The Hobbit A Review Essay Research Paper

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The Hobbit: A Review

Introduction

The book I read and analyzed was ?The Hobbit? by J.R.R. Tolkein. I shall discuss

the plot and character development, setting, author’s style and my opinions

about it.

Plot Development

There are too many characters in the story and so it is hard to follow and know

each one of them. (There are many dwarves and it’s confusing.) In the beginning

there is an introduction where the author tells a bit about what is a hobbit

and the hobbit’s (Bilbo) family. It is not very complicated and the author

makes it easy to understand. This introduction gives the general background,

which makes the story easier to understand, for the plot and its development.

The plot development in the middle is not complicated and easy to follow. It can

even be summarized in a few sentences. The ending is expected since the author

gives hints about it. As in the introduction when he says that the hobbit would

gain something, this means that he will not die. Then, the reader is not kept

in suspense and does not expect to see what happens at the end.

The last climax (or what is supposed to be the climax) takes a long time to

occur (the last fight?good (men, elves, dwarves & eagles) vs. evil (wargs &

goblins)) and this reduces its effectiveness. After the climax there is the long

return home. It is quite boring since there is nothing to expect to and the

reader knows that the hobbit would get home safely. In my opinion it should

have been shorter.

Character Development

The creation of the characters is done by their dialogues and monologues,

actions and things noted by the narrator (the author in this case) himself. An

example for dialogue: ?All the same, I should like it all plain and clear, also

I should like to know about risks, out-of-pocket expenses…? (by Bilbo, page

22, it shows that he is not ready to jump into things so quickly). An example

for a monologue: ?Now is the time for our esteemed Mr. Baggins, who has proved

himself…? (by Thorin, page 210, it shows Thorin’s style). A good example for

action is when Thorin blocked the Gate in the mountain that shows the reader

that the treasure is important to Thorin and he rather die than giving it away.

An example for notes by the author: ?You are familiar with Thorin’s style on

important occasions…? (page 210) the author talks directly to the reader and

helps him understand the text.

Each character has a physical description. The length and content of the

description increase as the character importance to the plot increases (e.g.,

the hobbit has very long descriptions in the story (especially in the

introduction) and the Elvenking has fewer descriptions). The more important

characters get an emotional description too, but it is not well seen, but it

can be extracted from the text by analyzing it. The example I gave before about

Bilbo not rushing into things is a good example for this too.

The central figure is the hobbit, Bilbo. He is the one that makes many things

occur by his mistakes and luck. The author gives long descriptions of him and

refers to him a lot, he also made him save his companions’ life and without him

the plot would not have been the same. The supporting cast is divided into the

more important characters (such as the dwarves and Gandalf) into less important

and less described ones (such as the elf guards that caught the party in the

woods). It is hard to believe that the characters can exist in reality since

they cannot, and they are not supposed to since it is a fantasy book.

Setting

The story occurs in the imaginary world?Middle-earth?created by the author, it

is appropriate since creatures that are found in the book (e.g., goblins and

dwarves) do not exist in our world. Since the story happens in many places over

Middle-earth the author gives a deep description only in places where important

things to the plot happen but in other places he gives a more general

description. Most places make the reader have a picture in his brain of them,

the author uses the appropriate words and gives good descriptions. It takes the

story about a year to occur. It starts at the spring and ends in about the same

time the year after. Parts of the story take place in every time of the day

(and night).

The mood is of fantasy world, where everything (like magic and huge treasures)

can appear and happen.

Author’s Style

The words used in the book are not very complicated, but there are some words

that are not longer in use, or used just in poets (such as ?ere’ in some

dialogues).

The style in which the dialogues are written depends on who is talking and when

(e.g., when the Elvenking talked to Thorin he did not treat him with respect

(because elves hated dwarves) and so did Thorin because he was offended with

his captivation).

There was no suspense in the story, because of the author that destroyed it

right at the beginning and with his hints all over the story, saying that the

hobbit and his friends would win and get what they wanted. At the end it was

clear that the good people are going to win the battle against the evil.

The plot is not very complicated and it can be summarized by one paragraph or

something like this.

Critic’s Choice

Although I like fantasy style, I did not really like this book. The book was the

worst fantasy book I ever read, although I know that the author is considered

to be one of the people that gave the fantasy style a great push.

Even though the book is well written there are some faults that make it boring

and uninteresting (such as the lack of suspense that I already discussed

before). Comparing this book to the ?Dragon Lance? series and especially the

first, original ones, by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman the ?Dragon Lance? is

much better.

For this book to be more interesting some changes need to be made, like dropping

all the notes that the author puts in about the characters. These notes that

reduced the suspense made the book very boring and I even fell asleep once

reading it.

If you want to read a fantasy book, you should skip this one and read a book of

Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman that are better authors. If this writer (died?)

wants to continue writing, let it be, but he should not expect me to read it.