The Hobbit: How the Children's Story Became a Myth that even Sauron the terrible peeked over the edge."Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay - JRR Tolkien, letter to his editor (quoted in Carpenter 1977, 182). The Hobbit was initially just a bedtime story. Tolkien's children. Like most of his academic colleagues, Tolkien viewed fantasy as limited to childhood. The result was a book written in a chatty, informal style that contrasts sharply with that of its serious successors. The narrator frequently makes condescending and intrusive asides, such as "And what would you do if an uninvited dwarf came and hung his things in your hall without a word of explanation?" » (H, 18). The language is sometimes close to the language of babies (unpleasant, dirty smell of a damp hole) and modifiers ("terribly", "very, very much") abound. Many critics, including Tolkien himself, have considered this to be the main weakness of the book. Although the tone evokes the oral tradition through which the myths were originally created, it detracts from the power of the book. He makes the villains more comical than truly threatening, and his heroes more endearing than impressive. Hobbit “lacks a certain intellectual weight” and “deserves little serious, purely literary criticism” (Helms 1974: 53). The important words here are “purely literary”. The novel cannot be studied in isolation, but must be seen in a broader context. backdrop of Tolkien's literary philosophy and the entire mythic tradition. For the writing of The Hobbit was both informed and informed by the profound intellectual change that its author was undergoing, namely the development of the philosophy of mythopoeia, or myth-making. In his lecture "In Fairy Tales", published only a few months after the publication of The Hobbit, Tolkien expressed the opinion that myth represents the truth about humanity and its environment far better than the crude factuality of science does can do this. It allows people to see in a new light what has become mundane and dull. Although Elves, for example, do not "exist" in the scientific sense, they embody creative ability and. immortality of the human spirit, and therefore exist As Tolkien says, the storyteller “creates a secondary world into which your spirit can Enter, what he tells is “true”: it agrees with. the laws of this world You therefore believe it, while you are, so to speak, within it. He called this process sub-creation: in creating a parallel world, the mythmaker imitates God, the supreme creator. The Bible is the ultimate divine fairy tale because it reconciles historical truth with mythical truth, and all man-made myths will reflect this. Tolkien disliked allegory and considered myth to be an entirely different art form. Additionally, Tolkien believed that fairy tales offer an escape from the bleakness of modern life and, through the eucatastrophe, or happy ending, provide a joy similar to religious ecstasy. However, he failed to find any mythology indigenous to his native land and, in his own words, he set out to create "a set of more or less connected legends, ranging from the grand and cosmogenic to the level of the romantic fairy tale which I could simply to devote myself to England” (quoted in Rogers & Rogers 1980: 30). In true mythopoetic tradition, The Hobbit borrows heavily from Antiquity and the Middle Ages, of which onlya few can be detailed in this essay. The Old English poem Beowulf inspired, among other things, its main villain, Smaug. In his other well-known lecture, entitled Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics, Tolkien pushed back against critical scholars of the central theme that the monsters occupy in the poem and argues that "they are essential [and] give it its high tone and great seriousness.” . They embody radical evil, he asserts, and constitute true heroism.possible. So when Bilbo encounters the dragon's treasure, he takes a cup, just as Beowulf's unnamed servant does. Both works end with a slaying of dragons, but more interestingly, they begin with the defeat of quite similar creatures: Grendel in Beowulf, Gollum in Hobbit. Smaug is a creation of several other sources, some that the author himself would dispute. Its name is derived from the Germanic verb smugan meaning “to squeeze through a hole”. He is a fusion of snake and bird, symbolizing the union of earth and sky or, in psychoanalytic terms, the id and the superego. Therefore, his death brings balance to both the killer and the community. The dragon also recalls the biblical serpent and, with great skill, incites Bilbo to doubt his party (Nitsche 1979: 44). There are even echoes of the parable when Smaug's vanity and greed lead him to reveal his weak point and thus bring about his downfall. Tolkien was also heavily influenced by Norse mythology. The elves, trolls and especially the dwarves of The Hobbit, who forge beautiful and precious treasures in the heart of the mountains, are Nordic creations. The main dwarf's name, Thorin Oakenshield, is found in the Prose Edda and is derived from the Icelandic words Thorin, meaning "bold" and Eikinskjaldi, meaning "with oak shield". Another typically Norse characteristic is the importance of luck in the makeup of a hero, although in Tolkien Catholic "luck" certainly contains elements of