11-5-20

Last fall, G3 wanted to read The Hobbit, but he has a remarkable ability for starting books and not finishing them. I also wasn’t sure — having read it at least a decade ago and not remembering it at all — he’d understand it well enough if he read it on his own. Therefore, I encouraged him to read other books instead. He was convinced he could comprehend the book without any difficulty, but I stood firm. He got mad at me and sulked for days. Eventually, I told him maybe we’d read it together in the spring. But you all know how our spring turned out. For months, G3 didn’t read at all. He buried himself in television instead, trying to forget the nightmare that had become his reality.

This year, he’s not in school. I’ve taken it upon myself to homeschool him. While once upon a time I did teach middle school, it was ages ago. Recently, I’d been teaching college. As a result, figuring out which books to teach and what my expectations should be was a bit of a challenge. Before I committed to anything, I consulted a friend of mine who teaches middle school English. He recommended a few books for me to consider, one of which was “The Hobbit.” Remembering my son’s request from the year before, I thought it would be a brilliant way to start the school year. Reading something he wanted to read might mean less resistance. Boy was I wrong. Instead of the gratitude I foolishly expected, he immediately launched into a complaint, “When I wanted to read it, you said it was too hard. I wasn’t old enough. I had to wait. But now that you want me to read it you expect me to be happy about it.” Yep, what and idiot I was. However, once the grumbling subsided, he started to read the book. He had no problem at all comprehending the story, and during our daily discussions, I was impressed with his analysis of the characters. I didn’t always agree with his interpretations, and we had some feisty debates, but he always backed up his arguments and theories with references from the text. What more could I ask.

Over all, he seemed to really enjoy the novel. When he finished it, I asked him to write a review. We drafted an outline together, and then he wrote the first draft on his own. I made a few suggestions on what he needed to expand upon or explain more clearly and he was able to revise it without difficulty. You can read his final draft below.

The Hobbit – A Review

A hobbit named Bilbo goes on an adventure with a wizard named Gandalf and thirteen dwarves. The purpose of the adventure is to slay the dragon Smaug and take back the gold that is rightfully the dwarves’. The reason Bilbo goes along is to be a burglar and steal back the treasure. Along the way, they meet creatures that either try to help them or kill them, such as the elves who help them and the goblins who try to kill them. In the end, Bard slays Smaug. Then there is a war. The Iron Hill Dwarves, the Wood Elves, and the Lake People are on one side. The Goblins and Wargs are on the other side. The reason for the war is to see who should get the gold.

Some of the themes I found throughout the book are greed, betrayal, and growth. Throughout the book, creatures judge the dwarves for their love of gold. In the end, Thorin would not give any gold to the lake people to rebuild the village. Another theme, betrayal, is shown when Thorin specifically asks for the Arkenstone and Bilbo gives it to the enemy to avoid conflict — it does not work. The last theme is growth. When you first meet Bilbo, he is a timid but smart hobbit and in the end he is wise, confident, and very adventures. Bilbo’s growth can be seen by what he is wearing. At first you see Bilbo wearing comfortable clothes which expresses more of the Baggins side of him. In the middle of the novel, he is wearing more dwarfish clothes. This shows he is growing as a character. In the last few chapters, Bilbo wears a suit of armor symbolizing he is now showing more of his Took side.   

In this book, one thing Tolkien does very well is that he describes things beautifully. I feel I am not just there, but as if I am my very own character. One of my favorite descriptions is: 

“There [Smaug] lay, a vast red-golden dragon, fast asleep; a thrumming came from his jaws and nostrils, and wisps of smoke, but his fires were low in slumber. Beneath him, under all his limbs and his huge coiled tail, and about him on all sides stretching away across the unseen floors, lay countless piles of precious things, gold wrought and unwrought, gems and jewels, and silver red stained in ruddy light.” 

I like this description because it is describing the dragon. It puts a picture in my head. Another thing is, Tolkien keeps the story moving. In the actual adventure, there are moments were nothing happens, but Tolkien shows the conflict and fighting so the readers don’t get bored. One example of this scenario is in the beginning when the party is just walking. Tolkien doesn’t tell us everything about that stretch of the journey because nothing really happened. However, Tolkien does show the conflict with the trolls. Tolkien always introduces new creatures to show their opinions of the party.  

In all the books I have read, this was my favorite of them all. Percy Jackson, Harry Potter, and The Hobbit are all adventure stories, however, in The Hobbit the things that makes it so good are the deeply descriptive paragraphs.