The Hobbit

Author: J.R.R. Tolkien
Book Review By: Tapaswani Tripathy
Class: 7

The Hobbit

Owing to my fondness for fiction, I’ve always been a dreamy girl constantly striving to do something adventurous, grand, and out of this world. The Hobbit is a fabulous narration by J.R.R. Tolkien, which is meant for fiction lovers. The novel shares sweet and sour memories of a hobbit, Bilbo Baggins, in the perilous lands where he fought for strangers, showing his helpfulness, humanity, and realization of being fearless in the world.

The book talks about a creature of Middle-earth, a hobbit, Bilbo Baggins, who is not fond of adventures. He loves a comfortable life staying 10 feet away from danger or adventures, but this wasn’t his destiny. His character was developed to have absolute troubles in life or be a helping hand to dwarves, but how did he meet dwarves?

Their meeting was unexpected in the Bag End (hobbit’s hole), where they introduced themselves as the friends of Gandalf, an old wizard. They ate, drank, and sang in the hobbit hole. Meanwhile, Bilbo was frustrated, and the only thing he could do was put his hands on his head and collect his wits. The dwarves talked about Smaug the dragon, elves, goblins, gold, dungeons but Bilbo had no interest in them! They were just a trouble for Bilbo.

Suddenly, darkness filled the room, the fire died down, and the shadows were lost as the dwarves sang: –

“Far over the misty mountains cold, to dungeons deep and caverns old, you must go away ere break of day to seek the pale enchanted gold …” “The bells were ringing in the dale and men looked up with faces pale, the dragon’s ire freer than fire laid low their towers and houses frail …”

This inspired Bilbo, and he wished to go and see the great mountains, explore caves, and hear the pines. Through his journey, he went through lands where every step brought a new problem for him, but of course, he wasn’t scared of them.

The novel is not only about adventures but also has humor, a moralistic approach to friendship, unity, and many more. People often preach to be careful and harmonious, but I learnt from the novel that facing destiny and challenges is much more interesting than a simple, boring life.

Among all the gloriously etched episodes, my most favourite chapter from the novel is chapter 4 (Over Hill and Under Hill). This chapter discusses the meet between Bilbo and the goblins. The reason why I absolutely love this chapter is because of the sense of humour and creativity that Mr. Tolkien mentions in his writing; however, the story of Gollum and the magical ring proved to be the most interesting part. Bilbo’s cleverness and curious yet enthralling operations of the magical rings proved to be a key to reach Smaug, the dangerous and villainous dragon.

Every page of this book discusses what fiction with beauty looks like. So surely, I recommend every passionate reader to read it or rather feel it, to find a fearless, newer, and unique self!

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J.R.R. Tolkien