One idea I found quite striking and profound, though it was only remarked upon in passing, was the concept that The Hobbit is a story about the significance of the seemingly insignificant. This was quite a startling revelation, as it’s such a poignant observation that I don’t think I’d have realized if it hadn’t been mentioned, yet it’s so true.
This significance of the seemingly insignificant starts out immediately with Bilbo as a Hobbit, people don’t take much notice of them, they’re not even a concern or interest to others, until Bilbo goes off into the world and they encounter him. Additionally, for Bilbo’s development as a character, all these small things build up to an incredible change in him. Beginning with him simply leaving home, which wasn’t entirely of his own volition, there was some wizardry involved there on Gandalf’s part, along with his finding of the ring, helping the dwarves along the way, and finding and keeping the Arkenstone.
If you’re not already aware of how the story goes, and the significance of these, each of them doesn’t seem terribly significant at the time they occur, and yet combined, they’re incredible significant in propelling the story, as well as Bilbo’s character development. Tolkien is incredibly skilled at seamlessly weaving these details into his story to build an incredible story. Though I have realized he does seem to dumb down his writing, just a bit, especially when I consider it in comparison to The Lord of the Rings. This is most likely Tolkien taking into consideration his intended audience for this specific book.
An example of this that sticks out to me is when Bilbo found the ring, the narrator explained how the ring was a turning point for Bilbo, though not of particular interest for him at the time, as he simply picked it up, as if that was naturally the thing to do when you come upon a ring in a goblin cave. This exposition would have been unnecessary if the targeted audience was adults. Tolkien’s writing in this book has a lot of passages that tell, rather than show, probably as an avenue to engage his audience, to keep them reading to the end to find out how each part of the story that’s specifically expounded on resurfaces later.
The other idea I found quite interesting was the barrel being such an insignificant thing, and yet being so significant to the progression of the story. It was simply the only means of escaping from the wood elves, yet it becomes significant as Bilbo takes it as one of his claims to fame, despite the terrible time he had riding the barrel. If he had not mentioned it, which Bilbo realizes and Tolkien points out quite explicitly, Smaug might not have gone out and attacked Lake Town, and Bard would have never had the opportunity to kill him. The story would have been much different if the barrel hadn’t taken on such significance.
When I first encountered the Hobbit's theme of the significance of the seemingly insignificant, I thought of the most obvious parts of the story, such as Bilbo as a Hobbit, but I definitely agree with your points of how the Hobbit is full of small points being dropped in without much detail before becoming important in later chapters. The introduction of the Ring, however, is an exception since Tolkien, as you said, hints to the audience that it may prove useful in the future. As much as I enjoy Tolkien's comments as the narrator in the Hobbit, I understand how his omniscient comments have a habit of explaining/telling rather than showing how this small details will play out in the future.
ReplyDeleteIt'll be interesting to compare Tolkien's writing style in the Hobbit to his writing in the Lord of the Rings or the Silmarillion, as he may be more subtle given the intended audience.