KidLit Forum

Food in the story; being polite; fitting in; politeness goes hand in hand with the prosaic. Discuss whether the existence of the prosaic, banal might deal with the need of the reader to identify with someone from the story. Does the insistence on the routine offer the reader the possibility to identify with something? Does it invite him to reading?

"There was nothing now to be done but to tighten the belts round their empty stomachs, and hoist their empty sacks and packs, and trudge along the track without any great hope of ever getting to the end before they lay down and died of starvation. This they did all that day, going very slowly and wearily; while Bombur kept on wailing that his legs would not carry him and that he wanted to lie down and sleep.
“No you don’t!” they said. “Let your legs take their share, we have carried you far enough.”
All the same he suddenly refused to go a step further and flung himself on the ground. “Go on, if you must,” he said. “I’m just going to lie here and sleep and dream of food, if I can’t get it any other way. I hope I never wake up again. (chapter 8)

[Bombur] “There may be drink, but I see no sign of food"... while reaching Smaug's "humble" home.

There's a little bit of irony here... while their lives hang by a single hair, all that they can think of is food and how to get it after it's gone. And there are many examples in the book regarding the feast. Especially with the trolls when they fight on how should they kill the dwarves:

“No good roasting ’em now, it’d take all night,” said a voice. Bert thought it was William’s.
In the end they decided to mince them fine and boil them. So they got a great black pot, and they took out their knives.
“No good boiling ’em! We ain’t got no water, and it’s a long way to the well and all,” said a voice. Bert and William thought it was Tom’s.
“Shut up!” said they, “or we’ll never have done...
And so the argument began all over again, and went on hotter than ever, until at last they decided to sit on the sacks one by one and squash them, and boil them next time... (chapter 2)


There are parts where Bilbo loses his friends and wakes up alone with a headache and all that he can feel is hunger. Like a real British gentleman who would like some tea first and then get back into action. There are many moments where Bilbo dreams about his home resting in his own bed, eating his own warm and fresh food, away from danger and death.