GUIDING QUOTATIONS
“Dragons steal gold and jewels, you know, from men and elves and dwarves, wherever they can find them; and they guard their plunder as long as they live (which is practically forever, unless they are killed)” [509-11] > here we have the mention of a classical stock character of the quest: the greedy and terrible dragon which plunders and kills. We see that what is awaiting Bilbo is no small task: as a burglar hired for the adventure by the Dwarves, he will have to recover the treasure from a fierce and cunning creature, which has almost no weakness.
“they hardly know a good bit of work from a bad, though they usually have a good notion of the current market value” [512-3] > this serves in highlighting the notion of greed attached to the dragon. This has to be paralleled to the Dwarves’ greed, which leads them on the journey to recover their stolen treasure, even if they undergo near certain death.
“There was a most specially greedy, strong and wicked worm called Smaug” [516-7] > The antagonist becomes more clearly known: from a ‘simple’ stock character, the dragon of the novel becomes a character with a name and qualities – incidentally, he is not just any dragon, but one of the most powerful ones, rendering the quest even more difficult to achieve.
“Probably, for that is the dragons' way, he has piled it all up in a great heap far inside, and sleeps on it for a bed. Later he used to crawl out of the great gate and come by night to Dale, and carry away people, especially maidens, to eat, until Dale was ruined, and all the people dead or gone.” [529-32] > other element s of the far-flung places where the goal of the quest lies are given here: we learn about the name of the town, Dale, as well as the habits of the dragon.
“I have often wondered about my father's and my grandfather's escape. I see now they must have had a private Side-door which only they knew about.” [543-4] > Even as son of the King Under The Mountain, Thorin does not know everything about the Hall in the Mountain.
“your father gave me this to give to you; and if I have chosen my own time and way of handing it over” [553-4] > Gandalf is the master of events, and this quotation could be kept as a general definition of how he handles the sharing of news and particulars of the adventure in the chapter as well as in the rest of the novel.
“Even I, Gandalf, only just escaped.” [567] >By this mention of his barely escaping death, Gandalf admits to a certain frailty, even though it actually serves in showing how powerful he is.
“I will give you a good breakfast before you go” [583] > Bilbo is (unconsciously?) trying to opt out by ecluding himself from the company about to take part in the adventure.
“The Tookishness was wearing off, and he was not now quite so sure that he was going on any journey in the morning.” [592-4] > here again, we have this constant motif in the first chapter of the struggle within Bilbo between his Baggins and his Took sides. And each time there is a ‘Tookish climax’, we have an abatement and anticlimax which puts him slowly back into his Baggins cowardice.
“it gave him very uncomfortable dreams” [604] > notice the use of this particular adjective, used at the very end of the chapter: it is worth noticing that it was used in the substantive form at the very beginning of this same chapter to define what a hobbit’s home is (“… a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort.”) Thus, everything comes back again (remember that the full title of the novel is “There And Back Again”), but with slight (or dramatic) changes – just like Bilbo himself will come back to his home after the perilous journey, although he will not be exactly the same anymore.
COMMENTARY
INTRODUCTION:
The passage to be studied is a part from the first chapter of Tolkien’s novel The Hobbit – Or There And Back Again that was published in 1937. Before starting the commentary, it is worth mentioning that this story was first meant as a bed-time story Tolkien intended for his children.
In this story, Bilbo Baggins, a Hobbit from the Shire (a part of the fictitious world of Middle-Earth), is led by an omniscient wizard called Gandalf to take part in an adventure in which – with his 13 dwarf companions – he will fight or encounter creatures he would never have dreamt of meeting: goblins, elves, a dragon… And in doing so, he will come to possess by chance a magical and mighty ring, which has the power of making its wearer invisible. He will undergo dramatic changes, and when he comes back from this perilous journey to his homeland, he is not the cowardly, unadventurous Hobbit of the first chapter anymore.
The passage to be studied is the very last part of Chapter 1. Some new elements are told that unveil some parts of the adventure: some places and creature, like the town of Dale and Smaug, the greedy dragon the company will have to chase from the Dwarves’ Hall in order to recover their treasure. This is the last time Bilbo sleeps in his bed: he will do so again only at the very end of the novel, after some dramatic changes have taken place in him.
We will see that in this passage, the different – and seemingly disconnected – pieces of the puzzle start assembling in Bilbo’s (and the reader’s) mind, and although the story Thorin tells about the evil and dangerous (to say the least) nature of the dragon, Bilbo does not flee, even if he feebly tries to opt out once.
DISCUSSION