Friedrich Schiller Universität Jena
HpS A Mythology for England
Institut für Anglistik/Amerikanistik

The Voice of the Narrator in J.R.R Tolkien’s
The Hobbit

eingereicht von:
Nadja Litschko
Semester: 10th
MA subjects: Anglistische Literaturwissenschaft,
Kunstgeschichte,
Volkskunde/Kulturgeschichte

Winter Term 03/04

Table of Contents

1. Introduction ... 3

2. The Voice of the Narrator in The Hobbit ... 4
2.1. Theoretical Aspects ... 4
2.2. The Narrative Situation in The Hobbit ... 4
2.2.1. On Narrative Situations ... 4
2.2.2. The Authorial Narrator in The Hobbit ... 7
2.3. Characterising the Narrator in The Hobbit ... 8
2.3.1. An Intrusive Commentator ... 8
2.3.2. An Outside Observer ... 14
2.3.3. The Self- Aware Narrator ... 16
2.3.4. Degree of Omniscience ... 19
2.3.5. Withholding Information ... 22
2.3.6. Changing the Point of View ... 23
2.3.7. Description of Scenery ... 25
2.4. Changes in the Narrative Voice ... 26

3. Conclusion ... 28

4. Bibliography ... 29

1. Introduction

Narrator. Storyteller. When thinking about a person who narrates or tells a story, one of the first impressions that usually come to mind is that of a man or a woman, sitting in a well-worn rocking chair, surrounded by children who listen with rapt attention to tales of dragons and princesses.

This image, depicting the classical oral storyteller as he has been known since ancient times, may at first glance have little to do with the narrative voice of a written work of literature. However, the oral storyteller and the narrator of a novel have many things in common. They both mediate the story to an audience – either to a real one that is physically present or to an impersonal reader of a book, and, depending on their technique, they are able to recount a story in a number of ways.

There are many different approaches to narrating a tale. A narrator can remain mostly in the background and simply relate the story to his readers or listeners, without any commentary of other interruptions, or he can narrate the story through his or her own eyes, using the first person singular and thus creating an intensely personal atmosphere and letting the audience experience the adventures almost first-hand.

However, sometimes the narrator can become actively involved into the tale, but without actually being a part of it. He adds his own thoughts and opinions to the story, he speaks to the readers himself and actively guides them through his story.

Such a narrator is also present in Tolkien’s novel The Hobbit. So the topic of this paper will be to analyse the narrator of The Hobbit, and to determine his most characteristic features. It will be illustrated on the following pages that the narrator of The Hobbit is an intrusive authorial narrator who frequently comments on and judges the characters as well as the unfolding events, who is acutely aware of himself, his audience and his role as a storyteller, and who addressed his readers in a direct way and actively leads them through his narrative.

Furthermore it will be determined whether there are any obvious changes to the narrative voice in the last chapters of the book, which were written over three years after the rest of the novel. ¹

2. The Voice of the Narrator in The Hobbit
2.1 Theoretical Aspects

In order to examine the voice of the narrator in The Hobbits and to determine its most characteristic features, it is necessary to first take a closer look at some theoretical aspects and the different approaches to analysing the narrator and the narrative situation of a novel. There are a number of different narrative theories available, and for this paper two of them will be consulted in order to characterise the voice of the narrator in The Hobbit.

The first theory will be Franz K. Stanzel’s approach to defining narrative situations, as explained in his work Typische Formen des Romans.² In his book Stanzel differentiates between authorial, figural and first-person narrative situation, which will be further explained in the corresponding chapter on the voice of the narrator in The Hobbit.³

The second theory is that of Wayne C. Booth and his view on narrators, to be found in The Rhetoric of Fiction.⁴ Additional to that, Paul E. Thomas’ article on Tolkien’s narrator’s⁵, in which he also discusses the narrative voice in The Hobbit according to Booth’s system, will also be utilised.

2.2 The Narrative Situation in The Hobbit
2.2.1 On Narrative Situations

According to Franz K. Stanzel, there are three main narrative situations to be found in a novel, which he labelled first person, figural and authorial narrative situation. Furthermore, Stanzel put great emphasis on the term ‘mediacy’ in order to further define those three situations. According to his writings, ‘mediacy’ describes the extend to which the voice of the narrator in a novel is apparent to or hidden from its readers. “Whenever a piece of news is conveyed, whenever something is reported, there is a mediator – the voice of the narrator is audible. I term this phenomenon ‘mediacy’ (Mittelbarkeit).”⁶ He
further explained that “[m]ediacy is the generic characteristic which
distinguishes narration from other forms of literary art.”⁷

[...]

1 See Paul E. Thomas. Some of Tolkien’s Narrators. Tolkien’s Legendarium. Ed. Verlyn Flieger and Carl F. Hostetter 178.

2 See Franz Karl Stanzel, Typische Formen des Romans, 12th Edition. (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1993)

3 See Stanzel, Typische Formen des Romans

4 See Wayne C. Booth, The Rhetoric of Fiction. 2nd Edition (Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Pr., 1983)

5 See Thomas, 161 – 181.

6 Franz K. Stanzel, A Theory of Narrative (Cambridge et al. : Cambridge Univ. Press, 1986) 4.

7 Stanzel, A Theory of Narrative 4.