A moment of inspiration
In this first section of the chapter, I really got a kick out of the whole hobbit-rabbit idea. I am very amused because the more that I think about it, hobbits do remind me of the cute little creatures! I think back in high school when I read The Hobbit I had an idea in my mind that they were similar creatures. I love the fact that there are so many instances in the works where Bilbo is referred to as a rabbit by many other characters and Tolkien still denies that there is any connection. I can see why he would not want hobbits portrayed that way. He means for the hobbits to be human-like. They are clean and live respectably like the rest of human-kind does.
Until I read this section, I would never have thought of Bilbo as middle-class. Throughout the book, I saw him as upper-class because he is always shown giving. His parties, pipes, and gifts that are given when he leaves in the Lord of the Rings when he is going on an adventure suggest to me that he had a lot more than what this suggestion lets on. So I am surprised to learn that he is indeed middle-class.
I just have to say that I was incredibly intrigued to find out how Tolkien even started his work. It is an amusing idea that he was incredibly bored one day and was presented with an opportunity to write something on a blank page left by a candidate in which he started his story.
The world of fairy-tale
I already knew that Tolkien’s accomplishment was opening up imagination and not actually creating Middle-Earth. However, I find the thought processes that helped him re-create Middle-Earth interesting. Tolkien took all of the ideas from various fairy-tales and was able to put them all together into one story. Many fairy-tales had certain characters such as elves or dwarfs, but Tolkien was able to make them fit together. I think that is incredibly creative of him.
I knew a lot about Tolkien’s process of finding names and words for his story from our guest speaker in class, but I found his process with Gandalf’s name particularly interesting. Tolkien asked questions about the list of names that had been put together because he thought it odd that the meanings of those names would go together. So he turned around, took Gandalfr and turned it into Gandalf, the staff-elf. Though it is not exactly what Gandalf is, it portrays him better than just an old man. I think about this thought-process that Tolkien went through with just Gandalf’s name and I have changed my mind. I think very highly of Tolkien’s work now that I know he took the time to think about his works, right down to the naming of his characters. I have a lot of respect for someone like him who is able to take actual terminology and make it into fantastic literature with imagination like he did. It was so much work and now I can appreciate it more.
The author’s voice
I read The Hobbit in ninth grade, so I did not realize any of the strategies that Tolkien had used in writing the story. Now, I think it is the coolest thing. He was able to use authority in a gentle way as to assure people and persuade them that what he was talking about really existed. The phrases he used do suggest that we, as humans, should have heard of dwarfs, elves, and trolls in our lives before. And he also implies that we should have known who some of the ‘famous’ characters are. This is a great trick of his that I can recognize and appreciate now. Come to think of it, that is probably why I enjoyed the book in high school.
The contest for authority
I liked this section of the chapter because it was explained how some of the ancient aspects of the Lord of the Rings ties into more modern ideas. I feel like I know Bilbo Baggins as an ancient person as well as a modern and courageous hero that is full of bravery. I was interested to learn that Gollum’s riddles were of ancient time and Bilbo’s were nursery rhyme riddles from tradition. Shippey helps us to find a connection between the two. I like how we are told that Tolkien tried to fill the time gap by writing the nursery rhyme in Old English, or Anglo-Saxon.
Philological fictions
I think that is interesting that Gollum and the spiders seem to be the only characters that are truly Tolkien’s. Everything else stems from his scholarship and professional findings. In addition to characters, Tolkien seems to pull settings out of old literature as well and make them his own. I wish that I could take ancient settings and change them to make them into something that people of our time could relate to. Again, Tolkien asks questions and reads into the ancient literature in order to make his settings modern but yet correct. I like that because he is not just pulling the information from nothing. Instead, he used bits of ancient literature and expanded on it to make the narrative flow (35). I love the explanation of how Tolkien came up with his dragon ideas. I think it added a lot of character to his book. However, I am still toying with the idea that Smaug is said to be upper-class.
The clash of styles
I think that while reading The Hobbit (and the Lord of the Rings) it is easy to fall into the trap of thinking of everything in an ancient kind of way. I like this section because Shippey points out the more modern language that is used in the book as well as the older language. He points out that whether the characters are saying visit or pass my way, splendid or welcome, and feast or tea, they are all saying the same thing (45). I never thought of this and just read the words in context thinking that it was cool how the author came up with so many words to cover one meaning. I like how Shippey points out the relevance of each word and brings it to our attention, as the reader, that Tolkien was using ancient and modern language in one book.
Bridging the gap
This is possibly the most interesting of the sections in this chapter. Tolkien brought hobbits into the scene to fill the gap between modern and ancient times. Shippey also tells us that perhaps Tolkien wanted his hobbits to become ancient and settle into a way of always having been there. It is just like the rabbits that settle in after being imported. To me, that is interesting and makes a lot of sense in context.
A theme that kept coming back throughout the chapter was anachronism meaning out of chronological time. I think it is amazing how Tolkien tried to work backwards and fit pieces in to fill the gaps between ancient literature and modern. I feel like this could lead back to the beginning question of whether or not amateur writers know a little more than professional writers. I think that in using the strategies that he did, Tolkien proved himself to be a great writer.
Keilah Bradley October 14, 2008, at 11:11 PM