divine providence. The riddle competition, which has been called the pivot of the story and which the narrator assures us is "sacred and of immense antiquity" (H, 84), reflects The Saga of the kind Hedrik the Wise, where Odin finds himself disguise and win a riddle competition by asking a question that is not a riddle. As in fairy tales around the world, rhyme and music play an important role in The Hobbit in reflecting the order or disorder of nature. Rituals, in general, and feasts in particular, signify communion and balance. This explains why a period of intense danger and suffering in the company's journey is always followed by a feast provided by a hospitable representative of Middle-earth. The character of Beorn has a rich mythic heritage. Bears are revered by the Celts and respected by the Norse for their primitive power. Beorn takes its name from the Norse words for warrior, beorn and bear, bjorn. It may be inspired by the legendary beserkers, warriors who worked themselves into such a frenzy during battle that they accomplished extraordinary feats. Both man and bear, he represents the unity of nature and society, long awaited by humanity since the fall. He embodies both the cruelty and honesty of nature. For this reason, shamans often assumed animal qualities during rituals (O'Neill 1979: 118). The fact that the bear (earth) and the eagle (sky) repeatedly offer help once again symbolizes the unity between all aspects of nature and the human psyche once evil is defeated. It is best to observe the effects on the new and growing plants it enriches" (Carpenter 1977: 182). Despite the influences mentioned above, wellothers, Tolkien was not interested in simply rehashing other people's stories, but in mythopoeia. Although Tolkien did not begin The Hobbit with this intention, he soon found himself, quite unexpectedly, "discovering" a world with its own scientific laws, races and even proverbs, such as "escape to goblins to get caught by wolves” (H, 101). If there's a single moment where The Hobbit begins to transcend its humble beginnings, it's surely with Bilbo's discovery of the ring. The importance of this part of the book gives rise to a strange and unconventional structure, surely unforeseen by the author himself. The line "It was a turning point in his career, but he didn't know it" marks the beginning of a shift in tone - it remains simple and informal, but begins to deepen and mature. The enchanted talisman is a powerful mythical symbol, and with the words "it slipped quietly upon his groping index finger", Tolkien is already implying that the ring has a will of its own. This is Bilbo's (and the reader's) first experience of true magical power, as opposed to Gandalf's earlier fireworks. The ring is the link between The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, and its discovery constitutes a turning point in both Tolkien's career and that of his protagonist. Another connection is the troglodyte Gollum, the first real, adult incarnation of evil. He is the age-old figure of the "inhuman", made even more disconcerting by the fact that he was once a hobbit and thus represents, in Jungian terms, Bilbo's dark side. It is entirely fitting that Bilbo discovers this aspect of himself at the edge of a deep, murky lake, after a physical descent into the mountain. This is representative of the descent into his psyche. The hero's journey to the underworld, of which that of Orpheus is the best known, has always been accompanied by his isolation, his entrapment and his loss of control over enchantment. His quest is to emerge with certain powerful symbols that will mark his initiation into manhood. To keep the ring, Bilbo must confront his long-repressed Took side, a side he does not fully embrace until he comes back down to Smaug's mountain. The slaying of the dragon is another turning point in The Hobbit, both for thematic and character development. . The hitherto clear lines between good and evil begin to blur and the theme of the nature of heroism is developed. Thorin, until now the character closest to the conventional fairy tale hero, becomes stubborn and greedy. Although he remains firmly on the side of good, his position is usurped by Bard, who embodies the courage and selflessness required of the fairy tale hero. Of course, none of these traditional heroes are the most important heroes of The Hobbit. This title belongs to Bilbo, the “non-hero” with his many faults. Because he is too human, his growth gives hope and inspiration to ordinary people. Tolkien certainly identified with him, writing "I am in fact a hobbit (in everything but height)" and equating hobbits, in their lack of imagination but potential for courage, with the English in general (quoted in Rogers & Rogers 1980: 126). Bilbo's sacrifice of the Arkenstone, his noblest act, develops the very Christian theme that renunciation can be a more powerful act than acquisition. The approval of Gandalf, the guide and teacher who is in this world but not quite part of it, reinforces the religious connotations. It is he who reminds Bilbo, at the end of his journey, that he was only a small actor in a divine plan: Don't you doubt the prophecies simply because you helped make them come true? You don't really think, do you, that all your adventures and escapes have..

