I read The Hobbit when I was in eighth grade, but I didn’t reread it for this class. After reading this chapter I wish I had because Shippey raised some really interesting points. I feel that if I had read The Hobbit I would have had more insight while reading The Lord of the Rings.
I had never considered the similarities between hobbits and rabbits. Shippey points out that Tolkien denied this connection, but I’ve come to realize that Tolkien denied a lot about his work. Shippey notices that many characters compare hobbits to rabbits. The characteristics that are similar between hobbits and rabbits didn’t interest me as much as Shippey’s argument that Tolkien wanted hobbits to become a part of English mythology and folklore like the rabbits did. Rabbits aren’t native to England, but they have become part of folk tales and children stories. Tolkien wanted people to feel as though hobbits were a part of English literary tradition as well. I believe this shows another layer of Tolkien’s writing. Perhaps Tolkien wanted to connect hobbits and rabbits in this way and not just in their similar characteristics, which aren’t many.
Every part of Tolkien’s writing seems to have a source from an ancient text. I would like to be more versed in these texts so I could pull out the similarities myself, but I was still interested by the connections Shippey made. Tolkien’s work seems like a collection of the work he loved best. Even the riddles of Gollum and Bilbo can be traced back to other texts. Tolkien incorporated parts of other author’s works into his own world, and I think this is one reason why his world seems so developed. Once he alludes to a different text, the sentiments of that text are transferred into his own work.
Tolkien didn’t identify and define everything in the world he created. Shippey raises this argument and suggests that this was done on purpose. The reader knows there is more in this world, but has no way to find out what else exists. Readers are going to want a sequel. The Lord of the Rings introduces more characters and more places, but still doesn’t explain everything. I believe this shows that Tolkien’s Middle Earth is just as intricate as our own.
Annika Laughlin? October 14, 2008, at 02:20 PM
