Book Review - 'The Hobbit' by J.R.R. Tolkien
‘The Hobbit’ by J.R.R. Tolkien
‘Bilbo Baggins is a hobbit who enjoys a comfortable, unambitious life, rarely travelling further than the pantry of his hobbit-hole in Bag End. But his contentment is disturbed when the wizard, Gandalf, and a company of thirteen dwarves arrive on his doorstep one day to whisk him away on an unexpected journey ‘there and back again’. They have a plot to raid the treasure hoard of Smaug the Magnificent, a large and very dangerous dragon…’
Considered a classic in children’s literature, ‘The Hobbit’ is, for many, their introduction to Middle-earth.
The opening sentence must have been quite the hook back in the day:
‘In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.’
We’re first introduced to our protagonist, Bilbo Baggins, ‘a very well-to-do hobbit…’ whose family has ‘lived in the neighbourhood… for time out of mind, and people considered them very respectable…’
An unexpected visitor appears – Gandalf; ‘tales and adventures sprouted up all over the place wherever he went, in the most extraordinary fashion.’
Because he hadn’t been seen in the area for such a long time, ‘hobbits had almost forgotten what he looked like.’
When he turns up, Bilbo suspects nothing as all he sees is ‘an old man with a staff. He had a tall pointed blue hat, a long grey cloak, a silver scarf over which his long white beard hung below his waist, and immense black boots.’
Gandalf doesn’t introduce himself straightaway, instead telling Bilbo he’s ‘looking for someone to share in an adventure…’, but Bilbo makes it plain he has ‘no use for adventures… Make you late for dinner! I can’t think what anybody sees in them.’
When Bilbo then realises who Gandalf is and remembers him, the old man decides he’ll send Bilbo on the adventure; ‘very amusing for me, very good for you – and profitable too… if you ever get over it.’
Vehemently refusing but inviting Gandalf to tea the following day, Bilbo hurriedly retreats indoors, regretting making the invitation.
The next day, remembering the invitation only when there’s a knock on the door, Bilbo answers to find, not the wizard, but a dwarf who enters ‘just as if he had been expected.’
To the consternation of the hobbit, one dwarf is soon followed by another, and another until eventually Gandalf himself arrives.
By now, the comfortable hobbit-hole is filled with thirteen dwarves, a wizard, and one very unimpressed hobbit.
The leader of the dwarves is Thorin Oakenshield whose grandfather was once ‘King under the Mountain’; it was during his time the dwarves amassed great wealth where they dwelt in the Lonely Mountain.
Unfortunately, that brought the dragon, known to steal ‘gold and jewels… from men and elves and dwarves…’
Many dwarves and men who had built their town at the foot of the mountain died in the dragon’s attack.
The dwarf-survivors, including Thorin’s father and grandfather, left to earn their living elsewhere, never forgetting their ‘stolen treasure…’
The reason they’re gathered at Bilbo’s home is because Gandalf has chosen him as the fourteenth member of the expedition – to retrieve the dwarves’ treasure from the dragon – for reasons known only to himself…
‘“I have chosen Mr Baggins… If I say he is a Burglar, a Burglar he is, or will be when the time comes. There is a lot more in him than you guess, and a deal more than he has any idea of himself…”’
Reluctant though he is to be part of the expedition, nevertheless, come the following day, Bilbo finds himself on the road with the company.
After about a month of travelling, Gandalf leads them to Rivendell, to the elves, to rest and replenish their stocks.
There, they meet Elrond, ‘an elf-friend… as noble and as fair in face as an elf-lord, as strong as a warrior, as wise as a wizard, as venerable as a king of dwarves, and as kind as summer.’
He proves invaluable to them as he knows ‘all about runes of every kind’ and translates unfamiliar ones on the dwarves’ map.
Once they leave Rivendell, it seems as if one misfortune after another dogs their steps.
Separated from the others in a deep, dark place, Bilbo strives to be brave while trying to find a way out of his predicament.
