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Erin Simonds
Period 4 English
Wednesday, September 30th, 1998
One of the most interesting aspects of The Hobbit is the fact that, although we are in the midst of a study on First-Person-Narratives, The Hobbit is in fact narrated from the third-person. One would think that third-person narration would completely drop it from the category of First-Person-Narratives, but the narration in the book is done in such a way that it can almost be considered First-Person. The narration of The Hobbit is truly unique, because although it is written from a standpoint of someone who’s not involved in the action, it shares many characteristics of First-Person narration. One of these such characteristics is the technique of the narrator’s story-telling, in that the narrator goes into exacting detail about most scenes, providing a picture that one would think could only come from a person amid the action. Another aspect of The Hobbit’s narration that is shared with that of First-Person narration is the ways of reflecting the dialects and speech of the characters. For instance, the slurred tongue of Gol’lum is not lost in the third-person retelling, but is just as vivid as it would be if told as it happened (as would be from a First-Person point of view). How ever, the strongest argument, by far, for considering The Hobbit to be a First-Person-Narrative would have to be the unique kind of third-person narrator.
Rather than being an omniscient narrator, as is the choice of most third-person novels, the narrator in The Hobbit is almost confined to knowing only the thoughts of Bilbo, and relays little knowledge of things to come — almost as if the narrator didn’t know a certain event in the plot were to happen, until it did. For example, a third-person narrator in any other book would say something like "John climbed up the wall, and cut his finger on a stone, which would later serve to be quite an obstacle in his quest for glory"… but the narrator in The Hobbit relays only the information integral to a given scene in the story, spare a few exceptions, such as an occasional mention of a certain fringe characters future — like Thorin becoming a dwarf of even higher status, or Elrond later playing an important role in the Lord of the Rings series. Also, the narrator rarely reflects the thoughts of another character (besides Bilbo) unless those thoughts are visible to Bilbo. From the book itself, a good example of how the narrator relays thoughts of a character without reading their mind is evident in the following passage,
"Quite safe, yes," he whispered to himself. "It won’t see us, will it my precious? No. It won’t see us, and its nassty little sword will be useless, yes quite."
That is what was in his wicked little mind, as he slipped suddenly from Bilbo’s side, and flapped back to his boat, and went off into the dark. (pg. 81)
Another example of the difference is visible in the way an omniscient narrator would say, "Jacob, who saw John climbing the wall, thought to himself, ‘He’s gonna die up there,’ and cringed at the idea," in comparison to how The Hobbit’s narrator would say only, "From the wrinkles on Jacob’s forehead, John could see that his friend was worried for him," and leave it at that.
Essentially, the narrator in The Hobbit is a cross between the restricted views of a First-Person narrator, and a slight bit of the foresight that goes along with being a third person narrator. Other aspects, such as the depth of detail, and the scrutinizing accuracy of dialects, tones, and rhetoric makes the narrator seem even more like a person who lived through each scene. This offers the reader both the encapsulating feel of first-person along with the knowledge and freedom of third-person narration.