Independent+novel+studies

=The Hobbit= By J. R. R. Tolkien, December 3rd, Matthew Haussmann, 28 pages, 1st chapter read

The Hobbit is the book that I chose, it is written by J. R. R. Tolkien. When I first got the book I didn't realize how long ago it was written, I thought it was written some time in the 80's or 90's but instead it was written on the 1930's! To tell the truth, I would not have guessed that it was written so long ago because even only the first part is very well written. The main reason I chose this book is because I liked the Lord of the Rings Movies and I had heard from my friends that the hobbit was a good book. Some information that I needed to know before I read the book was that it was based on the Lord of the Rings series and what a Hobbit was( which was described in a prologue in much detail). What happened before the novel began was that Bilbo Baggins' (protagonist and hobbit) grandfather, the Old Took, was a great warrior which is strange for a Hobbit because they are quite small( he is now dead though), and a great dragon named Smaug has been a great terror of the countryside and had attacked Dwarfish colonies. Smaug stole the Dwarf's treasure and has been hiding out since in in the Dwarf's mountain. The novel so far has been quite literate, it starts with describing Bilbo to us in history, appearance and so on, and then Gandalf the great wizard comes along and starts talking to Bilbo, He tries to sort of get Bilbo to come on a journey with him but Bilbo refuses and goes inside his house, which is underground in the side of a hill(like most Hobbits). The next day, Dwarves start arriving at his house because Bilbo accidentally invited Gandalf to tea, and so many Dwarves arrive and then Gandalf states a journey against Smaug and makes Bilbo submit to go on it with him and his many dwarves(about 12). The book so far has been quite what I had hoped for, and I hope will not let me down in the 250+ pages to come.

10/10

=**The Hobbit** = By J. R. R. Tolkien, December 10th, Matthew Haussmann, pages 29-54 (25 altogether), 2nd and 3rd chapters

So far the Hobbit has been what I have hoped for, meaning the right writing style. But for the knowledge that I knew about the Lord of the Rings, not an enormous amount of that has been included yet in the plot. I'm sure it will squeeze its way in sooner or later, and then the book will get very interesting.

1. What's going on as the story begins? The story begins in The Shire, one of the hobbit communities, and all is well for Bilbo Baggins in his comfy little home in the side of a hill. The author describes him smoking his pipe outside on his porch when Gandalf arrives.

2. Who is telling the story? How does this person’s perspective effect the way the story is told? The author, J.R.R. Tolkien, is the one telling the story. His perspective is all-knowing and informative, trying to help us along. I'm guessing it s easier for him because he created the whole concept of his world and most things in it.

3. What is the initial or first problem faced by the main character? The first problem faced by the main character (Bilbo Baggins) is that Gandalf comes along and invites him on a journey to burgle and steal treasure and other things from evil, not too much of a problem, but Bilbo is used to a nice easy life with no adventure and many large meals. He doesn't want to leave it.

Continuing from the previous part of the story, it goes on like this. Bilbo wakes up to find that after the party, there are no dwarves in his house but, indeed, the party was real. Then after a little amount of time and no preparation, Gandalf walks in and tells him they are waiting. So he sprints to meet them just in time, and the journey begins with the whole party of fourteen. As they are travelling (which takes them a while and far), they come across three trolls (who are big and kind of stupid) and sort of a quarrel ensues, not in a bloody way though. After defeating the trolls, they plunder their stash and continue on. They reach the Misty Mountains and begin to hike for their destination, a hidden valley of Elves. When they arrive, they are greeted and taken in to hospitality because Gandalf is friends with some of the Elves. The group is given another map and they start to study it, finding more about their journey to come (like secret entrances and obstacles, stuff like that). The overall feel so far is well and rather towards Bilbo's feeling and thoughts.

8/10

=**The Hobbit** = By J. R. R. Tolkien, January 2nd, Matthew Haussmann, pages 55-89, 4th and 5th chapters

The Hobbit is continuing to be what I imagined and as the plot advances, I am starting to see elements of the Lord of the Rings plot. The ring of power (which is in the Lord of the Rings) and Gollum (also) are now included. The author holds onto your interest and gets you to keep reading by telling you more about the world (which he created) in the book, and histories of the characters. Problems that the characters now face that have been added on to the original problem are that the characters are being chased underground by goblins after being kidnapped by them, and Bilbo has discovered the ring of power and is being chased by Gollum. The largest plot twist was that the group was kidnapped by goblins while they were sleeping in a cave. The other twist was that Bilbo found Gollum and the ring of power, this would have been a bigger twist than the other one but the impact on me was much less because I was expecting it to happen sooner or later. The story goes on as follows: the group follows a path up the mountain and is soon battling against a storm and so they try to find shelter. The first thing they find is a shallow-ish cave, and so they use it as shelter for the night. Bilbo awakes to find that goblins are capturing them all except for Gandalf through a secret passage and take them to their leader. Suddenly, all the torches and lights in the cavern go out and the group is saved by Gandalf, and they proceed to be chased by the goblins through the caverns. The goblins catch up and Bilbo gets knocked out by a rock on the ground. He awakes to see only blackness, and he finds the ring of power on the ground by accident. Bilbo decides to press on forwards and he accidentally stumbles into a lake, the lake which Gollum lives on. Gollum comes up to Bilbo and they start to have a little riddle competition, right after which Gollum discovers that Bilbo has his ring. He chases after Bilbo and Bilbo discovers that you become invisible if you wear the ring when Gollum passes right by him without noticing. With this new knowledge, Bilbo makes a daring escape from the caverns and some more goblins through a door. This is where I read to and I am anxious to read on to find out where Bilbo escaped to.

