Epic Tolkien Bookclub: Week Six

[sigridhr]

  Epic Tolkien Bookclub: Week Six (The Hobbit)
Chapter XI: On the Doorstep
Chapter XII: Inside Information

Rules

I very much doubt we'll require much in the way of formal rules, but just for the sake of formality and clarity:

• Discussion is welcome and encouraged, as is disagreement. Name-calling and personal attacks will be punished by forcing you to live in an AU where Tolkien was never born. 
  
• There is no spoiler policy in place. Although we're reading the Hobbit, please feel free to bring in things from other Tolkien works, any of the films, the History of Middle Earth, the Letters of JRR Tolkien, and, if you should like, other literary sources. 
• There is no such thing as too much geekery. Or taking the text too seriously.  
• If you have any concerns at any point, I'm the closest thing this gong show has to a mod, so feel free to get in touch. I can be reached either by PM through this site, or directly by email at sigridhr.lokidottir@gmail.com. 

Discussion on this post will officially run from Friday 15th February 2013 to Friday 22nd February 2013. However, the post will remain open after that point, so you're more than welcome to continue discussions on.

Comments

[gallifaerie.livejournal.com]

I'm so unbelievably proud of everything Bilbo does in Chapter 12.

Already he was a very different hobbit from the one that had run out without a pocket-handkerchief from Bag-End long ago

Bilbo has grown so much on this journey. Also, the fact that the line after this one is about his dagger really emphasises how much Bilbo's life has changed - he'd never even wielded a sword before setting out on this adventure.

One of my favourite bits in the whole book is this line:

He fought the real battle in the tunnel alone, before he ever saw the vast danger that lay in wait

It seems to me that the point where Bilbo stops, but decides to go on instead of turning back is another pivotal moment for him. It's the most terrifying part of the journey so far - the part he's been preparing for this whole time - and he's all on his own, and I think it's the last point where he could just decide that this was all actually a terrible idea and decide to forget it, but he carries on anyway. He has no idea what's going to happen or what he's going to do, but he displays bravery in the face of the unknown and decides to go ahead.

I'm going to comment on the use of dreams again here, because I noticed that Bilbo wishes that he was dreaming and really at home in Bad-End, and that Smaug is dreaming about greed and violence, and apparently about Bilbo. And the fact that Bilbo sneaks into the lair when Smaug is asleep might be the most significant case of Bilbo being awake when others are asleep and vice versa, because that obviously enables him to get a look at Smaug and steal the cup.

Luck is mentioned a lot in this chapter, and Bilbo actually 'bless[es] the luck of his ring' when he creeps in and sees that Smaug is actually awake. I completely understand why it's lucky for Bilbo to be invisible at this point, but just the fact that he's thinking 'oh, it's lucky I found this ring' I just can't deal with. Fast forward sixty years and let's see how lucky it feels then Bilbo.

I admit that I really feel for Thorin at the part where it says that Bilbo 'had become the real leader in their adventure.' I just feel so sad for Thorin because this is supposed to be his big quest to reclaim Erebor and his throne, and the amount of actual leading he does seems to diminish somewhat as the journey goes on. I feel like this has something to with what happens between him and Bilbo with the Arkenstone after Smaug is slain, but I shall see how I feel about it all then.

At the very end of chapter 12, Smaug refers to himself as ‘the real King under the Mountain’, which I found striking because I really thought he didn't care at all about prestige or power, just about hoarding as much treasure as possible and isolating himself with it. I really didn't think of Smaug as a king until this line.

[j_quadrifrons]

"He fought the real battle in the tunnel alone" - this was the point where I stopped and wrote down in my notes, "This is a very adult book in some ways," because I think that conception of courage is very adult, or perhaps I should say very mature, and is possibly one of the reasons why teenagers reading The Hobbit for the first time tend to bounce off of it so hard. And yet, that one sentence puts a lump in my throat, and makes me love Bilbo all the more for it. (I suspect there's a quote from The Last Unicorn that I could tie in here, but I'm sick and I can't think.)

Oooh, I like that interpretation re: Thorin and Bilbo's conflict later. And by "like," I mean "it hurts me in all the soft and tender places in my heart." But y'know.

[gallifaerie.livejournal.com]

Yes, I completely agree with you about it being an adult book. I don't think I've ever read a book that juxtaposes childish joy with dark, serious subject matter as much as The Hobbit does, and I love it for that. Because that's what real life feels like - the two do belong together.

Ahh, The Last Unicorn! It's been in my reread pile for about three years now!