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Guide to The Lord of the Rings/The Hobbit/Chapter 1

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The Hobbit Chapter 1 An Unexpected Party

Synopsis

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Preface

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The narrator explains that Hobbits are small people, half the size of humans, who love comfort and security. Although they can live in houses and some do, they like to live in holes in the ground. They have good amenities similar to those above ground.

The main story centers on Bilbo Baggins in Bag's End.

In a hole there lived a hobbit. Hobbits, we learn, are small people with hair that grows on their feet. Hobbits enjoy frequent meals and comfort. Most hobbits live in holes in the ground. Not dirty holes, but ones with panelled walls, tiled floors and furniture. Bilbo Baggins, the protagonist of the story, lives in a hobbit-hole known as Bag End. Bilbo never leaves the safety of his village. His knowledge of the outside world is limited to maps and books.

The story begins with Bilbo smoking a pipe just outside of his home in Bag's End in The Shire. A wizard called Gandalf stops by and asks if Bilbo would be interested in an adventure. He tells him he doesn't want any adventures and invites him to tea the next day. When tomorrow arrives, Bilbo completely forgets that Gandalf was coming to tea. The doorbell rings and Bilbo assumes it's Gandalf. When he opens the door, a dwarf named Dwalin comes in and goes to eat. More and more dwarves showed up and Bilbo became more and more confused. Finally, Gandalf arrives with the leader of the dwarves, Thorin. The dwarves introduce them selves as Dwalin, Balin, Kili, Fili, Dori, Nori, Ori, Oin, Gloin, Bifur, Bofur, Bombur|Bombur]], and Thorin.

It turns out, the day before, Gandalf put a mark on Bilbo's door leading the dwarves there. Gandalf volunteers Bilbo to be a burglar. Both the dwarves and Bilbo disagree but Gandalf says there is more than meets the eye to this hobbit. Gandalf shows the others a map of a mountain, The Lonely Mountain. Bilbo wants to learn what this adventure is for plain and simple. Thorin explains that his grandfather named Thror found huge amounts of gold in the mountain and became king of that mountain. All the gold attracted a dragon, Smaug, to kill the people of his kingdom. The dragon is guarding the treasure and the goal of the dwarves is to reclaim all the stolen gold. The hobbit becomes strangely excited. After, Bilbo and the others go sleep.

Analysis

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JRR Tolkien presents a fantasy of his own. Tolkien was a language scholar, and he was partially motivated to write his stories by his desire to invent other languages.

The tone of the book is set in a warm, light, and humorous manner in contrast to other epic works such as Beowulf and The Epic of Gilgamesh.


The unlikely pairing of Bilbo with wizards, dwarves, and dragons establishes the contrast between the novel’s historically inspired, mythological subject matter and the lighthearted, modern tone.

Questions

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  1. Who is Belladonna Took?
  2. What is a hobbit-hole like?
  3. What is the name of the city Thror ruled?
  4. What do hobbits look like?
  5. When Bilbo meets Gandalf outside at the beginning of the chapter, what are the four meanings of "good morning"?
  6. Why are they planning an adventure to the Lonely Mountain?
  7. Why did Gandalf insist that Bilbo would be useful on the adventure?
  8. How many dwarves arrived at Bilbo's house?
  9. How did the dwarves find Bilbo's house?

Characters

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Main Characters

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Other Characters

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Mentioned Characters

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Locations

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Portrayal in adaptations

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In Peter Jackson's The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Thorin doesn't arrive along with Bombur, Bofur and Bifur. He arrives on his own, later that night, claiming to have been lost, twice.

Songs and Verses

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Translations around the World

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Foreign Language Translated name
Afrikaans 'N Onverwagse Partytjie
Amharic አንድ ያልተጠበቀ ፓርቲ
Arabic والحزب غير متوقع
Armenian Անսպասելի կուսակցությունը
Azerbaijani Gözlənilməz Tərəf
Belerusian Cyrillic Нечаканае партыя
Bengali একটি অপ্রত্যাশিত পার্টি
Bosnian Neočekivana Zabava
Bulgarian Cyrillic Неочаквана страна
Cambodian គណបក្សដែលមិនបានរំពឹងទុក
Catalan Un Partit Inesperat
Chinese 意外的聚会
Croatian Neočekivana Stranka
Czech Neočekávané Strana
Danish En Uventet Fest
Dutch Een Onverwachte Partij
Esperanto Neatendita Partio
Estonian Ootamatu Poole
Filipino Isang hindi inaasahang partido
Finnish Odottamaton Osapuoli
French Une Soirée Parti
Galician Unha Festa Inesperada
Georgian მოულოდნელი პარტიის
German Ein Unerwartetes Partei
Greek Μια απροσδόκητη Κόμμα
Gujarati એક અણધારી પાર્ટી
Hebrew מסיבה בלתי צפויה
Hindi एक अप्रत्याशित पार्टी
Hungarian Váratlan Fél
Icelandic Óvænt Veisla
Indonesian Partai Tak Terduga
Irish Gaelic Páirtí gan choinne
Italian Una Festa Inattesa
Japanese 予期せぬパーティー
Kannada ಅನಿರೀಕ್ಷಿತ ಪಕ್ಷದ
Kazakh Cyrillic Күтпеген Тарап
Korean 예기치 않은 파티
Kyrgyz Cyrillic Күтүлбөгөн партия
Laotian ທີ່ບໍ່ຄາດຄິດພັກ
Latvian Negaidīts Partija
Lithuanian Netikėta Šalis
Macedonian Cyrillic Неочекуван партија
Malay Pihak yang tidak dijangka
Maltese Parti Mhux Mistennija
Marathi एक अनपेक्षित पार्टी
Mongolian Cyrillic Гэнэтийн нам
Nepalese अनपेक्षित पार्टी
Norwegian En Uventet Fest
Pashto نامتوقع ګوند
Persian یک حزب غیر منتظره
Polish Niezwykła Impreza
Portuguese Uma Festa Inesperada
Punjabi ਇੱਕ ਅਚਾਨਕ ਪਾਰਟੀ
Romanian O Parte Neașteptată
Russian Нежданные гости
Scottish Gaelic Pàrtaidh an ris Nach Robh Sùil
Serbian Ан Унекпецтед партија (Cyrillic) Parti za Neočekivane (Latin)
Sindhi هڪ اڻڄاتل پارٽي
Sinhalese අනපේක්ෂිත පක්ෂය
Slovak Neočakávané Strana
Slovenian Nepričakovane Stranka
Swahili Chama Isiyotarajiwa
Swedish En Oväntad Parti
Tajik Cyrillic Як ҳизби ногаҳонӣ
Tamil ஒரு எதிர்பாராத கட்சி
Telugu ఊహించని పార్టీ
Thai พรรคที่ไม่คาดคิด
Turkish Beklenmedik Bir Parti
Ukrainian Cyrillic несподіване партія
Urdu ایک غیر متوقع پارٹی
Uzbek Бир Кутилмаган Партия (Cyrillic) Bir Kutilmagan Partiya (Latin)
Vietnamese Một Đảng bất ngờ
Welsh Mae Parti Annisgwyl
Yiddish אַ אומגעריכט פּאַרטיי