Nasssty me, posting on this thread when I'm just barely through Chapter I, but all the same:
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...the hobbits are being very hobbitty, but unlike the Party with which the book began, it all seems so much more fragile here.
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This is very full of truth. The baths, and the hobbity dialogue, etc. all are entirely in character for a hobbit, yet there is a darkness present. As a child hearing this chapter I can recall moving closer to my brothers and father; to this day I don't like to read it unless others are present. The tones are light and cheery but it seems to add to the sinister aspects. There
is a danger present, and it seems to be lurking in every shadow. It's frightening to sit and read this chapter, for even when you know what the danger is, there is still a mystery about it. A feeling of sadness, too, conquers me as I read the attempt of the hobbits to be light and humourous when they are vaguely aware of what is coming up in and disappearing from their lives.
At the moment I am sitting in a room full of distant cheeriness myself, with only a dim light and long creeping shadows stretching out towards me, and so I couldn't resist writing how I feel about this particular aspect of the story. Now I will go away and come back after I have read the chapter. Wicked me!