The Hobbit

Chapters 1 and 2

1. What is a Hobbit?

2. How does Gandalf get Bilbo to take in 13 dwarves?

The HobbitBy

J.R.R. Tolkien

Name:

3. Why is Thorin important?

4. What is the goal of the adventure?

5. What "secret" do the dwarves have to help them with their adventure?

6. According to Gandalf, what is Bilbo's occupation?

  7. Why aren’t the dwarves in possession of their treasure?

8. What saves the dwarves from the trolls?

9. How do the others react to Bilbo’s mention of the key?

10. What does Bilbo do to the Trolls?

11. What happens to the Trolls?

12. What special things do Gandalf, Thorin, and Bilbo get from the trolls?

Chapter 3 13. What are runes?

14. What are moon letters?

15. What do the moon letters on the map say?

16. Who lives in Rivendell?

17. What coincidence helps the dwarves during their stay in Rivendell?

Chapter 4

18. What danger (besides the storm) causes the adventurers to seek shelter?

19. Who sees the goblins first?

20. Who kills the Great Goblin?

21. How does Bilbo keep up with the dwarves?

22. What happens to Bilbo?

23. What mistakes do the dwarves make about Durin’s Day? What does this tell you about them?

24. Imagery: What words does Tolkien use that appeal to your sense of hearing in this chapter?

Chapter 5

25. What does Bilbo find?

26. How did Gollum get his name? What does he call himself and why?

27. What special qualities does Bilbo find in the dagger and the ring? How does he find out?

28. What aspects of Gollum’s character was the most striking to you? Why?

29. What are the terms of the riddle game?

30. How does Bilbo play unfair?

EXTRA CREDIT OPPORTUNITY: Create your own map similar to the one at the beginning of the book.  Include some rune characters.

Chapter 6

31. Does Bilbo decide to go back for the dwarves?

32. Do the dwarves decide to go back for Bilbo? Why/Why not?

33. What part of his story does Bilbo leave out?

34. What are wargs?

35. How does Gandalf fight them?

36. How do the Goblins respond to that?

37. How are they saved?

38. How does Bilbo react to the loss of the company? How does the company react to the loss of him?

39. Compare and Contrast Bilbo’s story of what happened to him with the narrators? How do you account for the differences?

40. List three ways in which Bilbo has changed since Chapter 1?       

EXTRA CREDIT OPPORTUNITY: Draw one of the characters from The Hobbit or illustrate a scene.  Must be in color.

Chapter 7

41. What can Beorn do?

42. Explain Gandalf's trick. Why does this way of bringing the company to Beorn's house?

43. How does Beorns attitude towards the company change over time?

44. How does Beorn help the company?

45. What trust does Gandalf lay on Bilbo?

46. What are the two warnings about Mirkwood?

Chapter 8

47. What is the main feature about Mirkwood?

48. . What happens to Bombur?

49. What causes them to leave the path?

50. What happens when they enter the feasts?

51. What is Sting?

52. . What captures the dwarves?

53. What secret does Bilbo tell the dwarves?

54. . Who captures Thorin?

Chapter 9

55. How does bilbo avoid capture?

56. Who does Bilbo find in the dungeons?

57. What way out does Bilbo find besides the magically locked doors?

58. What do the dwarves hide in to escape?

EXTRA CREDIT OPORTUNITY: Create your own character for The Hobbit and discuss how you would introduce them to the novel.  Some readers might have already noticed the absence of female characters in the novel.

Chapter 10

Vocabulary:  

59. Describe the release of the dwarves from the barrels.

60. Who is the Master? Describe him.

61. Explain the townspeople's reaction to the company.

62. In what way is the Elvenking wrong about the dwarves’ plans?

63. What do you think is the meaning of the chapter title, "A Warm Welcome"?

64. Where do the dwarves go from Lake Town?

Chapter 11

65. How do the dwarves company react to the closed door, how does Bilbo react?

66. Give some examples of advice the dwarves have not taken so far in the book?

67. Find two examples of foreshadowing in this chapter.  

68. Describe the relationship between the dwarves and Bilbo in this chapter?

69. How does the thrush relate to the moon-letters in chapter 3?

Chapter 12

70. Whose job is it to sneak into the dragon's den?

71. What does Bilbo take from the dragon?

72. What does Bilbo tell the dragon that makes him think Bilbo came from Lake-Town?

73. What does Bilbo find out about Smaug?

74. What treasure does Thorin want?

75. What happens to the dwarves when they shut the door?

Chapter 13

76. Compare and contrast Bilbo’s attitude about going down the tunnel and exploring Smaug’s hoard with the dwarves’ attitude?

77. Why do all the dwarves go with Bilbo into the dragon's lair?

78. What does Bilbo take?

79. What effect does the treasure have on the dwarves, on Bilbo?

80. How does Bilbo react to Thorin’s gift?

81. How does the setting in this chapter affect the mood of the characters?

82. Describe the company’s situation at the end of this chapter?

Chapter 14

83. Who kills Smaug?

84. How does he find out about the bare spot in Smaug's waistcoat?

85. Who helps the Lake Men?

 

Chapter 15

86. How do the dwarves find out about Smaug's death?

87. Why do the Lake Men and the elves come to the dwarves?

88. How do the dwarves respond?

89. Who are Thorin's reinforcements?  

Chapter 16

90. How does Thorin react to Roac’s advice?

91. What motivates Bilbo to give the Arkenstone to Bard and the Elvenking?

92. Why do you think Bilbo shudders when he hands Bard the stone?

93. What motivates the Elvenking’s reaction to Bilbo?

Chapter 17

94. What powers does Gandalf have in the battle?

95. What does Bard bargain with?

96. Who are the five armies?

97. What does Bilbo do during the war?

98. What happens to Bilbo?  

Chapter 18

99. How does Bilbo end up alone on Ravenhill?

100. What happens between Bilbo and Thorin?

101. How is the treasure divided in the end?

Chapter 19

102. What does Bilbo’s poem reveal about him?

103. What is ironic in Bilbo’s homecoming?

104. What does it mean when it says Bilbo had “lost his reputation”?

105. How did this adventure change Bilbo?

 

Choose TWO of the following questions and write a well developed 2-3 paragraph response for EACH:

1. Bilbo is a dynamic character; at the end of the book, Gandalf says to him, "'My dear Bilbo! . . . You are not the hobbit that you were'" (302). Consider The Hobbit in terms of Bilbo's growth or education; how does he change, why does he change, and at what points in his adventure is the change apparent? Is Bilbo's change necessary?

2. At the end of the book, a dying Thorin says to Bilbo, "There is more in you of good than you know, child of the kindly West. Some courage and some wisdom, blended in measure. If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world. But sad or merry, I must leave it now. Farewell!" (290). Consider this quote in terms of the whole book and the book's theme.

3. The narrator says at the start of the novel that Bilbo "may have lost the neighbours' respect, but he gained--well, you will see whether he gained anything in the end" (2). What does Bilbo lose, and what does he gain?

4. Look at good and evil in the book. Which characters represent which, and what sort of world view does it add up to in the end? What does Tolkien seem to think is important for a human to be (or any other creature, for that matter)? What qualities are important in him/her?