Freewrite topic: – In The Hobbit, Tolkien uses specific
writing conventions that most would say mark this text as children’s story.
What are those conventions? What specific aspects identify this text as
different from some of his others work? What is the purpose or meaning of these
conventions or markers in relation to the text being a children’s text? Does
the text remain a children’s story throughout?
One of the original parts about The Hobbit that seems to
mark it as more of a “children’s story” is the way the narration occurs in (at
least) the first few chapters. The narrator Sounds like he’s telling a
bedtime story, complete with interjections, and roundabout explanations (like a
child is asking questions and he is answering them). “What is a hobbit?” and “I
suppose hobbits require some explanation” – whereas he could have just
explained without the verbal (written) interjections. This seems like the
narrator is specifically talking to us, specifically explaining the parts of
the story that are most strange and wonderful to us. (Ah, Gandalf! If you had
only heard half the things I have heard about him!) Wow I really want to go fix
some spelling but oh well. The prompt asks what are the conventions – I’d say
the way he talks to the readers (as narrator/person telling bedtime story)
which I don’t recall quite so often occurring in his other works, although I
may be wrong. One of the things about the hobbit that catches my attention is
the fun way he adds rhymes/poems/songs that seem both less and more
sophisticated than you’d expect. The Elves are teasing/taunting with their
almost child-like songs when Bilbo and the Dwarves are arriving in Rivendell (even
though that also shows how much they know about the company, ti still doesn’t
seem much like how the elves are described in later sections). I don’t
necessarily think (jumping ahead a bit to other prompt sections) that the text
remains so child-like/for children all the way through – although some aspects
still remain like that – but the battle of the five armies comes to mind as not
necessarily child-like, and the negotiations and explanations of how the
battles are being fought or avoided also seem like they are less for children
than the beginning, which is very mild and happy (describing the Hobbits is a
very pleasant, funny section, that I can definitely see children laughing about
– barefoot little people that disappear when the Big People come near because
of how bumbling and not quite as perceptive the big people are, which is
reminiscent of childhood games hiding/pretending to hide form adults who don’t
have as good imaginations and can’t “see” all the things children talk about).
Let me really quickly bring down the prompt again
– In The Hobbit, Tolkien uses specific writing conventions
that most would say mark this text as children’s story. What are those
conventions? What specific aspects identify this text as different from some of
his others works? What is the purpose or meaning of these conventions or
markers in relation to the text being a children’s text? Does the text remain a
children’s story throughout?
What is the purpose or meaning of the conventions or markers
in relation to being a child’s text? Well, the first thing I think of isn’t how
they relate to being a child’s text, but how they relate to the books as being
Bilbo’s memoir/There and Back Again, which has been found and translated for us
– so it makes me wonder who exactly that narrator should be (is it Bilbo? Is it
someone speaking our language who has read/heard enough about Gandalf and
hobbits to know what to explain to us? Someone who has been in our shoes
(adult) who knows what we’ll get confused on and want to know more about
(colors, small details about the hobbits etc).
(thought after the fact – the riddle game! Totally a kid
thing!)
When I first read The Hobbit, I really was unconvinced that it was a children’s book. It’s a fairly dense read, and I had an audiobook to help me out on it. However, the points you make in this free write definitely make me reconsider a little bit. Good points have been made here, but although GEARED as a children’s book, I still think the only way you could get away with it being that, is if a parent were to read this to their child. Even the movies are not children-based, and it really seems to most people that it could be viewed more in a teen”
ReplyDelete-based setting. You make a good argument, and I agree with it all, but this read is too dense for children to read alone, personally.