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Post by Sparrow on Jul 5, 2004 13:43:57 GMT -6
The story opens by describing the hobbit-hole first and does not introduce Bilbo himself until several paragraphs later. What is the impact of this beginning? How would it affect the story had Tolkien began by describing Bilbo or Gandalf?
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Post by Hilary on Jul 5, 2004 16:41:40 GMT -6
I think that describing Bilbo's home lends an air of reality to the story. A reader can relate to surroundings that aren't too far removed from his/her own home...except for the part about it being a hole Still, it's a comfortable, homely place, with many of the features and comforts anyone would expect (and hope for). Then, by providing some level of familiarity, it becomes easier to accept Hobbits, sight-unseen, because much of their lifestyle is anachronistically similar to ours...postal service (indeed, twice a day!); regular (that is to say, frequent) meals; fireworks; door-bells; tea, cakes, ale...belief can be suspended because we are eased into the world of Middle-earth.
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Post by Greenleaf on Jul 6, 2004 4:45:37 GMT -6
By describing the hobbit-hole first, Tolkien introduces us to the hobbits' way of living. In a just a couple of paragraphs we get a fairly good idea of what the hobbits are like: they like comfort, they are social creatures ("the hobbit was fond of visitors"), they love good food (that is achieved by using the plural form - cellars, pantries, kitchens, dining-rooms). And then he goes on to giving us information about the Bagginses and the hobbits' physical features. So by the time the description narrows down to Bilbo, we already know a lot of things about the hobbits and their habits, and especially that they don't like adventures, which is very essential for the rest of the story.
Tolkien made this introduction in a very extraordinary and captivating way. His opening sentence, "In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.", is one of the best I have ever read. No wonder it has been impressed in the memory of thousands of people.
Of course, Tolkien could have begun the story otherwise. He could have started with Bilbo with something like that: "In a fine spring morning, Bilbo was sitting outside his house, smoking his pipe..." But then, he'd have to make a parenthesis and explain that Bilbo was no man but a hobbit, and what hobbits were like, and about their hobbit-holes and so on. Or he could have started with Gandalf with something like that: "In a fine spring morning an old man with a staff was walking..." Again, he'd have to make a parenthesis, and frankly, either of these beginnings would be rather common. Okay, I'm no writer, and Tolkien would have thought of far better opening sentences if he'd chosen to begin the story either with Bilbo or Gandalf. But still, I'm sure there could not have been a better beginning.
I once read somewhere that the opening sentence of the Hobbit sprang up one day in Tolkien's mind out of nowhere, and it intrigued him so that he wanted to discover what a hobbit was, and thus the story was invented.
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Post by Desi Baggins on Jul 6, 2004 12:10:51 GMT -6
The way Tolkien began this story puts the reader right in Middle-earth, they know right away that it is not set here on this earth. It is very captivating.
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Post by FIUT on Jul 9, 2004 3:14:14 GMT -6
Wow! Great answers from all the posters above.
I wonder if Tolkien was also following a "story book" formula here? Many of the traditional childrens' fairy tales start out similarly: "There was an Old Woman who lived in a shoe..." "There were seven Dwarves who lived in a cottage deep in a dark old forest..." "Once upon a time, in a country far, far away, there lived an old woodcutter in a tiny, tumbled cabin..."
When Tolkien became dreamily distracted (as he graded a bottomless pile of student papers) he may have fallen into the sing-song rhythms of the fairy tale and produced, quite spontaneously, his famous opening line: "In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit."* Very similar to the formulaic openings I've listed above!
Of course, the type of "hole" might then, quickly and graphically, define the qualities and the characteristics of his "new invented" hobbit, as Hilary and Greenleaf imply. Afterall, "Things," not so pleasant, often live in holes. So to reassure his readers, and maybe even himself,** that this "hobbit" was not some slimey thing in a mud pit hole, he could do no better than describe more fully what he meant by "hole." By telling us all about the bourgeois comforts, the dryness, airiness, and lightsome nature of this "hole," we immediately recognize that Bilbo will not be some sort of foul-fanged monster.
