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Home , Balin (Middle-earth), Hobbit, Hobbit (word), Peter Jackson, Radagast, Tauriel

JOURNAL OF CRITICAL REVIEWS

ISSN- 2394-5125 VOL 7, ISSUE 16, 2020 A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF J.R.R TOLKIEN’S THE AND IT’S

T. Gokulapriya1, Dr. S. Selvalakshmi

1Ph D Scholar in English Dept, Karpagam Academy of Higher Education, Coimbatore, India 2Professor & Head, Department of English , Karpagam Academy of Higher Education ,Coimbatore, India

E-mail: [email protected] 1, [email protected]

Received: 14 March 2020 Revised and Accepted: 8 July 2020

ABSTRACT: Every human being has the power of imagination, which most people use to think about life and make plans for their future. But, mostly, they do not think beyond the real world. Only a few people like novelists and scientists give more importance to their creativity. In novels, imaginative power is the key element to unlock a story which is stored in the mind. The author gives soul to the story with his imagination. J.R.R. Tolkien, a well-known twentieth century British writer, has used his incomparable imaginative power to create a new world ‗Middle-Earth‘ and a new creature like hobbit, a fictional character. ―In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit‖ ( 3). Tolkien created Middle-Earth and fictional characters inspired by Anglo- Saxon literature when he was working as a professor of English Language and Literature in Merton College, Oxford.

I. INTRODUCTION

Fantasy has become a major area of profit-making fiction. Tolkien‘s The Hobbit is inscription on behalf of both kids and adult readers. The Hobbit is a fantasy novel influenced by the and languages of Northern European literature. The skillful use of Norse tradition has let him give the characters names such as Fili, Kili, Oin, Gloin, Bifur, Bofur, Bombur, Dori, Nori, Dwalin, , Dain, Nain, and ; they are extracts from the literature and languages. The imaginative power of the author has helped him create the story and preach morals. Tolkien wrote stories and also poems in the early days of his writing career. In the he began to write what he had been narrating to his children, and it became a book that is now known as The Hobbit. In the 1960s, following the success of The Hobbit and , the publishers had to meet a new demand of the readers for literary fantasy works in the American book market. Many authors got inspired by J.R.R. Tolkien‘s works. His narrative style is natural and straight forward. The Hobbit has been written in straightforward language, and every character in the novel has a unique voice and strength. Even in the midst of dangerous situation the characters exhibit their sense of humor and resort to using songs, which shows Tolkien‘s poetic and aesthetic sense. Adaptation of a film is the transformation of a printed work; sometimes the director of the film takes the written work completely or takes only a few parts of it to make a motion picture; it is a kind of imitative work. From the nineteenth century, novels have been adapted into films in Europe. The Hobbit, written by Tolkien in 1936,wasmade into a film in by director , an extremely talented film maker and a pioneer of new cinema technology. The sequel of the films also won the Oscar Award. The story was divided into three parts for film adaptation, namely The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, The Desolation of and The Battle of the Five Armies. The screen plays of these films were written by Peter Jackson, Philippa Bouens and . The sequels of the film were released internationally on 12th, December, 2012. These films were nominated for the Academy Award for the Best , the Best Production Design and for the Best Makeup and Hairstyle. The story of The Hobbit is about a hobbit , thirteen Dwarves and Wizard Gandalf who go on an adventure to the land of Middle-Earth. The narrative structure of the fiction consists of various tasks, and the author introduces certain creatures, some of which are helpful to the group and some others troublesome in the wild land. The team starts the adventure with the help of the wizard Gandalf. Through their journey to the , the dwarves and the isolated Bilbo Baggins are confronted by some good and evil characters and at last they manage to reach the mountain where Smaug, the antagonist, lives on a huge amount of precious jewels of gold and silver stolen by from the empire of Erebor. Now the treasure is guarded by Smaug, a dragon. The story narrates the way the team recovers the treasure after a lot of struggle. Personal development and good companionship are the central themes of this story. The innocent

