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The Narrator, Who's Telling the Hobbit's Tale? |
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 Jun 23 2008, 05:57 AM
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Rudius Hagrid's SmartCookie - With Ninja!Brain Power
Posts: 2,441
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Location: The Matrix, Imladris, Baker Street 221 B - all the places I want to be are in my head
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The Narrator
Who's Telling the Hobbit's Tale?
Tolkien has created a lot of interesting characters – Bilbo, Gandalf, the dwarves... But there's someone else who probably isn't a real character because, well, it doesn't "do" anything and it doesn't have any "body" either. But if the book didn't have it, there wouldn't be any Hobbit's story at all. It's the narrator – the story teller, the voice which tells us Bilbo's story.
As the narrator doesn't act in the story, it tells the story from the third person's point of view. It also knows everything that happens (it doesn't just follow a particular character, but knows what happens to everyone), that is, it's omniscient, it knows everything. It introduces us to Hobbits, explains some customs and traditions of the Middle Earth. But it doesn't just observe and recount what is happening. The story teller has its own opinion about things and it's not impartial (for example, one can tell quite fast that it doesn't like the goblins and that it sympathizes with Bilbo). From time to time, the story teller also addresses the reader, for example, from chapter Barrels Out of Bond (when Bilbo realizes the flaw in his plan to save the dwarves and himself from the Mirkwood elves): I don't suppose you would have done half as well yourselves in his place. So, The Hobbit's narrator is an interesting addition to the book. And I'm curious what you all think about it 
To start us off – a few questions. Feel free to answer as many of them as you like and any other questions or thoughts that might occur to you are most welcome! 
- How do you think the partial narrator enriches the book and the story? Or do you think it's quite the contrary – it takes something away? Why?
- What is the narrator's position regarding various moral issues (for example, honesty, greed, etc.)? What does it think about various characters (for instance, aforesaid Bilbo, the dwarves, etc)? What gives you those impressions?
- What can you tell about the narrator's personality? Do you like it?
- How do you imagine the narrator who tells us Bilbo's story? What makes you imagine it like that?
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Avatar and siggy pics from geeky_graphics, coffee_mill and annaxbanana @ LJ. 
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Jun 23 2008, 10:41 AM
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Flesh-Eating-Slug Catcher
Posts: 199
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Location: the Hills of Nowhere
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How do you imagine the narrator who tells us Bilbo's story? What makes you imagine it like that?
I'll just take this one, for the moment, since I have a fairly good mental image/voice for the narrator. I imagine it as a definite him, an old grandfatherly like man, telling a story. I think the narrator is a composite of Bilbo and Frodo and Tolkien, (since supposedly Bilbo wrote down his adventures, which were then edited by Frodo, and then found and translated into English from Westron by Tolkien). Why? Hmm... maybe because my grandpa tells such good stories, and sometimes it seems like something he'd say, if he were telling the story. The narrator has a sense of humor, and seems to remember back to a time when things were not the same as now.
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You said, "I know that this will hurt,
But if I don't break your heart, things will just get worse.
If the burden seems too much to bear,
Remember, the end will justify the pain it took to get us there."
~Let It All Out, Relient K
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Jun 23 2008, 10:46 AM
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Knight MacMod The Great Protecting The Memory Of Sense
Posts: 2,007
Joined: 7:17pm February 17, 2006
Location: Out near Xanadu, in what may be. . .
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In general, it is always good to think of the narrator of a story as a character: a persona created by the author for the purpose of telling the tale. Every narrator presents us with a particular point-of-view (omniscient, first person, third-person, dramatic, etc.). In The Hobbit, the narrator is richer in character than most third person narrators in that he not only presents the story through his viewpoint character (Bilbo, into whose mind and emotions he can easily see), but also comments on those thoughts and emotions as well as upon the behavior of other characters and upon the morals or values of the world around them.
Now, admittedly, if we judge things by the strictness of the writer's adherence to the limited viewpoint of Bilbo, the writing seems undisciplined. However, it is more consistent than LOTR (especially The Two Towers) where POV jumps a good deal.
As I read, I get an impression of a man commenting to children or grandchildren as he tells the tale, often using the narrative comments as a kind of pacing device. I like, for instance, the often repeated statement that Bilbo thought of his comfortable Hobbit hole, not for the last time. I can almost envision him smiling as he elevates his voice just a bit to repeat this line that the audience would recognize. It gives continuity to the story line and maintains a relationship between audience and narrator.
In general I believe it is a book best appreciated by reading aloud, by having the reader look up from the book straight at the audience and deliver certain passages almost as though they were not part of the book. That is, don't read the book--deliver it. As I go over the book again for this forum, I find myself sitting out on my patio in the cool of the evening reading it aloud to myself. I enjoy the voice of this narrator.
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click the Q
"And, if there is need to speak in brief summary of this power, we shall find that none of the things which are done with intelligence take place without the help of speech, but that in all our actions as well as in all our thoughts speech is our guide, . . ." Isocrates, Antidosis |
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Jun 23 2008, 11:40 AM
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Leaky's Official Donut Maker and Mosquito Man
Posts: 10,043
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Location: Playing kal-toh with Professor Snape
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The Narrator in The Hobbit is much more *present* than in some books, like in some books there's just a story being told & you dont really think about it, but in The Hobbit it's a distict character, addressing the reader(s) and even asking us questions, making us stop in our reading to wonder, what *would* I have done in Bilbo's place?
