LOTR Read-Along: The Fellowship of the Ring: A Long-Expected Party

Chapter I of The Fellowship of the Ring takes us straight to the heart of Hobbiton and the home of a most beloved hobbit, Bilbo Baggins. After returning from his adventure in the mountains with Gandalf and the dwarves, Bilbo became an oddity to the world-shy hobbits. Adding to this oddity is the fact he came home with so much gold and money and refused to tell anyone where or how he got it. Yet, Bilbo enjoys keeping people in suspense. Especially his dreary cousins, the Sackville-Bagginses. And their is one piece of treasured gold that Bilbo has kept safe with him. Safe from everyone, except for his nephew and heir, Frodo.

Although Bilbo never married, he adopted his distant cousin Frodo Baggins. Frodo was orphaned as a little boy, but the reports on how his parents died are unclear and have always been subject to gossip. In any case, neither Frodo or Bilbo waste time with gossip. There's a party to plan. Bilbo's 111th (or one-hundred and eleventy-first) birthday is a approaching and it's going to be the party of the century. Amid the planning and the baking and the invitations and the fireworks and the coming of one well loved outsider, Bilbo has a few surprises of his own. Surprises that he's sure will keep the Shire talking for months afterwards. 

Tolkien spared no detail when it came to describing the day-to-day life of the hobbits. Their customs and cultures that make them so real and even relatable to our own society. There's definitely hierarchy among the hobbits and who you and where you came from is important. Obvious pettiness and maybe jealousy spring from the lower-middle class hobbits toward wealthier families. Such as the 'queer (as in odd or strange; not the other meaning) Brandybucks' who enjoy adventure on the water and of course, the lively Baggins' of Bag End. 

This chapter was a great beginning and it was so much fun to read about Bilbo's birthday! The way the hobbits interact in their culture is not too different from American Southern stereotypes. Smile sweetly to someone's face and then gossip relentlessly behind their backs. Of course there's no ill-will or real animosity among the hobbits, but it certainly shows that seclusion from the outside world can bring about narrow minded attitudes towards neighbors and friends. 

Heidi's Questions: 

• Have you read The Hobbit?

Yes, I have read The Hobbit and I loved it! I read in 2012 shortly before the first movie premiered. It was a very charming story and your typical fantasy escapism. Dragons and gold and elves and dwarves and magic. 

Tolkien was an admirer of George McDonald, author of The Princess and The Goblin, its sequel The Princess and Curdie and many other fantasy novels, including the controversial Lilith.* And while his books were published a century before either Tolkien or Lewis, you can definitely see his inspiration for Tolkien's Middle-Earth that while beautiful, there is an evil and extreme darkness creeping to the surface. 

• What did you think about Bilbo's exit plan?

Very, very Bilboish. Bilbo enjoys raising eyebrows and making people talk. And his exit strategy of leaving 'without a trace' is fitting of someone who has a history of causing trouble. 

*Lilith is also mentioned in The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. She was the mother of Jadis the White Witch and Jadis' father was Adam, the first man. In legend, Lilith was actually the first women to be created, but was banished when she refused to be subjugated by man. While this may be a legend, it's always bothered me that Lewis would put that into his books.