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*Letter #163, June 7, 1955, p. 215 - Here Tolkien also tells us that the story was originally meant for his childrens' amusement, hence its good correspondance to the nursery tale format?
** Tolkien tells us that in this, his initial meeting with a "hobbit" he had no idea himself just what a Hobbit might be!
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Post by Fanuidhol on Jan 12, 2005 7:21:31 GMT -6
I hope it is ok that I'm posting to a first week question. I'd like to participate from/at chapter 1 and move forward. If this isn't ok, let me know.
After reading the other answers here, I'd like to make a specific point that the others circled around. This hobbit, Bilbo, was in a particular socio-economic class that is evident by his environment. "Abundance" was his middle name -- "whole rooms devoted to clothes", etc. I wonder if the aftermath of the Great Depression had anything to do with adding to the "fairy tale" quality. Certainly children were still feeling the afteraffects of deprivation at the time of publication, weren't they?. Wouldn't it seem like a "fairy tale" for a single person to have so much?
Thanks, Fan
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Post by Stormrider on Jan 12, 2005 7:26:20 GMT -6
Fanuidhol:
Yes, It is perfectly alright to start form the beginning and work your way through the chapters one by one! You can post anywhere in the study at any time you like. That is what is so nice about the study. Any old discussions can come back up to the top any time! It is great to see you participating!
Good observation! I remember my own family members who stocked up on things at all the sales after the depression was over so that they never had to be without if it should happen again. Their closets were full of things lined up on their shelves just as if you were looking on the store shelf!
Did England feel the affects of the depression the way the USA did? I am unfamiliar with much of England's history. However, I am sure that Tolkien had read about it in the USA.
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Post by Stormrider on Jun 26, 2012 17:38:03 GMT -6
I think describing the hobbit hole grabs the reader right away and gets his attention. It does make the reader feel at home in that hobbit hole and comfortable there and as if he should feel like he fits right in with the story.
With Peter Jackson's Hobbit movie (part one) coming out the end of this year, I thought it would be nice to revisit The Hobbit Study by going through all of the study threads one chapter per week. I hope some of you will join in with me!
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Post by Andorinha on Jun 27, 2012 18:54:18 GMT -6
That sounds good -- count me in!
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Post by Vanye on Jun 28, 2012 11:19:10 GMT -6
Yeah! Count me in too! 8^)
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Post by Fredeghar Wayfarer on Jun 28, 2012 19:19:29 GMT -6
I'm in as well. I just reread The Hobbit a few months ago in preparation for the movies so it's still fairly fresh in my mind.
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Post by Stormrider on Jun 29, 2012 16:25:24 GMT -6
It isn't just The Hobbit that grabbed me, The Fellowship of the Ring did, too. and of course, because I was very enraptured with the tale TTT and ROTK also grabbed me.
JRRT has the right techniques to get the reader interested, curious to see what's coming next, involved, and then hooked! The reader starts out feeling as if they belong in the story themselves, perhaps as a hobbit since The Shire is where The Hobbit and FOTR start out. Immediately it is hobbits the reader is involved with and discovering things about them.
Hobbits are interesting people (I suppose no different than we are) but there is more to them than they realize themselves. Right away, their size and furry feet are curiosities that make the reader interested to find out more.
In The Hobbit, the comparison of a nasty hole compared to the comfy cozy hobbit hole gets the reader interested and his curiosity swings right into wondering what a hobbit is just from the description of his home. And I think the reader begins to feel he will like hobbits based on the hobbit hole description.
Considering Bilbo is the only hobbit that we really meet in The Hobbit at first, he is instantly sized up against a Wizard and then a hoard of Dwarves. I am getting ahead a bit here since this is a discussion about the hobbit hole.
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