The Hobbit: Setting, Narration, and Theme - Book Report/Review Example

The Hobbit 1. Author John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, commonly known as J.R.R. Tolkien, was an English writer, poet, university professor and philologist that is best known for his works in the literature industry. Best known for his books such as The Hobbit, Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion, Tolkien was a great writer. However, this was not the role that he had chosen for himself to follow in life. In the year 1914, at the age of 22 when the United Kingdom joined the First World War, he enrolled to join the army and fight for his country. In the year 1915, is when he opted to join the army after his completion of his degree. He was an individual that was always filled with a desire to write about what he saw and what he believed to be the truth of the happenings of the war. In 1916 when he was transporte4det France, he was driven to write one of his acclaimed poems, The Lonely Isle. While at war, he was driven to the point of unhealthiness because he was constantly plagued by illnesses that forced him to go from hospital to hospital in search of treatment (Clark and Timmons 23). During his recovery is when he was inspired to write his book, The Book of Lost Tales. This inspiration was drawn from the things that he had seen while at war. In 1971, when his wife Edith passed on, Tolkien realized that, despite the fact that he was in the war throughout, he had a chance to spend time with his wife while in Humber Garrison, in 1917, and it was this region and the time that he spent with his wife that the idea of The Silmarillion was conceived (Helms 23). This was a realization that dawned on him after her death. Tolkien can be said to have drawn his inspiration from the activities that had taken place in his life and the people that he had around him at the time. The writing of The Silmarillion is what kicked off the writing of the book The Hobbit (Hammond and Anderson 57). The inspiration for writing the book was from having time with his wife when he had a fellowship at Pembroke College. His drive was caused due to his love for the letters that he had read of Father Christmas who worked with gnomes and goblins. It was this thought that drove him to pick up a paper when he was at the college and began writing the words: ‘In a hole, in the ground there lived a hobbit.’ 2. Point Of View/Narration The Narrator to the book is seen to be a hobbit, Bilbo Baggins. The narration style that is used in the book is whereby the main character of the story decides to tell the greatest story of his youth. The narration takes the form that the character is telling the story as it unfolds from a third person point of view. The point of view gives the narrator a chance to change the target of the story from the main character to other people that are in the story. The Narration is on that is slow but gives the reader a chance to see the story as it unfolds from all the characters that are in the story. The reader in the narration is drawn in with all the details that are present in the book; nothing was being left to chance when Tolkien wrote the book. The language that is used in the narrative is borrowed from the Norse Mythology. The language has a similar feel to Old English but has over the years been republished, having been refined to cater to those that would have a hard time in understanding the idea that was being portrayed. The language makes the point of view feel more authentic and easier to understand (Tolkien 105). 3. Plot The plot follows the life of a hobbit, Bilbo, when is tricked by a wizard, Gandalf, into hosting a party for Thorin and his group of dwarves, who sing of reclaiming the Lonely Mountain and its vast treasure from the dragon Smaug. When the music ends, Gandalf unveils a map showing a secret door into the Mountain and proposes that the dumbfounded Bilbo serve as the expedition's "burglar." It is at this point that Bilbo realizes that not only was tricked into hosting thus party but as well as the fact that he was chosen as part of the ‘merry’ band of dwarves. The novel goes on to say that Bilbo then decides to follow the group and realizes that the dangers that come with the trip are worth the journey and that ye may be a different view from the ever safe home in the Shire. During the journey Bilbo finds himself lost in the goblin caves where he comes across a ring and keeps for himself despite the threats from Gollum, a goblin that was corrupted by the ring. In the journey to reclaim the mountain, Bilbo goes on to find the artifact that will give Thorin an edge over Smaug, but soon realizes that the ring is what may be his savior and destroyer. As the novel goes on, the plot twists as characters begin to pass on and Smaug is awakened to carry out his revenge on the group that caused him to awaken from his slumber. The construction of the plot starts as a slow yet fun scheme with laughter and happiness and progresses as the mood becomes mellow and rises to incorporate action and suspense (Lobdell 32). 