Use this thread to discuss any general thoughts on The Hobbit. More specific discussion threads will be posted soon.
9 comments:
Anonymous
said...
I just have a couple minuscule problems with this book. The first thing is the number scheme. Thirteen dwarves plus one hobbit still equals thirteen dwarves. I don’t really believe that thirteen is an unlucky number, but, going along with the book and its superstitions, doesn’t that mean the only normally lucky one is the hobbit since the dwarves still are thirteen in number? This partly proves true, the hobbit seems to be the only one to avoid unpleasant situations, such as the spider-capture, elfin-capture, and the barrel ride, and have any lucky situations, such as finding the ring. The other thing I don’t understand is the appearance of the white deer in Mirkwood.
I just finished reading this book. I thought it was extraordinarily creative and (without giving any secrets away, I hope) I liked the end. Too many stories end with a perfect scene ignoring the cause and effect sequence of events. J.R.R. Tolkien did an incredible job of keeping this book interesting and coming up with a good ending that did not have this problem.
I thought this book was dry to start with but the farther into the book the more interesting it became. I also thought it was really cool how Tolkien dedicated his whole first book to primarily just introducing middle earth.
I have tried this 4 times... Anyway, I just finished the Hobbit. At first I didn't think i would like it, but towards the end, it became a little bit more interesting. I thought that it was really neat how Tolkien spent so much time on details. After awhile i realized that the details were what made the book interesting to read. One thing that really surprised me was that Bilbo didn't slay the dragon. It kind of seemed like the book was leading up to that.
I was just thinking about how much the dwarves really needed Bilbo. If Bilbo hadn't been there for the dwarves, the dwarves would not have made it through. Looking back to the scenes where Bilbo helped them out, (the spider scence for instance) the dwarves didn't seem to apppriciate Bilbo enough. They sort of took Bilbo and his luck for granted.
Becca, I think that the white deer could have been a warning to the dwarves to watch out for whats coming. Soon after the deer episode, Bombur fell into the river, then, a few days later, the group runs into a mess of spiders.
So I've now finished reading both books, the Hobbit (for the 4th or 5th time) and 1984 for the first. I definitely liked the Hobbit better, I enjoy Tolkien's style, but both were pretty good reads. Just recently got all of my journal entries complete and now I'm just waiting for school to start back up! Hope everyone had an awesome summer! I'll see you guys and gals real soon.
Well I just finished the Hobbit for something like the 5th or 6th time and once again I found so many things that I had never really paid attention to the previous times that I had read it. The Hobbit is definitely one of Tolkein's less "descriptive" books (Personally I just found the other 3 Lord of the Rings books a little distracting.). It's so easy to tell why the Hobbit has become such a classic. It has one of the best story lines ever and some of the most well thought out characters. I really have to take my hat off to Tolkein for all his creativity.
One of the main things that I picked up on is how little Gandalf is actually in the story, but how he has such a profound impact on the story. The one thing that I really did not like (which made the story a little more interesting, but I still didn't like it) was Thorin's betrayal of Bilbo just before the Battle of the Five Armies. I was very glad that he [Thorin] apologized to Bilbo at the end of the book.
One other thing that really got me thinking is the Ring and how little it really seems to effect Bilbo. Even though he has it for almost the same time as Frodo and actually uses it more than Frodo, the Ring does not seem to effect Bilbo in the way it did Frodo. Is this simply because Bilbo isn't trying to destroy it as Frodo was? Any ideas?
9 comments:
I just have a couple minuscule problems with this book. The first thing is the number scheme. Thirteen dwarves plus one hobbit still equals thirteen dwarves. I don’t really believe that thirteen is an unlucky number, but, going along with the book and its superstitions, doesn’t that mean the only normally lucky one is the hobbit since the dwarves still are thirteen in number? This partly proves true, the hobbit seems to be the only one to avoid unpleasant situations, such as the spider-capture, elfin-capture, and the barrel ride, and have any lucky situations, such as finding the ring. The other thing I don’t understand is the appearance of the white deer in Mirkwood.
I just finished reading this book. I thought it was extraordinarily creative and (without giving any secrets away, I hope) I liked the end. Too many stories end with a perfect scene ignoring the cause and effect sequence of events. J.R.R. Tolkien did an incredible job of keeping this book interesting and coming up with a good ending that did not have this problem.
I thought this book was dry to start with but the farther into the book the more interesting it became. I also thought it was really cool how Tolkien dedicated his whole first book to primarily just introducing middle earth.
I have tried this 4 times...
Anyway, I just finished the Hobbit. At first I didn't think i would like it, but towards the end, it became a little bit more interesting. I thought that it was really neat how Tolkien spent so much time on details. After awhile i realized that the details were what made the book interesting to read. One thing that really surprised me was that Bilbo didn't slay the dragon. It kind of seemed like the book was leading up to that.
I was just thinking about how much the dwarves really needed Bilbo. If Bilbo hadn't been there for the dwarves, the dwarves would not have made it through. Looking back to the scenes where Bilbo helped them out, (the spider scence for instance) the dwarves didn't seem to apppriciate Bilbo enough. They sort of took Bilbo and his luck for granted.
Becca, I think that the white deer could have been a warning to the dwarves to watch out for whats coming. Soon after the deer episode, Bombur fell into the river, then, a few days later, the group runs into a mess of spiders.
Ellen, thanks for your input on the white deer. It makes perfect sense.
So I've now finished reading both books, the Hobbit (for the 4th or 5th time) and 1984 for the first. I definitely liked the Hobbit better, I enjoy Tolkien's style, but both were pretty good reads. Just recently got all of my journal entries complete and now I'm just waiting for school to start back up! Hope everyone had an awesome summer! I'll see you guys and gals real soon.
Well I just finished the Hobbit for something like the 5th or 6th time and once again I found so many things that I had never really paid attention to the previous times that I had read it. The Hobbit is definitely one of Tolkein's less "descriptive" books (Personally I just found the other 3 Lord of the Rings books a little distracting.). It's so easy to tell why the Hobbit has become such a classic. It has one of the best story lines ever and some of the most well thought out characters. I really have to take my hat off to Tolkein for all his creativity.
One of the main things that I picked up on is how little Gandalf is actually in the story, but how he has such a profound impact on the story. The one thing that I really did not like (which made the story a little more interesting, but I still didn't like it) was Thorin's betrayal of Bilbo just before the Battle of the Five Armies. I was very glad that he [Thorin] apologized to Bilbo at the end of the book.
One other thing that really got me thinking is the Ring and how little it really seems to effect Bilbo. Even though he has it for almost the same time as Frodo and actually uses it more than Frodo, the Ring does not seem to effect Bilbo in the way it did Frodo. Is this simply because Bilbo isn't trying to destroy it as Frodo was? Any ideas?
Post a Comment