As I mentioned in my last post, I’m re-reading The Hobbit right now to test my brother’s theory that you don’t truly understand a book until you’ve read it twice.
I first read The Hobbit back in like 6th grade, so it’s definitely been a while, but I’ve also been inundated with Tolkien media ever since. My family went to every Lord of the Rings movie midnight showing, I’ve seen all of The Hobbit movie installments, I’ve taken the Buzzfeed personality quizzes, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed all of the Gollum and Boromir memes… so it’s not like I’ve forgotten much about Middle Earth or its inhabitants since I stopped reading the novels.
However, even being familiar with the plot and clearly seeing the actors’ faces while reading this time around, it’s still impressive how much you can get out of it as an adult reader.
For example, Tolkien is an absolute master of “the whimsical.” I mean, that’s not super surprising since the entire franchise bred whimsy into every reel of film, but I always attributed it to the fact that any story involving hobbits and elves and wizards had to be taken pretty lightly.
In reality, it’s obvious now that most of it was actually taken from the spirit of Tolkien’s own writing. In the opening paragraphs of The Hobbit, for example, Bilbo tries to ward off Gandalf’s invitation to join him in his adventure by saying, “We are plain quiet folk and have no use for adventures. Nasty disturbing uncomfortable things! Make you late for dinner! I can’t think what anybody sees in them…” And every piece of dialogue in the novel has that same humorous tone, compounded by the hilarious situations Tolkien puts Bilbo in, such as when the thirteen dwarves arrive at Bilbo’s house one after another with no explanation. It’s just fantastic.
Tolkien also frequently addresses the reader directly in the book, which imparts the sense that you’re an integral part of the story as an observer, and increases the light-hearted nature of the adventure. For example, in those same opening passages, Tolkien introduces Gandalf this way: “If you had heard only a quarter of what I have heard about him, and I have only heard very little of all there is to hear, you would be prepared for any sort of remarkable tale. Tales and adventures sprouted up all over the place wherever he went, in the most extraordinary fashion.” These types of lines make reading so conversational (conspiratorial, even), and is honestly just fun. It makes space for more humor than you can typically work into third-person narratives, and Tolkien wields it expertly.
The last bit that struck me while reading this week was how many songs are in the book. I am usually someone who just reads through songs as if they’re text, but this time I tried to actually read them in rhythm (or my likely poor approximation of what rhythm was intended). I will say, I appreciated those segments a lot more this time, since there’s no way in hell I could ever compose a six stanza verse like that. I’ll also admit that the only reason I decided to even try was because I recently saw a Rolling Stone YouTube video featuring Stephen Colbert connecting a Chance the Rapper & Childish Gambino rap song with one of Tolkien’s poems from The Lord of the Rings, and it was just so cool that Colbert was able to recognize that rhyme scheme.
Anyway, that’s all I’ve got for this segment because I couldn’t bear to write anything about the trolls scene. I’ve just seen/heard about/talked about it so many times, it feels like I have nothing new to add about it. Feel free to add your own thoughts about that chapter in a comment, if you’d like. I’d definitely be interested in reading any insights you have about these chapters!
Here’s the link to the video I mentioned:
Rolling Stones – Stephen Colbert Connects Chance the Rapper with “Lord of the Rings”
Book Fix Blog 