Calling all women

[Lalaith]

This discussion has inspired me to pick up the Hobbit again, and the more I think about it, I just can't see the Hobbit as "a boy's story". It is a very un-macho book.
The tone, for example. It is gentle and discursive, and Bilbo's love of cosy home comforts is constantly being referred to. Practical domestic things - the problem of drying wet clothes, for example - are considered. Bilbo himself is an entirely unmacho character, he rarely uses physical force - only words and guile.
In fact, I think that the reason I liked the book so much when I was little is that I identified with Bilbo. He could be you, because he feels the way a child - of either gender - might feel on an adventure, frightened but excited. He wants to go home a lot of the time, he needs looking after by the others. Tolkien constantly refers to him as "poor little Bilbo", the way you might talk about a child.

PS I dig Formendacil's thesis: that Tolkien was quite comfortable in the world of dragons, dwarves and trolls but human women were a completely alien species....

[Estelyn Telcontar]

Well, this discussion really makes me look forward to the Hobbit CbC discussion that I will be initiating early in the new year! I hope all of you will join in, so that we can share our ideas.

By the way, I'd like to add one more thought from the viewpoint of a mother (which is similar and applicable to teachers) - I hope parents still read to their children and don't depend entirely on recordings and TV for their discovery of story. If so, it just might be a good idea to know which books could appeal to sons as well as to daughters; I have one each, and a lot of our reading sessions were to both simultaneously. That means finding books that appeal to both genders and different ages!