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ISSN- 2394-5125 VOL 7, ISSUE 16, 2020 hobbit Bilbo Baggins develops himself as a brave hero during the adventure. He lives in a comfortable hole where he gets everything and lives a luxurious life, but he gives up everything for the sake of adventure. ―The Bagginess had lived in the neighbourhood of ‗The Hill‘ for time out of mind, and people consider them very respectable not only because most of them are very rich, but also they never had any adventure or did anything unexpected‖ (4). Bilbo Baggins gives more importance to keeping a good relationship with others than to holding on to the treasures with him; only for the sake of the family‘s name, he continues the journey with them to find gold and silver; ―This is a better adventure, if it must end so; and not a mountain of gold can amend it. Yet I am glad that I have shared in your perils – that has more than any Baggins deserves‖ (333). Generally, a hero must be a strong and be prepared for battle to attain glory; even though Bilbo Baggins is small in size, compared to the dwarves, his contribution makes him a hero in both the novel and the film The Hobbit. The plot of the story projects Bilbo Baggins as a , a traditional hero, who struggles against the monster Grendel, his evil mother and fire-breathing dragon to help the king of Danes and his people from the monsters. Similarly, Bilbo Baggins‘ great efforts help his companions gain fame and wealth and save the lives of dwarves from the dragon. He begins the journey as a hero but does not establish himself as a genuine brave man according to the traditional patterns, because he looks for the wizard‘s help to use the magical ring in dangerous situations. As a contemporary male protagonist, he encourages harmony rather than war. He presents himself as a savior rather a soldier providing his share of the treasure to people who are in peril. Even though he is a small creature in the group, his kind heart lets him win over people in the Middle-Earth in an unusual way without having to face hostility in the battles. He has shown compassion and innocence in the course of becoming a responsive hero. Both the novel and the film represent the same theme as to how the hero becomes a brave person by helping others in dangerous situations and portray how the hero gives more importance to people than wealth. All the uniqueness of the novel is clearly represented by the director in the film. The direct portrays the character‘s attitude, aptitude, personality and appearance as seen in the novel. As in the novel, the film portrays the dwarves coming to Bilbo Baggins‘ home without his permission and eating and drinking whatever he has in his home. The dwarves do their work enthusiastically in his home. But Bilbo Baggins gets angry with them for their boorish behavior. To show the dwarves‘ behavior and sense of the hobbit, both the narrator and the director display the scenes naturally. The director portrays Gandalf wearing a high sharp blue hat, a lengthy grey colour veil and gigantic black boots to picturize the description in the novel. Both in the novel and film, Gandalf introduces Bilbo Baggins to the dwarves only as a burglar. But Bilbo Baggins does not expect it. Gandalf advises him and tells him about the great grand uncle of Bilbo Baggins Bullroarer Took, who has charged of beheading the Goblin‘s head, which become the inspiration for Bilbo Baggins to join the company. It shows that the wizard Gandalf knows everything about the hobbit and also, they have portrayed him as a good and friendly person. Some differences are brought in by the director to raise the curiosity of the audience. The first major difference between the novel and the film is the narrative form of the story. Tolkien inserts his individual voice; as a father he narrates the story to his children (readers) with his aesthetic sense, which is admired by the readers who feel at home while reading the novel. But in the film, the director replaces Tolkien‘s voice into Bilbo Baggins for connecting audience with the story of the hero. For this reason, the film reached millions of audiences and received numerous awards. If the director himself had replaced the narrator, apart from the characters in the film, it would not have inspired such a wide audience. If the director had employed his own voice for , the connectivity between the story and the audience would have been less and also the hero might have appeared as an alien in the audience‘s mind. The second major difference noted is at the starting point of the story. In the novel Tolkien portrays Bilbo Baggins as a young man who is convinced by the wizard Gandalf to take up adventure. In a long poem of the dwarves, Tolkien explains everything about the adventure in a very happy mood, because he narrates it to the children to make them feel excited while listening to the story. But the director opens the story from an old man‘s past life —an adventure that he has gone onto the middle earth. He tells the whole story to the audience; he talks about the people of Dale City who live happily with their neighbors. But suddenly, a dragon comes and destroys the place by fire, enslaves the people and also robs them of their wealth and treasure. It shows the gloominess of the place, because he narrates it for the adults. So, he has tried to increase the curiosity about the dragon so that they will watch the movie engrossed. The third difference is that much importance is given to characters and places in the story. In the novel, Tolkien emphasizes the strength and weakness of all the characters. He portrays the surrounding places and people of the hobbit‘s house, settings of the hobbit‘s home and the furniture hobbit possesses in his house to portray the life style of his upper-middle class family. He talks about Bilbo‘s parents and their family background. But in the film, the director does not give much importance to the characters and their background; instead he introduces some other character like Frodo who is The Lord of the Rings‘ hero, because he aims at connecting the story with its sequel films. , a comical as well as a good wizard, is an interesting character in the film. He plays a significant

