12/7/2023 0 Comments Bilbo and frodoSay what you will about her, she is nevertheless the kind of person who isn’t going to take a defeat lying down. Though the SBs are only a very minor part of the story (for the moment, at least), there’s something particularly enjoyable about seeing them, particularly Lobelia. It’s only a short part of the chapter, but I can’t help but laugh out loud at the beautiful silliness of the presents that Bilbo leaves to sundry relatives, whether it’s an umbrella for a relation who was known for taking umbrellas or, most notably, the batch of silver spoons left to the sour-faced Lobelia Sackville-Baggins. This chapter includes more of the anthropology that was such a uniquely fun part of the “Prologue,” and we learn about the various social habits and phrases of the hobbits (I am going to commit to using the phrase “filling up the corners” from now on, though I’m going to avoid the costly mistake of referring to a group of people as a “gross”).Īnd then there are the presents. There’s something uniquely pleasurable about getting to spend time with the hobbits in all of their cheerful absurdity, watching them indulge in all of the simple pleasures that make life so simple and unadorned for their kind. And then, of course, there’s the moment when he comes close to actually challenging Gandalf outright, which is the clearest indication yet that there is something amiss.įor the most part, however, this chapter leans into the joy and good cheer of Bilbo’s birthday party. The old hobbit is himself aware of it, and his comment about feeling like butter stretched over too much bread is one that is as haunting as it is quaint. Even though his extraordinary longevity might seem like a cause for celebration, the narrator also makes it clear that this, too, has begun to raise some eyebrows among his friends and neighbors. His idiosyncrasies are tolerated because he’s wealthy but, except for his close friends, most of his other relations seem to view him with a mixture of bemusement and alarm, particularly once he disappears right in front of their eyes.Īnd speaking of Bilbo…this is the chapter where we get to see the extent to which the Ring has started to really assert its hold on him. All of this comes to a head during his speech, and it’s particularly striking that this sequence is related through the point of view of the audience rather than Bilbo himself, which allows us to understand just what a contradictory place he occupies in the Shire. While his adventures and achievements have made him into a person worthy of respect and adulation to those who live outside the Shire, to those inside it these are exactly the reason to suspect him and find him both peculiar and more than a little distrusted. This conversation also reveals one of the most fascinating aspects of Bilbo’s life. Even at this point, however, it’s clear that there are good hobbits and bad hobbits and, considering the fact that the Sandymans will come to play a key role in Saruman’s and Lotho’s efforts to subvert the Shire and turn it into an industrial wasteland, these events will have their echo at the end of the novel. Of course, the full significance of this conversation won’t become obvious until the very end, when it’s finally revealed that there have long been hobbits working with the nefarious Saruman, sowing discontent and tyranny even within the humble bounds of the Shire. It’s a little bit of a sour note, made all the more so by the presence of a stranger who comments on the possibility that there might be jools secreted away up at Bag End. While the Gaffer is more than willing to go with the official story, there are others who are a little more inclined to see a more sinister slant to the events, much to the former’s disgruntlement. Among other things, we learn of the rather ominous set of events that led to Frodo’s becoming an orphan and being sent to live with Bilbo: his parents drowned while out on a boat. Perhaps no sequence achieves this quite as much as the conversation between the Gaffer and various other residents of the district.
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