Extended Text: The Hobbit Information
Information about the author: J.R.R Tolkein
JRR Tolkien, creator of Middle-earth, was one of the greatest writers and scholars of the twentieth century. Generations of readers have been enthralled by his most famous creations--The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was born in Bloemfontein, South Africa in 1892. His early and barely memorable years were spent divided between the city and a country farm. Many of Tolkien's early memories of South Africa, including an incident when he was bitten by a tarantula while visiting a rural district, are reported to have influenced his later works.
Throughout his life, Tolkien had cultivated a love of language, especially ancient languages. At Oxford he would major in philology, which is the study of words and language. He would be much influenced by Icelandic, Norse and Gothic mythology. Even some of the characters and place names he would later develop would be drawn from the names from ancient sagas. The forest of Mirkwood, which played a prominent role in both "The Hobbit" and in "The Lord of the Rings" was borrowed from Icelandic mythology. The names of many of the dwarves in "The Hobbit" were actual place names in the myths.
Throughout his schooldays he had been a determined poet and scholar. His interest in language was such that he had even developed his own languages based loosely on Finnish and Welsh. It was while recuperating in Birmingham, with his wife at his side that he began to create a mythology behind his languages. This work would one day result in his famous books.
"The Hobbit", the work that would make him famous, came out in 1936. He began it one evening while grading exam papers. Seated at his desk, he opened up an exam booklet to find the first page blank. He was surprised and pleased that the student had somehow entirely skipped the page. It seemed an invitation to write, and in that space he began his work on "The Hobbit".
The finished manuscript of "The Hobbit" fell into the hands of George Allen and Unwin, Publishers. Unwin paid his ten year old son a shilling to read the story and report on its publishability. The young man lavished praise on the book, and Unwin decided to take a risk on it.
"The Hobbit" soon became a best seller and made Professor Tolkien famous. He was already well-known as a scholar for his work in Philology, and he was also part of a group of friends who called themselves the Inklings. The center of this group was C.S. Lewis who would long be one of Tolkien's best friends and admirers.
In the late 1930's Tolkien began writing the "Lord of the Rings". Work on the story would go on for ten and a half years. He gave first chance at publication to Allen & Unwin, the publishers of "The Hobbit". But it was rejected by a staff editor when Unwin was away on business in France. The younger "Unwin" was now in the family publishing business. He found out about the rejected manuscript, wrote to his father in France, requesting permission to take on the project. Recalling the success of "The Hobbit", but skeptical about a "hobbit book" written for adults, he acquiesced to his son's request reluctantly.
"The Lord of the Rings" was published in three parts and would become a huge publishing success.
Fame and fortune were both a blessing and a bane for Tolkien. He enjoyed the popularity of his work. Yet, he was burdened with work responding to his adoring public. After his retirement at Oxford, he and his wife Edith moved to Bournemouth in 1966. Edith died in 1971. The loss of his life's companion did not sit well with Tolkien; yet he struggled on for some two years till his death of Pneumonia on 2 September 1973.
Information about the book
The Hobbit was first published in 1937. It was Tolkien’s first published piece of fiction, and remains not only one of the best-selling books of the 20th century, but a minor masterpiece in its own right.
The Hobbit is a novel by J.R.R Tolkien,author of Lord Of The Rings. The novel is about the journey of a hobbit called Bilbo Baggins, along with Gandalf The Gray, and twelve dwarves. The purpose for their journey was to reach the Misty Mountain and take back Thorin's treasures from the dragon, Smaug. Bilbo was to act as their "burglar", and also to increase their number, since they were thirteen travelers without him (which was, according to Gandalf, bad luck). It also tells the story of how the One Ring of Power passed into the possession of Bilbo.
Chapters
Chapters:
1- An Unexpected Party
2- Roast Mutton
3- A Short Rest
4- Over Hill & Under Hill
5- Riddles in the Dark
6- Out of the Frying Pan, Into the Fire
7- Queer Lodgings
8- Flies & Spiders
9- Barrels Out of Bond
10- A Warm Welcome
11- On the Doorstep
12- Inside Information
13- Not at Home
14- Fire & Water
15- The Gathering of the Clouds
16- A Thief in the Night
17- The Clouds Burst
18- The Return Journey
19- The Last Stage
Chapters:
1- An Unexpected Party
2- Roast Mutton
3- A Short Rest
4- Over Hill & Under Hill
5- Riddles in the Dark
6- Out of the Frying Pan, Into the Fire
7- Queer Lodgings
8- Flies & Spiders
9- Barrels Out of Bond
10- A Warm Welcome
11- On the Doorstep
12- Inside Information
13- Not at Home
14- Fire & Water
15- The Gathering of the Clouds
16- A Thief in the Night
17- The Clouds Burst
18- The Return Journey
19- The Last Stage
Character List
Individual Characters
Bilbo Baggins - The hero of the story. Bilbo is a hobbit, “a short, human-like person.” Commonsensical and fastidious, Bilbo leads a quiet life in his comfortable hole at Bag End and, like most hobbits, is content to stay at home. But Bilbo possesses a great deal of untapped inner strength, and when the wizard Gandalf persuades Bilbo to join a group of dwarves on a quest to reclaim their gold from a marauding dragon, Bilbo ends up playing a crucial role as the company’s burglar. Bilbo’s adventures awaken his courage and initiative and prove his relentless ability to do what needs to be done.