4. Character Bilbo Baggins is the center character of the novel that is needed for the story to go forth. He is the one that can come up with the best way to save the kingdom at the Lonely Mountain. Furthermore, there is Thorin Oakenshield is a proud, pompous leader of the dwarves that are heading to the kingdom so as to get it back. The plot involves a host of other characters of varying importance, such as the twelve other dwarves of the company; two types of elves: both puckish and more serious warrior types; Men; man-consuming trolls; stone-tossing goliaths; malice hole-abiding trolls; timberland-staying titan insects who can talk; enormous and courageous falcons who likewise talk; evil wolves, or wargs who are allied with the goblins; Elrond the sage; Gollum, a strange creature inhabiting an underground lake; Beorn, a man who can assume bear form; and Bard the Bowman, a grim but honorable archer of Lake-town (O'Sullivan 90). The relationship that exists between the characters is that the people that are involved need each other for the journey throughout the kingdom. Bilbo is needed by Thorin and the dwarves so as to get the stone that will help them in uniting the people against Smaug and return the kingdom to its glory. The roles are all part and parcel of the story that is being told, but the fact that they all have their own special skills makes the characters more connected to each other so as to make them feel like family. It is with this in mind that they are called a family in the novel series. 5. Setting The setting of the book carries from one edition to another. In the beginning, the story starts out in the "kindly West" (18.19), in the land of the hobbits. The hobbits call the place where Bilbo lives The Hill, while the Took family lives across The Water. In other words, the hobbits are so sheltered that they can only imagine one hill and one body of water. They do not even use proper names to distinguish between different hills and waters. As Bilbo and the dwarves set out on their adventure, they travel east. They leave behind the pleasant greenness of hobbit country and travel into lands "where people spoke strangely, and sung songs Bilbo had never heard before" (2.23). Moreover, as they go farther and farther away from Bilbo's home, they find "dreary hills, rising higher and darker with trees" (2.23). The more distant that Bilbo goes into the obscure, the more the scene reflects his uneasiness: abruptly, Bilbo is seeing "old palaces with a malice look" (2.23) and, obviously, the trolls, Bert, Tom and Bill. Still, despite the fact that the "Solitary-grounds" aren't natural to Bilbo, he is in no genuine peril yet. The true outskirt between agreeable terrains and hazardous grounds is accommodatingly stamped by Rivendell, the area of the "Last Homely House" ensured by the extraordinary ruler Elrond. Rivendell is a protected valley loaded with mythical beings singing and snickering. While the valley of Rivendell is charming and delightful, it is still dominated by the Misty Mountains past. Additionally, Bilbo needs to abandon it in the end. Bilbo's gullibility about the scene of his own reality goes to the fore when he first sets eyes on the Misty Mountains, before him and the organization stop in Rivendell. Bilbo asks, "Is that The Mountain?" (3.2). He can't envision that there's more than one mountain – all things considered, he hails from a spot with The Hill and The Water. On the other hand, Balin answers dismissively, "obviously not!" (3.3). The Lonely Mountain is still miles and miles away. So, we have gone from The Hill in Hobbit on to an entire chain of gigantic, undermining mountain. When Bilbo turns out the opposite side of the Misty Mountains (and the troll tunnels), he brings cover with Beorn the wild man in a substantial wooden house close to a rock Beorn calls the Carrock. Beorn's spot is agreeable and safe (Lobdell 78), yet it is still odd and not home-like: Beorn depends on horses to serve him, and he consumes just nectar and bread. The unusual quality of Beorn's house demonstrates that we are still in the Wild. Mirkwood is a dull woodland loaded with suspicious Wood-mythical people, creepy charms, and monster arachnids. Still, when Bilbo inquires as to whether they can go around it, we discover that the Gray Mountains to the north are loaded with "trolls, ogres, and orcs of the most exceedingly awful depiction," while to the South, "you might get into the place where there is the Necromancer" (7.145). The Lonely Mountain is the end of the dwarves' journey. It towers "terrible and tall" (11.1) and "peril [broods] in every rock" (11.19). The essential normal for this setting (plus despair) is that it is fantastically tricky to get inside. The dwarves need to hold up until unequivocally the right day before they can open the side entryway and get inside. Likewise, once Smaug has been slaughtered, the dwarves blockade the greater part of the entryways with the exception of the Front Gate so they can shield themselves against Bard and the Elvenking. This space is similar to the converse of Hobbiton, where we started our excursion: the tunnels of the Lonely Mountain are terrible, dull, and smelling of monster, while Bilbo's house is "a hobbit opening and that methods comfort" (1.1). This resistance between Bilbo's hobbit-gap at the starting and Thorin's unsafe (yet affluent) diminutive person tunnels at the end show exactly how far Bilbo has headed throughout the span of his mission. At the point when Bilbo comes back to The Hill, having seen all the things that he has seen, suddenly his own home under The Hill seems changed with the sale of some of his belongings; but his home now holds a sword over the mantelpiece, and he takes "to writing poetry and visiting the elves" (19.29). The changes to Bilbo's home – the sword over the mantelpiece and the chainmail coat in the hallway – only serve to prove his internal development as a character (Sammons 110). 