Before I even get started on anything, best quote ever: "It sailed a hundred yards through the air and went down a rabbit-hole, and in this way the battle was won and the game of Golf invented at the same moment." (p. 18) I am not embarrassed to say that I laughed out loud at that. I don't know why.
Anywho, I feel like The Hobbit is a fairytale told in a childlike manner, but there's a surprising depth to it. For example, he creates a sense of culture and history between Dwarves, Hobbits, and the legendary Gandalf within the first chapter alone. He then expands upon different mythological creatures such as Trolls in chapter two, or the dragon Smaug. The power of the Hobbit comes from Tolkein using different aspects of folk culture in a mythological setting to create a new world. There's old legends in Middle-earth that are assumed to be known amongst the characters, but are lightly explained to the audience in a brief summary that doesn't take away from the scene of the book. Really great.
As far as Bilbo goes, I found that Tolkein's The Hobbit is sort of like a coming-of-age novel, with Bilbo being the one who grows throughout the book. At the beginning he is skittish and afraid of adventure, but gradually embraces it as the book goes on. I think Tolkein might have been perhaps comparing Bilbo to the culture at the time. I'm probably wrong, but perhaps Tolkein was criticizing the English culture, comparing them to Hobbits rather than brave men or dwarves. Rather than living a life of adventure they've become modernized and are not close to nature and have such small views of life.
Is there any sort of societal meaning behind The Hobbit?
How else does Tolkein immerse readers into his world?
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