= The Hobbit = By J. R. R. Tolkien, January 7th, Matthew Haussmann, pages 90-138, 6th and 7th chapters

The Hobbit is still growing with its plot and is continuing to keep me glued to the pages. There is still a ways to go in the book and I am hoping for even more action and adventure.

1. Comment on the style of the novel. Is it easy or hard to follow the events? The stye in the book is very good. It is based as though it was a long time ago in a different world so they speak in a different way they would if it was in our world. The characters also think like they would if it was that time period so it is quite easy to get a feel for the characters. The events are easy to follow and are presented to the reader sometimes in a humorous way, like when Bilbo jumps up from his sleep to put a kettle on in his house but soon realizes that he is still where he was the night before, which is the opposite of his house. The author also describes how it feels to be in the situation that the characters are in because they are not everyday occurances so we get a feel for the characters. "Trees are not very comfortable places to sit in for long at any time; but with but with the cold and the wind, they can be perfectly miserable places.", he says this when they are trapped in trees.

2.Is the language in the novel difficult or easy? GIve examples and explain. Yes, the language is easy to read. This is especially good because it was written in the 1930's. It uses language that is very grammatically and stylistically correct. "Trees are not very comfortable places to sit in for long at any time; but with but with the cold and the wind, they can be perfectly miserable places.", in this it is easy to tell what he is saying and telling you, most of the book is written like this so it is very easy to follow.

3. To what age group is the novel aimed? Support your answer with evidence. The Hobbit is kind of aimed towards younger readers, but it is a timeless book so truly it isn't aimed towards a "specific" group of readers. The Lord of the Rings series sort of has a cult following it and has had it for a long time. I still think that most readers are younger people because there has not been any explicit material so far and it is not a bloody or gory book (so far) so I would simply have to guess that.

The novel continues as follows, Bilbo meets back up with the group and they continue, facing even more goblins and wild "wargs", but then they are rescued by giant eagles. They arrange to be flown along the route of their journey and then continue on. Then Gandalf tells them that they are going to meet someone and they travel to the persons' house. His name is Beorn and he is only someone that can provide help to them, so they stay at his house for a few days and he tells them of their route to come and the dangers of it. Soon they are on their way to the forest of Mirkwood, which is a dreadful place and the largest forest in the known world for them. when the party gets to the entrance to the forest, Gandalf has to leave them and all of them need to send their horses and ponies back to Beorn (because they borrowed them from him). This is the cutoff point and I am going to read on about their adventures in Mirkwood soon

=**The Hobbit ** = By J. R. R. Tolkien, January 11th, Matthew Haussmann, pages 139-304, chapters 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, and 19 read.

The Hobbit has been a really good read for me. I think I will read more by J.R.R. Tolkien, perhaps //The Simarillon//. But The Hobbit really started to get interesting only a little ways past where I stopped last time. I didn't really mean to read 160 pages for this last entry but it kind of escaped my mind for a little while. Anyways, the whole storyline and world created by J. R. R. Tolkien is amazing and it is obvious that The Hobbit should have lasted since 1937.

1. Describe any new characters that are introduced. What is their purpose? Some of the larger characters introduced are as follows: The Elvinking, Smaug (as an actual character), "The Master", Bard of Girion, Dain son of Nain, and Bolg. The Elvinking is king of the wood elves and captures the group for trespassing on his land. Smaug is introduced to us in person, he is smart as a character that attacks a riverside village of men after the group meets him; he is killed by Bard while doing this. "The Master" is the master of the riverside village that helps the group by feeding them and giving them shelter when they are escape the Elvinkings grasp without anybody knowing. Bard of Girion become ruler of Dale after he kills Smaug in the village. Dain, son of Nain is the leader of the dwarf army that Thorin summons to recolonize Smaug's lair. Bolg, is the leader of the goblin army and is also has the Wargs (wolves) under his control. All their purposes are, in a nutshell, to help advance the plot right up until the climax, The Battle of 5 armies, and to settle a happy ending.

2. How are the major and minor conflicts solved? The major conflicts are solved by large battles and trading of rights and symbolistic objects. The battle of 5 armies was basically the conflict of everything that had not yet been resolved, and the Arkenstone of Thrain which was used to bargain with Thorin for some of the treasure. Thorin dies in the end and that resolves many minor conflicts that had aroused previously. Earlier in the story though, small conflicts were mainly solved by Bilbo and his magic ring. Examples of this is when the group is attacked by giant spiders, and Bilbo cunningly distracts the spiders and gets them out of there. Also when the group is captured by the Elvinking, Bilbo hides and divises a plan to escape.

3. What were the major things that helped to resolve the plot? The major things that helped to resolve the plot are indeed, very important to resolve the whole book. Bard kills Smaug, causing Thorin to take control of the treasure and Smaug's lair and become even more stubborn. The Battle of 5 armies causes all past foes to be purged from the land, and also makes the Dwarves, Elves, Men, Eagles, Beorn, and the group we have been following to join up against the opposing side.

A lot happened in the last 160 pages as you would imagine, so the plot summary will not be as in-depth. It goes on from Mirkwood, being captured by the elves, escaping and coming to the riverside village. The group heads up the mountain of Smaug's lair, meet Smaug, and hide from him. Smaug attacks the village and is killed, so the villagers head up the mountain as well. They find Thorin has taken over and barricaded himself in and refuses to give them their fair share, so Bilbo sneaks them the Arkenstone that he found in order to perseud Thorin to bargain, Then Gandalf returns from his business. The Battle of 5 armies occurs, which is the climax, and then all is well in the land after that, so Bilbo returns home and finds that his belongings are being auctioned off because he is presumed dead. Much time passes and then he is visited again by Gandalf and Balin, The End.

The Hobbit was a wonderful book and I think I shall read more by the same author.

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