Posted in The Hobbit
I feel like a kid reading this story again. ;) Everything is coming back to me as I read and it’s fun remembering all the little details. There are so many silly, childlike things about this book, but that's just what I love about it.
I think it would be funny to go back and count how many times Bilbo wished that he were back in his home at Bag End; he seemed to do it CONSTANTLY. Imagine living in a cozy hole eating 8 meals a day for your whole life and then being whisked off on a mad adventure to obtain a dragon's treasure with 13 dwarves and a very eccentric old wizard. Hahahahaha!!
But actually, I can entirely understand the way Bilbo feels. Christianity isn't exactly a comfortable sort of religion. You have to stretch yourself and put yourself in some pretty awkward positions if you're really willing to do what God's asking you to do. Sometimes I step back, look at myself and think, "What kind of insanity is this? I could be normal and act like everyone else and then people wouldn't see me as a nut. How much easier would life be then?" It's like a mad adventure (think Pilgrim's Progress). But if Bilbo had stayed home in his nice, warm hole he would have missed out on a lot. He would have been a different person at the end of it all. Think about it; if he hadn't gone, he wouldn't have obtained the ring, he wouldn't have had his cravings for adventure later on in life and passed on the ring to his nephew, his nephew wouldn't have carried it, and well, Middle-earth would have been a very different place. Every big thing starts out in a small place.
Discussion Questions
1. What kind of a hobbit is Bilbo? What are some words that you think describe him?
2. Did he find the ring on accident?
3. Just for kicks, what was one of the lines that just made you laugh out loud? ;)
Read chapters 7-12 for next time.
Have fun!
Sylvia