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ISSN- 2394-5125 VOL 7, ISSUE 16, 2020 character as protecting Middle-Earth. Radagast loves birds and animals and knows everything about the forest where he lives. The director portrays him in a horrible costume with ugly manners. He knows the medicines for all diseases and can predict the future. He helps Gandalf in many ways by saying what will happen to them, and also he has the ability to find out hidden dangers from the surrounding objects. But the character does not appear in the novel. In order to avoid the sad mood of the audience, the director has introduced the character from the novel. The fourth difference between The Hobbit novel and the sequence of the films is that the female characters are given more importance in the films. The narrator of the book does not mention any woman characters except Bilbo Baggins‘s mother. , the , plays an important role in the film; the dwarf Killi falls in love with her at last. But Tolkien neither specifies any woman character nor gives more importance to any particular dwarf except Thorin. To sustain the interest of the audience, the director portrays the scene of Tauriel‘s love, and the emotions of the lovers. The female personalities have been presented in the novel through numerous characters; Beornis enchanted with traditional feminine behaviors like gentleness and kindness towards the dwarves and Bilbo Baggins, even though he is not really fond of them. The hero of the novel Bilbo Baggins also has some feminine traits such as being sensitive and emotional; his height is not more than three feet and he is not physical powerful and makes very little contribution in the Battle of Five Armies. His great courage lies in his nerve, and his moral principles and intelligence are shown when he gives up in the fight and also his share of the wealth to the inhabitants who have suffered by the flood and fire of the dragon Smaug. There are some other differences between the novel and the film. In the novel, the narrator portrays only one wizard, Gandalf; but in the film the director portrays five and some invisible creatures who are their enemies. The director gives names to the wizards through Gandalf in the film. While, Bilbo asks Gandalf to change the weather to save them from suffering from cold, Gandalf says that he does not know how to change the weather. But it is the work of some other wizards who are the White and two Blue Wizards and the fifth one is Radagast, the Brown. Bilbo asks whether they are powerful wizards or not and mocks at them. To show the humorous side of the hobbit, the director has portrayed the scenes in the film. In the novel, the dwarves and Bilbo Baggins go to the lonely mountain with Gandalf‘s guidance. It shows that they are depending on the extreme power of the wizard, but, in the film they go with the guidance of their leader, Thorin. The narrator shows the cleverness and self-decision taken by the hobbit. In the novel, a lot of spiders attacked hobbit and dwarves while their journey towards reclaiming the treasure But Bilbo Baggins saves the dwarves with the help of the and slaughters the spiders by his sword Sting, which shows the narrator‘s intention to portray him as a mature man. But the director portrays him as a childish character through incidents such as Bilbo throwing a stone on the spider which binds the dwarves and also the hobbit with its web. The come and help them to escape from the spiders. In the novel the author narrates that the ravens have a good relationship with the dwarves. They help the dwarves by giving secret instructions to them. They also instruct them about the coming towards them to fight. But in the film, Bilbo Baggins gives information by watching everything from a long distance. The director portrays a large group of ravens flying in the sky before the orcs approach the dwarves in order to show some ill-omens to them. As Indian‘s opinion of the ill-omen, the director portrays the ravens‘ attitude in the film. These incidents show that the director is concentrating on all aspects of the human mindset.

II. CONCLUSION

Both the author of the novel and director of the film give their best to express their marvelous creative power and intellect. The narrator describes the story for children, which influences them to read the story enthusiastically without feeling tired or bored. If they read the novel, theycan improve their creative thinking power as well as develop comprehensive skills, because Tolkien‘s narrative technique is unique as well as easy to understand. The director gives some scenes of the novel in a few minutes, such as Bilbo Baggins riddling with Gollum. The director‘s creative thinking is proved in those scenes. Even though he has skipped some details from the book, he expresses everything which is important to entertain the adult audience of the film and explain the story coherently. The intelligence and the awareness of time management of the director are clearly visible in his direction of the motion picture. The fore most variation in the book and films is the visual images that stimulate a deep understanding; but the novel indirectly stimulates the observation through reading. The film gives a sensual experience more than a reading of it does, due to the colour, interest group, and sound effects of the film apart from the verbal communication. Each film and the methods of narrative structure are varied. Sometimes, the screen writer or film maker makes changes in the film that emphasize innovative ideas and stress the curious nature of the novel‘s characters. The director and writers of the motion pictures have faced some significant challenges while adapting J.R.R.Tolkien‘s work to the big screen. Some differences are given by the director in the films which are deviations from the story. Even though a lot of

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ISSN- 2394-5125 VOL 7, ISSUE 16, 2020 scenes are added and some edited from the story of the novel, the films of The Hobbit are pretty faithful to the book. The additional scenes of the films are very important for entertaining the audience and make them feel comfortable and enthusiastic, because he has taken the films for both children and adults who love adventure. The adventure story ends with a struggle, as the first part of the film ends with a struggle with the wolves. The second part ends with a struggle too with the huge dragon to reclaim the ancient treasure. The third part ends with Bilbo Baggins in a joyous mood, when he hears Gandalf come home after a long time, which shows that, unlike in the beginning of the story, he has come to love the wizard and his company very much. Both the novel and the film give interest and excitement to the readers as well as the audience. Even though the story and the personalities of some characters are distorted in the film, it is a faithful reflection of the novel. Both the readers and audience can learn some values from the story such as kindness, the value of friendship and the need of good persons offering guidance in life.

III.REFERENCE

[1]. Tolkien, John Ronald Reuel.The Hobbitor There and Back Again. London: HarperCollins, Publishers, 1991, 5th ed. 1995. Print. [2]. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. Dir. Jackson, Peter. Prod. , Zane [3]. Welner, Fran Walsh. Perf. Ian Mckeller, . Warna Bros, 2012. Film. The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug.Dir. Jackson, Peter. Prod. Carolynne Cunningham, Zane [4]. Welner, Fran Walsh. Perf. Ian Mckeller, Martin Freeman. Warna Bros, 2013. Film. [5]. The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies.Dir. Jackson, Peter. Prod. Carolynne Cunningham, Zane Welner, Fran Walsh. Perf. Ian Mckeller, Martin Freeman. Warna Bros, 2014. Film. [6]. Reed, Daniel. Tim Horton. A critical View of English Fiction & English Novel. New Delhi: Dominant Publishers and Distributors, 2009. Print. [7]. Wiki Contributers. Reception of J.R.R. Tolkien. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 23 Mar. 2019, Web.

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