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Post by Stormrider on Jul 10, 2004 4:52:16 GMT -6
I noticed the different attitudes the Dwarves had toward Bilbo. Bilbo is very polite and the Dwarves seem very rude at times! Is this hobbit politeness and conformity to etiquette modeled after traditional English etiquette?
Why were the Dwarves, especially Thorin, rude? However, Bilbo muttered under his breath a slight curse about the Dwarves not helping with anything, and suddenly they were there helping clean up, etc.
Were the Dwarves taking advantage of Bilbo or was it just that he hadn’t asked them for any help?
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Post by Desi Baggins on Jul 10, 2004 7:23:10 GMT -6
Thorin seemed especially rude because he was sort of royalty and he expected some special respect.
I think the dwarves may have seemed rude becuase they were under the impression that Bilbo knew what was going on and that he had invited them to his hole.
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Post by Stormrider on Jun 26, 2012 17:13:05 GMT -6
Perhaps hobbits are modeled to have many of the English qualitities of politeness and good etiquette. Hobbits enjoy entertaining for the most part and having good etiquette is part of being a great host. Even though Bilbo was completely surprised by his guests arrival, he still tried to hold to proper entertaining rules.
The Dwarves do seem rather rude but maybe that is because of the rough origin of their creation by Aulë coming from the stuff of the Earth. Living underground in the dark would make me irritable because I like to see the light of day! But Dwarves were more than likely acustomed to the darkness and maybe the light irritated them. That is no excuse for being rude and demanding of your host. They did think that Bilbo knew of their arrival since there was the mark on the door. They may have expected Bilbo to have had help to serve such a gathering and that was why they kept yelling for things.
But I don't think Dwarves were mean-hearted in nature as a rule. Thorin especially expected more from others because of his ranking. When Bilbo mumbled the curse under his breath, I think the Dwarves may have realized they had intruded on Bilbo and were being too demanding on the little guy. I was glad that they jumped in and started helping but the song about breaking dishes might have been too much! I know they did it in fun, but poor Bilbo! What was he to think?
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