happy fusion of the scholar's with the poet's grasp of mythology... The professor has the air of inventing nothing. He has studied trolls and dragons at first hand and describes them with that fidelity that is worth oceans of glib "originality."
Lewis compares the book to Alice in Wonderland in that both children and adults may find different things to enjoy in it, and places it alongside Flatland, Phantastes, and The Wind in the Willows. W. H. Auden, in his review of the sequel The Fellowship of the Ring calls The Hobbit "one of the best children's stories of this century".
The Hobbit was nominated for the Carnegie Medal and awarded a prize from the New York Herald Tribune for best juvenile fiction of the year (1938). More recently, the book has been recognized as "Most Important 20th-Century Novel (for Older Readers)" in the Children's Books of the Century poll in Books for Keeps.

The first motion picture adaptation of The Hobbit, a 12-minute film of cartoon stills, was commissioned from Gene Deitch by William L. Snyder.
The BBC Radio 4 series The Hobbit radio drama was an adaptation by Michael Kilgarriff, broadcast in eight parts (four hours in total) from September to November 1968.
The Hobbit, an animated version of the story produced by Rankin/Bass, debuted as a television movie in the United States in 1977. In 1978, Romeo Muller won a Peabody Award for his teleplay for The Hobbit. The film was also nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, but lost to Star Wars.

Presently, Peter Jackson, the director of the hugely successful Lord of the Rings series is directing a three part Hobbit movie. The First movie, The Hobbit: An unexpected journey is set to release on 14th December, 2012. All Hobbit fans are eagerly waiting the release with fingers crossed.