Hobbit, part the first

“In a hole in a ground there lived a hobbit.” John RR Tolkein scratched this sentence on the back of a student’s exam paper in the 1930s, and a world began to grow. First, a story told to his young children. Then, the story written down. History became legend; legend became myth. And the myth lives with us still in “The Hobbit” and “The Lord Of the Rings.” I don’t have as much nostalgia for these books as I do for Narnia, so maybe we will get through these faster.

Maybe.

But also…Gandalf. Gandalf was my first literary wizard. His crooked hat and long white beard formed the picture in my mind of what a wizard is supposed to look like, helped along by the Rankin-Bass cartoon from the 70s.

There’s not a lot I have to say about the first chapter of The Hobbit, which is a little embarrassing after all the rambling I did about the Narnia books. But we can see, when comparing LWW chapter 1 and Hobbit chapter 1, how very different and also how very similar these stories are going to be.

So I went back and read my (admittedly embarrassingly gushy) post on the first two chapters of LWW. I still think that as first chapters go, they’re pretty damn perfect.

But “An Unexpected Party”? Gives it a run for its money.

Tolkien had been doodling his whole life, making maps and building worlds and writing tales. But “The Hobbit” is where Middle Earth began to coalesce. A sentence here, a bedtime story there, and then when he couldn’t remember who wore which color hood? He finally started writing things down. And what marvelous things they were!

Bilbo’s hole in the ground is LAVISH compared to my San Antonio apartment. Wood paneled walls, floors, and ceilings, pantries and dishes and food, all the lovely things that make a hole a home. And Bilbo himself is perfectly happy without any adventures which are “Nasty disturbing uncomfortable things! Make you late for dinner!” (Hobbit 4). When I close my eyes I can imagine Bilbo in his house hole Under The Hill perfectly, even without Peter Jackson’s help.

**side quest: I’m gonna try not to talk about the movies very much because Tolkien and Lewis didn’t write the movies, they wrote the books. Yes of course I love the movies! And also I am not talking about Rings of Power.**

The Shire…wait…it’s not called The Shire yet. This is so early in the worldbuilding process that it’s just called “The Hill and the surrounding neighborhood.” Huh. Anyway…the Hill and the surrounding neighborhood is filled with delightful short fat hobbits, who live a life with the goal of eating good food and having the loveliest time possible. When we look at photos of Tolkien we may think of him as a wizardesqe character because he created this magical world but really? Deep in his heart? I think Tolkien was a hobbit. He lived in a regular house. On a normal street. With a front door. In a village. And he threw FAMOUSLY good parties.

Back to the books. Chapter one sets the stage from which the story departs. It is everything comfortable, including a very old family friend. Unlike the Narnia chronicles, The Hill is already in a far-away and long-ago land. There’s no connection to the hustle and bustle of 1930s London, but rather Tolkien is capturing the idyllic world of 1930s Oxford, which remains to this day a charming small town even though it is host to one of the oldest Universities in England. Oxford is quiet, people seem to know their neighbors, families have flower and vegetable gardens. The air is cleaner there. Life is simple.

Until…Gandalf.

Wizards had existed in literature before Gandalf, of course. The most famous one is Merlin, but men with long beards and pointy hats have been sending unsuspecting young men and women on adventures since storytelling was invented. (I do not have a citation for this claim. Admittedly it feels very Euro-centric.) True to form, therefore, Gandalf arrives in Bilbo’s story to turn things rather upside down. 

But Gandalf and Bilbo are not the only characters in this story. Rounding out the boys club (for sadly, The Hobbit story is pretty much “no girls allowed”) are the dwarves who are on a mission to retake their home from **mutters under their breath** the dragon Smaug.

Let’s see if I can name them all from memory.

Fili, Kiki

Dwalin, Balin

Oin, Gloin

Bifur, Bofur, Bombur

Thorin

Dang it. I forgot Nori, Dori, and Ori. I was so close.

Anyway. The dwarves show up one, two, three, four at a time, and finally Gandalf arrives with the last of them. Bilbo is completely overwhelmed by this Unexpected Party (roll credits? Ding? No? Ok. Sorry.) and rushes around trying to find food and cakes and plates and beer and tea and wine and cheese and anything else the dwarves ask for. And finally, after the rush of dinner and the first of Tolkien’s MARVELOUS songs (THE SONGS ARE GOOD, JACK! EVERYONE LOVES THE SONGS!! THEY ARE NOT TOO LONG!! YOU GO SIT DOWN WITH YOUR FATHER CHRISTMAS AND YOUR JESUS LION AND LEAVE MY SONGS ALONE!!!)

I’m sorry. I think I may have fallen through a portal into the 1950s and seen a shouting match between my two favorite authors. I’m back now, though.

After dinner and a song, the dwarves all sit around smoking and then get down to business. They need a burglar and Bilbo is the chosen one. Bilbo reacts appropriately, collapsing on the floor in a quivering mess. Gandalf gets him a stiff drink and when Bilbo has recovered Gandalf offers him the burglar job again. Bilbo has questions—questions that need answering—and in the end they resolve that Bilbo shall indeed accompany the dwarves on their mission to reclaim their home and their long-forgotten gold. Bilbo is not at all sure about this as he falls asleep listening to Thorin sing about dragons and treasure and wanting to go home.

When Bilbo wakes up the next morning at the beginning of chapter 2, he finds that the dwarves have left without him. “He could not help feeling just a trifle disappointed. The feeling surprised him.” I want to sit here for a moment and examine Bilbo’s feelings before the adventure begins.

Bilbo’s parents were from two distinguished Hobbit families. His father’s family had a perfectly normal habit of staying home and making a good comfortable life and eating and drinking and being merry. Good Hobbit stuff. His mother, on the other hand, well…she was a Took. And it was rumored the Tooks had fairy blood. There was a tendency among Tooks to go wandering. (If the name “Took” is familiar, yes, he is related to Peregrin “Pippin” Took who will go on a different journey altogether. Peregrin? Means “wanderer.”) 

So here we find that the two sides of Bilbo are at war within him. Tolkien gives hints at this throughout chapter 1, but it’s right out in the open here at the beginning of chapter 2.

And again…Gandalf. The wizard pokes his head in Bilbo’s kitchen and hands him a letter from the dwarves. I have summarized: “Are you coming or not? Meet us at the Green Dragon at 11.00. If you live? You get one-fourteenth share of the treasure.” The Took side wins out, and Bilbo runs off after the dwarves. (Book Bilbo does not shout that he’s going on an adventure, but I’m sure that’s what he was thinking.)