Essay / The Hobbit: How the Children's Story Became a Myth that even Sauron the terrible peeked over the edge."Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay - JRR Tolkien, letter to his editor (quoted in Carpenter 1977, 182). The Hobbit was initially just a bedtime story. Tolkien's children. Like most of his academic colleagues, Tolkien viewed fantasy as limited to childhood. The result was a book written in a chatty, informal style that contrasts sharply with that of its serious successors. The narrator frequently makes condescending and intrusive asides, such as "And what would you do if an uninvited dwarf came and hung his things in your hall without a word of explanation?" » (H, 18). The language is sometimes close to the language of babies (unpleasant, dirty smell of a damp hole) and modifiers ("terribly", "very, very much") abound. Many critics, including Tolkien himself, have considered this to be the main weakness of the book. Although the tone evokes the oral tradition through which the myths were originally created, it detracts from the power of the book. He makes the villains more comical than truly threatening, and his heroes more endearing than impressive. Hobbit “lacks a certain intellectual weight” and “deserves little serious, purely literary criticism” (Helms 1974: 53). The important words here are “purely literary”. The novel cannot be studied in isolation, but must be seen in a broader context. backdrop of Tolkien's literary philosophy and the entire mythic tradition. For the writing of The Hobbit was both informed and informed by the profound intellectual change that its author was undergoing, namely the development of the philosophy of mythopoeia, or myth-making. In his lecture "In Fairy Tales", published only a few months after the publication of The Hobbit, Tolkien expressed the opinion that myth represents the truth about humanity and its environment far better than the crude factuality of science does can do this. It allows people to see in a new light what has become mundane and dull. Although Elves, for example, do not "exist" in the scientific sense, they embody creative ability and. immortality of the human spirit, and therefore exist As Tolkien says, the storyteller “creates a secondary world into which your spirit can Enter, what he tells is “true”: it agrees with. the laws of this world You therefore believe it, while you are, so to speak, within it. He called this process sub-creation: in creating a parallel world, the mythmaker imitates God, the supreme creator. The Bible is the ultimate divine fairy tale because it reconciles historical truth with mythical truth, and all man-made myths will reflect this. Tolkien disliked allegory and considered myth to be an entirely different art form. Additionally, Tolkien believed that fairy tales offer an escape from the bleakness of modern life and, through the eucatastrophe, or happy ending, provide a joy similar to religious ecstasy. However, he failed to find any mythology indigenous to his native land and, in his own words, he set out to create "a set of more or less connected legends, ranging from the grand and cosmogenic to the level of the romantic fairy tale which I could simply to devote myself to England” (quoted in Rogers & Rogers 1980: 30). In true mythopoetic tradition, The Hobbit borrows heavily from Antiquity and the Middle Ages, of which onlya few can be detailed in this essay. The Old English poem Beowulf inspired, among other things, its main villain, Smaug. In his other well-known lecture, entitled Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics, Tolkien pushed back against critical scholars of the central theme that the monsters occupy in the poem and argues that "they are essential [and] give it its high tone and great seriousness.” . They embody radical evil, he asserts, and constitute true heroism.possible. So when Bilbo encounters the dragon's treasure, he takes a cup, just as Beowulf's unnamed servant does. Both works end with a slaying of dragons, but more interestingly, they begin with the defeat of quite similar creatures: Grendel in Beowulf, Gollum in Hobbit. Smaug is a creation of several other sources, some that the author himself would dispute. Its name is derived from the Germanic verb smugan meaning “to squeeze through a hole”. He is a fusion of snake and bird, symbolizing the union of earth and sky or, in psychoanalytic terms, the id and the superego. Therefore, his death brings balance to both the killer and the community. The dragon also recalls the biblical serpent and, with great skill, incites Bilbo to doubt his party (Nitsche 1979: 44). There are even echoes of the parable when Smaug's vanity and greed lead him to reveal his weak point and thus bring about his downfall. Tolkien was also heavily influenced by Norse mythology. The elves, trolls and especially the dwarves of The Hobbit, who forge beautiful and precious treasures in the heart of the mountains, are Nordic creations. The main dwarf's name, Thorin Oakenshield, is found in the Prose Edda and is derived from the Icelandic words Thorin, meaning "bold" and Eikinskjaldi, meaning "with oak shield". Another typically Norse characteristic is the importance of luck in the makeup of a hero, although in Tolkien Catholic "luck" certainly contains elements of divine providence. The