It’s then that he comes across one who will inadvertently, indirectly become tied to him – Gollum – ‘… a small slimy creature… as dark as darkness, except for two big round pale eyes in his thin face…’
As they face even more perils, there are times when one wonders if the party of fourteen will ever make it to the mountain where they will have to face the dragon, and if they will ever recover their treasure.
Tolkien has written a wondrous adventure story, fast-moving with welcome moments of quiet reflection, allowing the reader to catch their breath, as it were.
His prodigious imagination makes great use of the legends and myths he was familiar with, dismantling then reassembling them to elevate this adventure story to another level, which doesn’t diminish one’s enjoyment.
He effortlessly brings together the different cultures – hobbit, dwarves, elves, goblins, men – by giving each distinct songs, poems, and ways of speaking.
Depending on the location and situation, his descriptions of places reflect wonder or danger:
‘… dreary hills, rising higher and higher, dark with trees. On some of them were old castles with an evil look, as if they had been built by wicked people.’
‘… unexpected valleys, narrow with steep sides, that opened suddenly at their feet, and they looked down surprised to see trees below them and running water at the bottom. There were gullies that they could almost leap over, but very deep with waterfalls in them.’
‘Occasionally a slender beam of sun that had the luck to slip in through some opening in the leaves far above, and still more luck in not being caught in the tangled boughs and matted twigs beneath, stabbed down thin and bright…’
The characters are likable and well-written.
Despite being a powerful wizard, Gandalf’s mischievous side comes through as when he muses on Bilbo’s actual meaning when he says ‘good morning’…
‘“What do you mean?” [Gandalf] said. “Do you wish me a good morning, or mean that it is a good morning whether I want it or not; or that you feel good this morning; or that it is a morning to be good on?”’
When it comes to the dwarves, not all are fleshed out, understandable as there are thirteen of them.
Their leader, Thorin, is, without a doubt, brave as is his company though he can be a touch overbearing, but his heart is in the right place; he treats his people well, and others too. Of all the dwarves, his character is the one that undergoes the most change.
The two youngest in the company, Fili and Kili, are Thorin’s nephews, sons of his younger sister, Dis.
Balin, one of Thorin’s closest friends, is not only wise but always willing to listen, and he and Bilbo become good friends on the journey.
Along with his younger brother, Dwalin, Balin is related to Thorin, although distantly.
Then there’s Glóin and his younger brother, Óin; they’re both cousins of Balin and Dwalin, which means they’re distantly related to Thorin too.
Another pair who are remotely related to Thorin are the brothers Dori and Nori, and their cousin, Ori.
The last three are Bifur who is a cousin of brothers Bofur and Bombur, known as the fattest dwarf.
And then there’s Bilbo whom I found instantly likable.
He’s funny without meaning to be, and his thoughts, speech and actions are endearingly innocent.
In the early stages of his unlooked-for adventure, when the going starts to get difficult, Bilbo complains easily:
‘“Bother burgling and everything to do with it! I wish I was at home in my nice hole by the fire, with the kettle just beginning to sing!” It was not the last time that he wished that!’
As the journey progresses, his character development becomes obvious in subtle ways, yet he never loses the core of what sets hobbits apart from the other peoples, mainly his love of simple things, kindness, and generosity of spirit.
Thorin sums it up best when he tells Bilbo, ‘“There is more in you of good than you know, child of the kindly West. Some courage and some wisdom, blended in measure. If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world…”’
An interesting point concerning the dwarves’ names – Tolkien didn’t simply make them up; most of the names of his dwarves come from the ‘Poetic Edda’, a collection of Old Norse poems, shown in this comparison of the original and the translation.
For me, this is a perfect example which underlines just how much care and attention Tolkien put into his stories.
Although written for and marketed as a children’s book, ‘The Hobbit’ is a great read regardless of age, filled as it is with comic moments, sadness, danger, and drama.
And it’s a great introduction to Tolkien’s world of Middle-earth with hints of a much older world, imbued with a rich history.
‘The Hobbit’, cover art by John Howe featuring ‘Smaug the Magnificent’