The Hobbit - Chapter 11 - On the Doorstep

[Kath]

This is a very descriptive chapter, especially at the beginning, and I like that because it gives a real sense of just how desolate the place really is, and in so doing makes you realise how dangerous the dragon must really be to have caused all this damage.

It does make the mountain easy to visualise, but I'm not sure that's a good thing. When you don't know what something looks like it is somehow more scary. For example in films, it's the things in the shadows that scare you most, not the things you can see.

One thing that shows that for me is when the men who brought Bilbo and the Dwarves to the mountain refuse to stay even for one night in it's shadow. That's pure fear from grown, hardened men, and makes it all the more real.

Do you think that Bilbo's expectancy indicates a spiritual kind of awareness, unusual for a hobbit?

I'm not sure I would call it a spiritual awareness, more just spirit. I could imagine that Bilbo disliked all the travelling and getting to a place because he wasn't sure what he was doing and so, as much as he dreaded what was to come next, once he was actually there his spirits rose as there was a challenge he might be able to face. Whereas the Dwarves seemed to prefer the travelling because they knew where they were going, but disliked being there as they didn't know what to do next. Also, for the Dwarves the landscape would have been a bitter reminder of what they had lost but that wouldn't really have affected Bilbo.

As for Bilbo being the only one to think about the runes that might be due to his love of maps. He may well have spent time before this gazing at the map and so had the runes more fresh in his head than the others.

Though, if they had been in the King's palace all that time and made their way out via river, it's quite impressive that they still had the map at all!

I do like this chapter. It gives a dark sense of foreboding that makes the chapters to come even better.