riddle competition, which has been called the pivot of the story and which the narrator assures us is "sacred and of immense antiquity" (H, 84), reflects The Saga of the kind Hedrik the Wise, where Odin finds himself disguise and win a riddle competition by asking a question that is not a riddle. As in fairy tales around the world, rhyme and music play an important role in The Hobbit in reflecting the order or disorder of nature. Rituals, in general, and feasts in particular, signify communion and balance. This explains why a period of intense danger and suffering in the company's journey is always followed by a feast provided by a hospitable representative of Middle-earth. The character of Beorn has a rich mythic heritage. Bears are revered by the Celts and respected by the Norse for their primitive power. Beorn takes its name from the Norse words for warrior, beorn and bear, bjorn. It may be inspired by the legendary beserkers, warriors who worked themselves into such a frenzy during battle that they accomplished extraordinary feats. Both man and bear, he represents the unity of nature and society, long awaited by humanity since the fall. He embodies both the cruelty and honesty of nature. For this reason, shamans often assumed animal qualities during rituals (O'Neill 1979: 118). The fact that the bear (earth) and the eagle (sky) repeatedly offer help once again symbolizes the unity between all aspects of nature and the human psyche once evil is defeated. It is best to observe the effects on the new and growing plants it enriches" (Carpenter 1977: 182). Despite the influences mentioned above, wellothers, Tolkien was not interested in simply rehashing other people's stories, but in mythopoeia. Although Tolkien did not begin The Hobbit with this intention, he soon found himself, quite unexpectedly, "discovering" a world with its own scientific laws, races and even proverbs, such as "escape to goblins to get caught by wolves” (H, 101). If there's a single moment where The Hobbit begins to transcend its humble beginnings, it's surely with Bilbo's discovery of the ring. The importance of this part of the book gives rise to a strange and unconventional structure, surely unforeseen by the author himself. The line "It was a turning point in his career, but he didn't know it" marks the beginning of a shift in tone - it remains simple and informal, but begins to deepen and mature. The enchanted talisman is a powerful mythical symbol, and with the words "it slipped quietly upon his groping index finger", Tolkien is already implying that the ring has a will of its own. This is Bilbo's (and the reader's) first experience of true magical power, as opposed to Gandalf's earlier fireworks. The ring is the link between The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, and its discovery constitutes a turning point in both Tolkien's career and that of his protagonist. Another connection is the troglodyte Gollum, the first real, adult incarnation of evil. He is the age-old figure of the "inhuman", made even more disconcerting by the fact that he was once a hobbit and thus represents, in Jungian terms, Bilbo's dark side. It is entirely fitting that Bilbo discovers this aspect of himself at the edge of a deep, murky lake, after a physical descent into the mountain. This is representative of the descent into his psyche. The hero's journey to the underworld, of which that of Orpheus is the best known, has always been accompanied by his isolation, his entrapment and his loss of control over enchantment. His quest is to emerge with certain powerful symbols that will mark his initiation into manhood. To keep the ring, Bilbo must confront his long-repressed Took side, a side he does not fully embrace until he comes back down to Smaug's mountain. The slaying of the dragon is another turning point in The Hobbit, both for thematic and character development. . The hitherto clear lines between good and evil begin to blur and the theme of the nature of heroism is developed. Thorin, until now the character closest to the conventional fairy tale hero, becomes stubborn and greedy. Although he remains firmly on the side of good, his position is usurped by Bard, who embodies the courage and selflessness required of the fairy tale hero. Of course, none of these traditional heroes are the most important heroes of The Hobbit. This title belongs to Bilbo, the “non-hero” with his many faults. Because he is too human, his growth gives hope and inspiration to ordinary people. Tolkien certainly identified with him, writing "I am in fact a hobbit (in everything but height)" and equating hobbits, in their lack of imagination but potential for courage, with the English in general (quoted in Rogers & Rogers 1980: 126). Bilbo's sacrifice of the Arkenstone, his noblest act, develops the very Christian theme that renunciation can be a more powerful act than acquisition. The approval of Gandalf, the guide and teacher who is in this world but not quite part of it, reinforces the religious connotations. It is he who reminds Bilbo, at the end of his journey, that he was only a small actor in a divine plan: Don't you doubt the prophecies simply because you helped make them come true? You don't really think, do you, that all your adventures and escapes have..

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