It's been a few years since I've dabbled in the works of J.R.R. Tolkien, those lush and beautiful fantasies which not only elevated that genre but continue to influence society after many successful film adaptations. For this trip I returned to the source, the original story -- The Hobbit.
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I own the book in more than few versions, but easily the one I cherish most is the hardback first edition facsimile edition gifted to me by my beloved Lizzie, my wife for forty years. She's gone now. But reading the book and seeing her inscription makes me warm inside with the love we shard for four decades. You'll pardon me if my take on this reading is a bit sentimental.
I think of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings in much the same way as I think of Mark Twain's Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. The first work for each writer is tremendous, bristling entertainment and not unserious in any way, but are much less significant than the robust works which followed. That said, the early works are still integral for fully understanding the greater works. Huckleberry Finn builds on the relationships already established in Tom Sawyer but with greater focus on important themes. Likewise, the light-hearted The Hobbit sets the stage for The Lord of the Rings, introducing key characters and some few plot points, and most importantly establishing the world.
Bilbo Baggins is a likeable hero, a creature of comfort who is rooted out of his warm hole and tossed into a dangerous wild territory where life and limb are on the line almost every minute of every day. His allies the Dwarves are singularly focused on their own mythic mission, and it is only slowly that he is able to assert himself in their company and then somewhat begrudgingly. As a guy who likes his privacy and his comfort, I readily identify with Bilbo when he's suddenly introduced to a dangerous world and then goaded into traipsing off into it. Gandalf, the wizard who we all know is not telling us everything is the linchpin who links Thorin Oakenshield and his companions with their "burglar", a Hobbit of uncommon worth and more than a few talents. Without Gandalf this story doesn't happen. In the later The Lord of the Rings saga the mission is one of necessity. Because of events in The Hobbit, Frodo's life is on the line and so he has little choice but to leave the false security of Hobbiton.
The Hobbit takes place over a year's time and in addition to spaces we encounter many weathers as the story unfolds. Middle Earth is a territory rich in different environments, most familiar to a modern reader. Less familiar are the creatures who inhabit the world. Men of course, but also Elves, Dwarves, Trolls, Goblins (Orcs), and of course Hobbits. So too, do abound sundry animal species of animal such as Wolves, Ravens, Eagles among many others. Intelligence is not limited to the human species, far from it. This is a fairy land in which man can talk to animals and in which creatures of all sorts share the landscape. Telling the story from the perspective of a tiny Hobbit, a creature so small that often he escapes detection, keeps the saga from falling into a classic trap of a brawny hero saving the day. Brains are at least as important as brawn in this story. Swords, mallets, and axes might the weapons of choice, but strategy is the key to victory.
And then there's Smaug. The dragon Smaug is among my favorite of Tolkien's creations, a dragon in keeping with the Nordic traditions which fueled the story, but singular in character. The theme of The Hobbit is demonstrated through Smaug's insatiable greed and his arrogance. His greed makes him make poor decisions at times and his arrogance gets him killed if belatedly from the perspective of the people living in his shadow. My favorite dragon is Marvel's Fin Fang Foom, but he comes from the same tradition which gives us Smaug. They are alike in so many ways, and they both meet defeat because they cannot imagine losing. Their overconfidence is their weakness.
The road goes every on.
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I prefer it to Lord Of The Rings. One thing bothered me when I first read it back around 1970/'71, and that was the description of steam escaping from a kettle (not an electric one, obviously) like a train shooting out of a tunnel. That modern allusion compromised the spell of Middle Earth for a moment and sits curiously out-of-place. It still bothers me, but that aside, it's an excellent read.
ReplyDeleteInteresting. A detail like that goes to the aspect of the story as a children's tale, one meant to be read aloud to kids. But it is an odd detail for a guy who seemed to dislike technology.
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