It would be interesting to read The Hobbit in another language, to see if the narrator is always talking to the same person, or if at times he's talking to the reader in general (like when he says something like *as you will see later*) and at other times talking directly to me (like in the Barrels Out Of Bond chapter) In my interpretation, the narrator sometimes addresses the readers in general & at other times he's talking directly to me. It would be interesting to know how the translators interpreted the *you* or if JRRT gave them insight about translation.
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  I'm 1 of the 99.99% W.L.Y.J.  When I sleep I dream, and when I dream I can rise above the walls Remember Cameron Duncan |
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Jun 25 2008, 11:54 PM
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Exclusive distributor of The Dungbomb Protection Kit
Posts: 2,463
Joined: 10:52pm March 5, 2007
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I also imagine the narrator as a grandfather-type person, but I can't decide if I liked the narrator interrupting. I found it distracting on occasion, as I tend to get very involved in my books, and the narrator jumping in reminded me that it was a story. On the other hand, I did like some of the commentary, especially the "this later became a saying, out of the frying pan, into the fire" kind of stuff; which is probably why I lean to the grandfather storyteller image.
I think the narrator is definitely well versed in Hobbit culture, so that leads me to imagine the narrator as an accepted member of that culture.
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Join us in Jo's Book Nook for discussion of Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility, starting Jan. 1. |
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Jun 27 2008, 01:08 PM
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Inquiring about Double-ended Newts
Posts: 997
Joined: 3:59pm May 15, 2008
Location: Sunny Phoenix, Arizona("It's a Dry Heat!")
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I guess I have a slightly different take on the narrator than those posting already--i mean, it does make sense that the narrator is a kind of character in the books.
However, whenever I read the hobbit, I guess I just figure that the narrator is Tolkien himself. Perhaps it's from reading some of his life history, but it just seems to me that it's almost like him sharing with the readers a story that he made up for his children.
When I read the asides like"you must remember he was only a little hobbit," I take that as the kind of comment a storyteller would make to keep the interest of his audience and also keep them from making judgments on what the character may or may not be doing or feeling.
He certainly did not do that when he got the the Lord of the Rings trilogy, so my impression is that The Hobbit is his exploration of this world that he is making up, and at this stage, it's closer to a children's story than what the Lord of the Rings turned out to be.
I will come back to this later.
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"It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities."
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Phoenix avatar courtesy of ofenjen; thanks to atschpe for help
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Jun 28 2008, 11:09 AM
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Leaky's Official Donut Maker and Mosquito Man
Posts: 10,043
Joined: 10:51am August 25, 2005
Location: Playing kal-toh with Professor Snape
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Personally, I still dont see the narrator as intruding or indicative of it being a childrens book (but, this is only my opinion) I like Fricka's description of the storyteller sharing a story with an audience. I read a lot of graphic novels, which some people still think are kids comic books. They can be, but, they can also be *regular* stories told through pictures. It's not uncommon to have a narrative running above or between frames, telling the part of the story that we dont see. And, oftentimes the narrator is a character, or different characters narrate to let us see the backstory or parts of events that we wouldnt otherwise see. Fricka's description reminds me of a series I'm reading, The Rabbi's Cat by Johan Sfar, where oftentimes the person narrating really is sitting in front of an *audience*, a gathered crowd or a group of friends, telling the story to the audience (and to the reader) and even sharing a joke maybe not directly related to the topic at hand. Personally I dont see it as a distraction or diversion from the flow of the story, to me it makes it more real, like a real conversation might go off on a tangent before resuming its flow.
So maybe for that reason I dont see the narrator in The Hobbit as intrusive or interrupting, and although it's not as in depth as LOTR I still question whether it's a *kids book*. I know it is described as a kids book but, so is HP & I strongly disagree with that, too.
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I'm 1 of the 99.99% W.L.Y.J. When I sleep I dream, and when I dream I can rise above the walls Remember Cameron Duncan
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Jun 29 2008, 05:59 AM
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Rudius Hagrid's SmartCookie - With Ninja!Brain Power
Posts: 2,441
Joined: 1:26am September 30, 2006
Location: The Matrix, Imladris, Baker Street 221 B - all the places I want to be are in my head
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Hm... these are very interesting thoughts. Personally, I've never seen the narrator as a intrusion or disruption to the story. I think, it makes me imagine that we (the narrator and me) are sort of following Bilbo and everyone else and observing what happens. Thus, even though the narrator's manners and speaking are sort of old-fashioned, I don't imagine him (since I imagine a guy) as old. Since it was my dad who used to read to me when I was little (we didn't read The Hobbit though), I think, I imagine the narrator kinda like him.
QUOTE(Moose_Starr) It would be interesting to read The Hobbit in another language, to see if the narrator is always talking to the same person, or if at times he's talking to the reader in general (like when he says something like *as you will see later*) and at other times talking directly to me (like in the Barrels Out Of Bond chapter) In my interpretation, the narrator sometimes addresses the readers in general & at other times he's talking directly to me. It would be interesting to know how the translators interpreted the *you* or if JRRT gave them insight about translation. Well, I've only read The Hobbit in my native language (Lithuanian). And yeah, in our language there's a difference between "plural you" and "singular you". And the narrator is always using the plural, which I find kinda interesting and funny, because every time the narrator addresses, well, the "us", I get a mental image that there's a whole bunch of "us" with the narrator following Bilbo, elves, orcs and everyone else and sort of eavesdropping on them 
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Avatar and siggy pics from geeky_graphics, coffee_mill and annaxbanana @ LJ.
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