"A Long-Expected Party" - Eric's Thoughts

My unexpected journey into literature and the Lord of the Rings began in fifth grade. One day my fifth grade teacher pulled out The Hobbit and began reading. One chapter a day. It was mesmerizing. I would place my head down on my cool desk and listen, and imagine Middle Earth.

When we finished, I checked out my own copy of The Hobbit from the library and reread it. And the inside front-jacket of The Hobbit revealed that there was a sequel! Lord of the Rings. It had a really cool sound to it. I immediately wanted it.

So I went to the library the next day, walked up to the gray-haired librarian and asked for a copy. She told me it was checked out. I felt on the verge of tears.

I didn’t give up -- I’m not the type to give up easily. Every week I went to the library and asked for it, and every week got the same answer.

“Sorry, but it’s been checked out.”

Months passed. Once I managed to find an un-checked-out copy of Return of the King, but apparently that was the third book in the series. I sadly put it back on the library shelf and sighed. Unsurprisingly, it was gone the next week. As still was the Fellowship.

Come sixth grade I finally managed to drag my dad down to the bookstore, where I forced him to purchase a paperback LOTR set for me. I immediately began to read.

I loved it, and remember the experience of reading Lord of the Rings as surreal. I reread the story over and over again, and would carry one of the three books with me wherever  I would go.

In fact, Lord of the Rings was the only way I survived church growing up. The most important decision I made before going to church was whether to pack the Fellowship, Towers, or King. I would place a copy in between my Bible and my mom would hiss at me when she saw me reading the non-liturgical text.

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” That’s as about as far as I could get before I would sneak my LOTR copy back into my Bible and smile as Gimli and Legolas counted orcs. Sometimes I would try to be a good boy and read about Adam and Eve, but truthfully Gandalf and Frodo interested me much more.

As I revisit the books, what I’m interested in two things. First, how the books stack up to what I remember as a child. And second, analysis from a writer’s viewpoint: language, character, setting, beautiful turns of phrase.

As a child, I remember A Long Expected Party as the boring part. I wasn’t particularly fascinated by the village gossip Gaffer, and could care less about those Sackville-Bagginses.

Now I know better, of course, and see immediately what Tolkien is doing. The Sackville-Bagginses is a brilliant stroke that shoots four arrows in one pull. First, it establishes immediate familial relations for Bilbo, making him seem like a legitimate person. Second, it humanizes Bilbo in a way that never happened in The Hobbit. Bilbo does not like the Sackville-Bagginses, and as a result, he comes across as more human. Third, in terms of world building, it hints at an iceberg much deeper than we actually touch, but the fact that we believe the iceberg is there, makes it real. And fourth, the name and constant antagonistic interactions are funny as hell.

One thing I notice is that the descriptions of scene and character are very minimal. But I think Tolkien gets away with it because names and places are referenced in a way that almost seems Biblical in scope. It is only too clear that he is the complete master of his world, and as a result, we are whisked away into it.

Overall, the chapter is quite enjoyable, funny, and lighthearted, but hints at darkness to come. All in all, a delightful read.

Some random thoughts:

• The short scene with Gandalf and Bilbo, with Bilbo hinting at a joke he will play at the party, is brilliant in its simplicity and foreshadowing.
• Tolkien liberally references names and places, such as from the Mountain and from Dale, and the Brandywine Bridge.
• The tone seems very lighthearted, with names like Chubbs and Grubbs, and the fact that the hobbits when asking Bilbo to speak, shouting, “Hear! Hear! Hear!” and “kept on repeating it in chorus, seeming reluctant to follow their own advice.”
• As Jacob points out, the scene between Bilbo and Gandalf is quite sinister.
• Is the use of the name of Hornblower a reference or tribute to the C.S. Forester series?
• The wastepaper basket shows an acerbic wit that humanizes Bilbo as a Hobbit who has pitfalls and feelings just like as ordinary person does.

Descriptive Phrases:

• “An old man was driving [a cart] all alone. He wore a tall pointed blue hat, a long grey cloak, and a silver scarf. He had a long white beard and bushy eyebrows that sstuck out beyond the brim of his hat.” (Gandalf, Loc 737)
• “The late afternoon was bright and peaceful. The flowers glowed red and golden: snapdragons and sunflowers, and nasturtiums trailing all over the turf walls and peeping in at the round windows.”
• “But there was also a generous distribution of squibs, crackers, backarappers, sparklers, torches, dwarf-candles, elf-fountains, goblin-barkers and thunderclaps.”
• “There were rockets like the flight of scintillating birds singing with sweet voices.”
• “The Sackville-Bagginses were not forgotten. Otho and his wife Obelia were present. They disliked Bilbo and destested Frodo, but so magnificent was the invitation card, written in golden ink, that they had felt it was impossible to refuse. Besides, their cousin, Bilbo, had been specializing in food for many years and his table had a high reputation.”
• “I don’t know half of you half as well as I should like; and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve. This was unexpected and rather difficult. There was some scattered clapping, but most of them were trying to work it out and see if it came to a compliment.”
• “They all feared that a song or some poetry was now imminent, and they were getting bored. Why couldn’t he stop talking and let them drink his health?”
• “From a locked drawer, smelling of moth balls, he took out an old cloak and hood.”