Gandalf - A wise old wizard who always seems to know more than he reveals. Gandalf has a vast command of magic and tends to show up at just the moment he is needed most. Though he helps the dwarves in their quest (not least by making Bilbo go along with them), he does not seem to have any interest in their gold. He always has another purpose or plan in mind, but he rarely reveals his private thoughts.
Thorin Oakenshield - A dwarf who leads his fellow dwarves on a trip to the Lonely Mountain to reclaim their treasure from Smaug. Smaug’s bounty is Thorin’s inheritance, as it belonged to Thror, Thorin’s grandfather, the great King under the Mountain. Thorin is a proud, purposeful, and sturdy warrior, if a bit stubborn at times. As the novel progresses, his inability to formulate successful plans, his greed, and his reliance on Bilbo to save him at every turn make Thorin a somewhat unappealing figure, but he is partly redeemed by the remorse he shows before he dies.
Gollum - A strange, small, slimy creature who lives deep in the caves of Moria beneath the Misty Mountains. There, Gollum broods over his “precious,” a magic ring, until he accidentally loses it and Bilbo finds it. We never learn exactly what kind of creature he is. Apparently, his true shape has been too deformed by years of living in darkness to be recognizable.
Smaug - The great dragon who lives in the Lonely Mountain. Years ago, Smaug heard of the treasure that the dwarves had amassed in the mountain under Thror’s reign, and he drove them away to claim the gold for himself. His flaming breath can scorch a city, his huge wings can carry him great distances, and his armorlike hide is almost impenetrable. Smaug can speak and possesses a dark, sardonic sense of humor.
Bard - The grim human who is the honorable captain of the guard in Lake Town, a human city built on Long Lake just south of the Lonely Mountain. With the help of information discovered by Bilbo and related by a thrush, Bard finds Smaug’s weak spot and kills him.
Beorn - A man who can turn into a bear, Beorn helps Bilbo and the dwarves after their escape from the goblins.
Elrond - The great leader of the elves at Rivendell. Elrond gives Bilbo’s group aid and helpful advice when they pass through Rivendell early in the novel. He is described in Chapter 3 as being “as strong as a warrior, as wise as a wizard, as venerable as a king of dwarves, and as kind as summer.”
Dark Lord Sauron - An evil sorcerer and creator of the magic ring. Also called the Necromancer, Sauron is only mentioned in The Hobbit; he never actually appears.
Thror - Thorin’s grandfather. Thror mined Moria, a series of caves under the Mountain, and discovered a wealth of gold and jewels. He became King under the Mountain, but before long, the dragon Smaug came and killed or scattered all of Thror’s people. The dragon has been guarding the treasure ever since, and Thorin wants to get back what is rightfully his.
Races Dwarves - Thorin’s group, composed of Fili, Kili, Dwalin, Balin, Oin, Gloin, Ori, Dori, Nori, Bifur, Bofur, and Bombur, none of whom is really developed as an individual character in the novel. The narrator describes dwarves unfavorably in Chapter 12, noting their greed and trickery. Some, however, are “decent enough people like Thorin and Company, if you don’t expect too much.”
Elves - The first creatures in Middle-Earth. Immortal unless killed in battle, they are fair-faced, with beautiful voices, and have a close communion with nature, which makes them wonderful craftsmen. There are actually two different varieties of elves: the wood elves and the high elves. The wood elves reside in Mirkwood and, as a result, have more suspicious and less wise tendencies than their high relatives.
Humans - Humans appear in the settlement of Lake Town near the Lonely Mountain. Tolkien emphasizes their mortality, their lack of wisdom, their discordance with nature, and their rampant feuding, but he does not describe humans as inherently evil in the same way that he characterizes goblins and Wargs.
Trolls - Short-tempered and dull-witted creatures who will eat just about anything, the trolls are based on mythological creatures taken from Old English and Anglo-Saxon poems and on figures from popular fairy tales and folklore. Tolkien has them speak with a cockney accent, the dialect of lower-class Londoners, which injects a modern joke into the fantasy epic.
Goblins - Evil creatures encountered by Bilbo and company in Chapter 4. Goblins are infamous for their ability to make cruel weapons and torture devices.
Wargs - Evil wolves that join forces with the Goblins at the Battle of the Five Armies in Chapters 17 and 18. The Wargs haunt and pursue Bilbo and the dwarves soon after Bilbo acquires the ring