FF Tuesday October 11

Class started off with a brief introduction about Tolkien. He was a WWI soldier, originally a professor of old and middle English. He began “The Hobbit” as a tale for his children, but later went back and expanded it to reach a broader audience.

We explored the essay “Tree and Leaf” and discussed its main point, the creation of a primary and secondary world. A primary world is the “real” world, whereas the secondary world is the world that “your mind can enter” (37). The class concluded that Tolkien is successful in creating a secondary world and the possibility that the world can exist. He does this by creating unique characters and developing and providing backgrounds on previously creating species, such as dwarves, trolls, and goblins. His descriptions and narration also allow the reader to feel like they are traveling with Bilbo and his companions and like they are actually on the journey with them. Other strategies that allow Tolkien to be successful in creating his own world include the creation of maps, language, cultures, history and hierarchies. The characters, especially Bilbo, are relatable and further allow the reader to connect to the story and believe in the possibility of the existence of the world Tolkien has created.

The other point of the essay that we discussed was the fact that Tolkien did not want to create characters like Alice, from “Alice in Wonderland”, that have dreams as adventures but rather characters similar to Merlin and Arthur. He was inspired by novels that had “strange languages, and glimpses of an archaic mode of life, and above all, forests”(40). His stories are now considered a precursor for fantasy writing.

There are two points of the novel that affect the reader’s understanding of Bilbo. The scene where Bilbo outsmarts Gollum using riddles (found on page 88) shows the reader that Bilbo is intelligent, clever, and can think on his feet. Before this point in the story Bilbo was a failure, he was unsuccessful against the trolls and not living up to the expectations of Gandalf and the dwarves. After tricking Gollum the reader can believe that maybe Gandalf was right about choosing to bring Bilbo along and that he will be essential to the group as the journey progresses. It also shows a darker side of Bilbo, he refuses to tell Gollum what is actually in his pocket even though the poor creature is desperate to know, and even after finding out how precious the ring is to Gollum he focuses on escaping and taking care of himself and steals the ring. This foreshadows the dark power that is associated with the ring, specifically when Bilbo is about to escape and the ring slips off his finger and exposes him to the goblins (found on page 97).

Another pivotal scene that changes the way the reader perceives Bilbo is when Bilbo rescues the dwarves from the spiders. Not only does Bilbo again show his intelligence by using riddles to outsmart the spiders, but he shows that he is brave too. By taunting the spiders and luring them away from the dwarves he begins to respect himself and become more confident. This is the first time he did not resort to thinking about his Hobbit hole and being safe at home, but instead took charge and used all the skills he has acquired so far (riddles, rocks, the ring, and wit) to defeat the spiders and save his companions. He shows compassion for the dwarves when he saves them and shows that he respects them by revealing to them that he found a ring that can make him invisible, whereas previously he had lied about it. (Found on page 178).

Then we proceeded to compare and contrast different species. The first being the dwarves and the elves. They are actually both very similar in the sense that they are resourceful, proud, and greedy, with the dwarves being slightly greedier than the elves. They are also located in different geographic locations, with different lifestyles. The elves of Rivendell and the elves of Mirkwood are foils of each other. Rivendell elves come off happy and jolly, greeting the dwarves when they arrive, and offering them hospitality. They are located in a bright area and put aside dwarf stereotypes. Mirkwood elves on the other hand are secretive and try to avoid the dwarves and refuse to help them. They do not offer them food or hospitality and instead treat them as prisoners and are located in a very dark region. In the comparison of trolls and goblins, the class concluded that goblins are scarier, and cleverer. They to capture, enslave, or eat people, often setting up traps for them. The trolls are not intelligent and are easily tricked. Both species are located in the mountains though and despise the light. The animals in the story are larger than they are in the real world and possess human qualities such as the ability to talk. They are passive and try not to get to involved in the battles that go on around them and only get involved if they are needed. Beorn acts as a connection between the animal and human worlds by being able to transform and communicate to both humans and animals. All of these species and different characters are unique with their own geographic location, language and custom and help to create and make Tolkien’s secondary world realistic.

Finally, the last thing we did was create a hierarchy (the most powerful at the top):

Gandalf

Elves

Dwarves

Men

Hobbits (capable of moving up the hierarchy)

Eagles, Bears, Dragons

Goblins

Wargs, Spiders

Gollum

Trolls