The Bookends discussion
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January read: The hobbit
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Just a real quick obvious reply to question 2... He definitely changes. When Gandalf shows up at his door he is affronted and wants nothing to do with the strange man. He wants to be left alone and is an introvert. Once he allows himself to be caught up in the adventure he realizes how much more excitement there is to experience in the world. He becomes braver (because he has to) and when he returns home he no longer wants to be left alone. He wants to find more adventures to go on. He's definitely no longer an introvert.
The setting is paramount. Where else would you find hobbits, elves, orcs and drawfs and wizards but Middle Earth. I want to visit Riverrun again and listen to the elves sing.
Mod
I think the story is more about the journey, but it would have lost a lot of the magic along the way. The world building was absolutely amazing!
The thing is, I agree, the story is about the journey and all those met along the way, in some amazing places. It is like an escape to another world, a brilliantly imagined one. I doubt I would have been as entertained, had we journeyed east or west from, say Kansas.
Humans don't belong in Middle Earth and especially not the shire. When Tolkien describes hobbits he describes them as disappearing when blundering stupid humans come tromping by. A human would not have fit through the crack in the mountains when the goblins were after him as Bilbo did or fit in the barrels and floated down the river. Size is everything, or at least very important, and small is better! :) One of my favorite books.
1. What are some themes in the story? How do they relate to the plot and characters?
2. Does Bilbo change and/or develop as a character?
3. How essential is the setting to the story? Could the story have taken place anywhere else?