My take on the smoke line was always that it was meant to indicate proper ventilation, clear flues for fireplaces, etc.
I think there are a few indications that if Gandalf hadn't shown up, Bilbo miiiiiight one day have gone off to have an adventure by himself, because as much as he pretends otherwise he's that way naturally inclined (there's that hilarious line of his to Gandalf, "things used to be quite interes---I mean, you used to disturb things around here"). But there are also many indications that hobbit inertia would have held him down.
As far as I know hobbits are an entirely Tolkien invention. I mean, past the "little people living underground" thing and the obvious parallel to the way he saw the countryside folk of England. The word is his, and if I recall correctly, it all started when he scribbled "in a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit" at the back of an essay he was grading or something. (The word "hobbit" was derived from something like "hol-bytla," if memory serves? Meaning hole-dweller?)
My take on the smoke line was always that it was meant to indicate proper ventilation, clear flues for fireplaces, etc.
When I moved into my first Chicago apartment, I was surprised by the extra-high ceilings and odd covered bits on the wall. As I understand it, they were sconces for gas lights. Given when this was written, that seems plausible to me.
Reading this now, I'm struck as never before by how wealthy the Bagginses are. Kitchens, plural! The most luxurious hobbit-hole to be found around. Bilbo is definitely an old bachelor. It really does make the adventuring seem like a character change, as it ought. (As a kid, I just took that for granted.)
Finally, I was wondering just the other day how tall hobbits were, since my 2-year-old just hit 3'. And ... yeah, that's about how tall hobbits are. Shorter even, if they've half the height of an average person. That's crazy! OK, it makes the part about riding dogs as ponies reasonable (or was that just in D&D?). But she can't reach the sink faucets yet! Farming? House-
( ... )
Well, even the tone of the LotR starts out light-hearted, in the Shire. But the Hobbit, as I understand it, came about as bedtime stories Tolkien was making up for his kids, based in the world he started making up in WW I. But as you & desdenova both say, lots of humor here at the start. And I suspect I'll get more of that on this read through. As a kid, I never picked up on the "teaching grandma to suck eggs" thing.
Yeah, I think my biggest problem with this book might be just figuring out how all-knowing Gandalf is supposed to be. In some places, it seems like he knows everything and can plan for it, in others, he seems to be totally taken by surprise by things.
I think the narrator is someone generally in our (or Tolkien's, specifically) time, who for whatever reason knows of the Old Things and knows the old stories or whatever. At least, that's the impression I remember getting from this plus the trilogy.
And if golf were invented back then by a hobbit, it wouldn't be an anachronism!
And if golf were invented back then by a hobbit, it wouldn't be an anachronism!
Heh!
I've always -- well, for the past 20 some years, at any rate -- had the mental image of the Hobbit starting out as Tolkien telling stories to his kids. There's a lot I'll forgive a modern narrator sitting around a camp fire that I'd question in a novel taking itself seriously.
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I think there are a few indications that if Gandalf hadn't shown up, Bilbo miiiiiight one day have gone off to have an adventure by himself, because as much as he pretends otherwise he's that way naturally inclined (there's that hilarious line of his to Gandalf, "things used to be quite interes---I mean, you used to disturb things around here"). But there are also many indications that hobbit inertia would have held him down.
As far as I know hobbits are an entirely Tolkien invention. I mean, past the "little people living underground" thing and the obvious parallel to the way he saw the countryside folk of England. The word is his, and if I recall correctly, it all started when he scribbled "in a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit" at the back of an essay he was grading or something. (The word "hobbit" was derived from something like "hol-bytla," if memory serves? Meaning hole-dweller?)
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When I moved into my first Chicago apartment, I was surprised by the extra-high ceilings and odd covered bits on the wall. As I understand it, they were sconces for gas lights. Given when this was written, that seems plausible to me.
Reading this now, I'm struck as never before by how wealthy the Bagginses are. Kitchens, plural! The most luxurious hobbit-hole to be found around. Bilbo is definitely an old bachelor. It really does make the adventuring seem like a character change, as it ought. (As a kid, I just took that for granted.)
Finally, I was wondering just the other day how tall hobbits were, since my 2-year-old just hit 3'. And ... yeah, that's about how tall hobbits are. Shorter even, if they've half the height of an average person. That's crazy! OK, it makes the part about riding dogs as ponies reasonable (or was that just in D&D?). But she can't reach the sink faucets yet! Farming? House- ( ... )
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Norse dwarf names?
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Very nice!
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And if golf were invented back then by a hobbit, it wouldn't be an anachronism!
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Heh!
I've always -- well, for the past 20 some years, at any rate -- had the mental image of the Hobbit starting out as Tolkien telling stories to his kids. There's a lot I'll forgive a modern narrator sitting around a camp fire that I'd question in a novel taking itself seriously.
Reply
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