2020/4/20 The Hobbit Chapter 1
The Hobbit - Chapter 1: An Unexpected Party
For the academic book review, I am going to read "The Hobbit" by J.R.R Tolkien. The reason I chose this book is that I have watched the movies but haven't read the book yet.
The story is written in the third perspective limited, so the narrator knows the thoughts and feelings of the protagonist, a hobbit named Bilbo Baggins. The narrator sometimes knows about the other characters too (for example the narrator tells the reader about Thorin, "Thorin, an enormously important dwarf").
In this book, the story takes place in a world where there are mythical creatures such as dwarves, elves, wizards and hobbits (it is a typical world for fantasy novels). Hobbits are little people about half the size of men and smaller than dwarves. In the story, it is said that hobbits once existed in this world, but nowadays they became rare.
Bilbo is a hobbit that lives in a hobbit-hole, which is a one storey dwelling under a hill that's rather comfortable. In Bilbo's hobbit-hole, there are lots of food and drinks in his pantries and that represents hobbits' prosperity. Bilbo's father is a Baggins whose family trait is that they don't like adventures (a typical hobbit's personality), and his mother is a Took whose family trait is that they love adventures. Around Bilbo's hobbit-hole, place names are general nouns with "The" in front of them (such as "The Hill", "The Water" etc.). I think this represents that the hobbits' world consists of their immediate surroundings so to them, there is only one Hill and one Water. They don't know or care about the outside world.
In this chapter, Bilbo meets Gandalf, a wizard who has had many great adventures, and Gandalf asks Bilbo to go for an adventure. It is not told why Gandalf chose Bilbo and not any other hobbit. I think this is because Gandalf knew that Bilbo has a Tookish side to his personality. Bilbo shows a typical hobbit's personality by rejecting this in polite words but he still invites Gandalf for tea.
Later, unexpectedly 13 dwarves (their names are Dwalin, Balin, Kili, Fili, Dori, Nori, Ori, Oin, Gloin, Bifur, Bofur, Bombur, and Thorin) and Gandalf visit Bilbo's hobbit-hole to feast and party. The reason they do this is not mentioned until later, but Bilbo still serves the visitors food and drinks (because he likes visitors). I couldn't understand why Bilbo is so obliging to serve 13 strangers most of his stock of food and drinks in the pantry without even knowing their intentions. Perhaps, Bilbo being incautious to random strangers and generously giving his food, represents that he has always been safe and never been threatened in his whole life therefore not recognizing any danger. After eating, the dwarves sing about how their home was taken and other dwarves got killed by a dragon. The dwarves' purpose for assembling at Bilbo's house was to go on a quest to take back their home under the mountain where they used to live, but which has now been taken by a greedy dragon called Smaug. The dwarves needed a small burglar that can slip in the mountain from a secret entrance so they wanted to hire Bilbo. Listening to the song, Bilbo's Tookish personality was triggered and he wanted to go on this quest too.
For the academic book review, I am going to read "The Hobbit" by J.R.R Tolkien. The reason I chose this book is that I have watched the movies but haven't read the book yet.
The story is written in the third perspective limited, so the narrator knows the thoughts and feelings of the protagonist, a hobbit named Bilbo Baggins. The narrator sometimes knows about the other characters too (for example the narrator tells the reader about Thorin, "Thorin, an enormously important dwarf").
In this book, the story takes place in a world where there are mythical creatures such as dwarves, elves, wizards and hobbits (it is a typical world for fantasy novels). Hobbits are little people about half the size of men and smaller than dwarves. In the story, it is said that hobbits once existed in this world, but nowadays they became rare.
Bilbo is a hobbit that lives in a hobbit-hole, which is a one storey dwelling under a hill that's rather comfortable. In Bilbo's hobbit-hole, there are lots of food and drinks in his pantries and that represents hobbits' prosperity. Bilbo's father is a Baggins whose family trait is that they don't like adventures (a typical hobbit's personality), and his mother is a Took whose family trait is that they love adventures. Around Bilbo's hobbit-hole, place names are general nouns with "The" in front of them (such as "The Hill", "The Water" etc.). I think this represents that the hobbits' world consists of their immediate surroundings so to them, there is only one Hill and one Water. They don't know or care about the outside world.
In this chapter, Bilbo meets Gandalf, a wizard who has had many great adventures, and Gandalf asks Bilbo to go for an adventure. It is not told why Gandalf chose Bilbo and not any other hobbit. I think this is because Gandalf knew that Bilbo has a Tookish side to his personality. Bilbo shows a typical hobbit's personality by rejecting this in polite words but he still invites Gandalf for tea.
Later, unexpectedly 13 dwarves (their names are Dwalin, Balin, Kili, Fili, Dori, Nori, Ori, Oin, Gloin, Bifur, Bofur, Bombur, and Thorin) and Gandalf visit Bilbo's hobbit-hole to feast and party. The reason they do this is not mentioned until later, but Bilbo still serves the visitors food and drinks (because he likes visitors). I couldn't understand why Bilbo is so obliging to serve 13 strangers most of his stock of food and drinks in the pantry without even knowing their intentions. Perhaps, Bilbo being incautious to random strangers and generously giving his food, represents that he has always been safe and never been threatened in his whole life therefore not recognizing any danger. After eating, the dwarves sing about how their home was taken and other dwarves got killed by a dragon. The dwarves' purpose for assembling at Bilbo's house was to go on a quest to take back their home under the mountain where they used to live, but which has now been taken by a greedy dragon called Smaug. The dwarves needed a small burglar that can slip in the mountain from a secret entrance so they wanted to hire Bilbo. Listening to the song, Bilbo's Tookish personality was triggered and he wanted to go on this quest too.
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