6. Theme 6.1. Good and evil There obviously is great and underhanded in Tolkien's reality. He even tries to underwrite that the mythical beings are good people. "Great" races like the mythical people and "terrible" races like the Wargs appear to propose that profound quality is dark and white in The Hobbit. There's an astonishing measure of light black too: the dwarves are on a journey for gold, not to devastate the fiendishness that is Smaug. Yes, requital is one thought process, yet the dwarves appear to think more about fortune than about conceptual plans of good and bad. So despite the fact that the Battle of Five Armies is between great and underhandedness sides, Bilbo's primary detract-from the experience is that fight "appears to be extremely uncomfortable, not to say troubling" (17.62). The human expense matters to him more than the reason his companions are battling for (Tolkien 67). 6.2. Courage There are huge, daring individuals in The Hobbit, in the same way as Bard who appears to have no questions about their mettle or capacity in this world. Poet speaks to the human multitudes of Lake-town, he specifically goes up against Thorin, and he contends energetically throughout the Battle of Five Armies (also, obviously, to shooting Smaug with a bow and shaft). So he is bounty valiant. However consider Bilbo, whose most amazing demonstrations of fearlessness are to face down Gollum in the troll tunnels and to approach Smaug without anyone else's input in the Lonely Mountain. These are all demonstrations that he does totally without anyone else present, without completely recognizing what he is even up against. While Bard's mettle may be more open and conspicuous, Bilbo's may take more real boldness. All things considered, Bilbo is likely the slightest accomplished and most defenseless character in the entire novel, yet he is the person who is most eager to walk straight into the obscure without anyone else's input. 7. Critical Reception Since the first publication, the book has been received as being a work of art, with numerous groups and newspapers reviewing it and calling it a herald. Fellow writers such as C. S. Lewis went forward to be quoted saying that, in The Hobbit, there was a merger between ‘a number of good things that would rarely be merged to und a humor and understanding among children and adults alike.’ However, the following books had a greater impact to the readers and made The Hobbit seem like a prequel; to the books that followed. Despite this, the book led to Tolkien being ranked among the top 50 best writers of all time since 1930. The book was among the best books that have ever been written with it being adapted for television screens (Silvey 98). 8. Personal Response In conclusion, my opinion on the book is that it is more than a masterpiece. Having been written more than 70 years ago, The Hobbit is still in production and print, and still being produced for television screens and cinema halls. The book is one that many would call far-fetched, however, the imagination and creativity that is employed in the book is more than enough to convince one that the story is unique and worth a re-read. The book may seem too big for it to be a children’s book, but the story is one that even I would term as being appropriate for people for all ages. J.R.R. Tolkien was more than genius in the writing of his works and the fact that je managed to create a single story in all his publications, makes his books more than just a story that ends at the cover of one book. The covers should be considered as bookmarks to his story and his novels. Works Cited Clark, George, and Daniel Timmons. J.R.R. Tolkien and His Literary Resonances. 1st ed. Westport (Conn.): Greenwood press, 2000. Print. Hammond, Wayne G, and Douglas A Anderson. J.R.R. Tolkien. 1st ed. Winchester, UK: St. Paul's Bibliographies, 1993. Print. Helms, Randel. Tolkien and The Silmarils. 1st ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1981. Print. Lobdell, Jared. A Tolkien Compass. 1st ed. Chicago: Open Court, 2003. Print. O'Sullivan, Emer. Comparative Children's Literature. 1st ed. Abingdon, Oxfordshire: Routledge, 2005. Print. Sammons, Martha C. War of the Fantasy Worlds. 1st ed. Santa Barbara, Calif: Praeger, 2010. Print. Silvey, Anita. The Essential Guide to Children's Books and Their Creators. 1st ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 2002. Print. Tolkien, J. R. R. The Lord of the Rings. 1st ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1986. Print. Read More