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  • Essay / Analyzing The Hobbit through Rabinowitz's Lenses Reading Rules

    “The Hobbit, or There and Back,” a children's fantasy novel by English author JRR Tolkien set in his anecdotal universe, continues the journey from home - worship Bilbo Baggins, the main hobbit, to win part of the fortune kept by Smaug, the dragon. Bilbo's journey takes him from cheerful, rustic surroundings to increasingly vile regions. Knowing Rabinowitz's rules of reading, particularly the rule of meaning which includes the rules of realism, the rules of cause, and the rules of instant moral judgment, shapes the reader's experience of The Hobbit through the presentation of the supernatural, of motivations characters and their personal traits. .Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an Original Essay The most common rule of meaning that any reader must follow when reading a work of fantasy fiction is the rule of realism. This implies that "No matter how fantastic the premise of a novel, no matter how unrealistic the settings, the author's audience and the story's audience must share certain beliefs about reality so that the situations and actions have the consequences they have (Rabinowitz).” The very setting of The Hobbit, which includes species with hairy legs who live in holes, immortal beings like elves, wizards with magical fireworks, skin changers who can take the form of a large black bear, the very existence of an all-powerful ring that gives the ability to be invisible and of course, the presence of a fierce dragon capable of communicating in the common language, makes it a work of high fantasy and creates a universe very different from that of the narrative audience. . Readers, unless they make really strong assumptions and believe the descriptions offered about the universe in which the story takes place, will not be able to understand or interpret everything that happens in the story. 'history. If we do not claim to be individuals in the story, or if we misunderstand the beliefs of this group of spectators, we are well placed to make invalid or even unreasonable interpretations of them. Another fairly common meaning rule that we all unknowingly follow is the rule of instant moral judgment. The most fundamental principle of appearance is that we must pass judgment on characters based on their exterior, until the content gives us adequate motivation to judge them in another way. In other words, physical appearance can be expected to allegorically represent internal quality. Also, quite often, certain things said or done by certain characters, even in terms of general activities of daily life, strongly influence our opinion of them. Take Bilbo Baggins for example. From the beginning of the story, we can all see that Bilbo is not our stereotypical 20th century “valiant knight in shining armor” protagonist. There are several hard-to-miss little details in the books that highlight this character trait in Bilbo and Hobbits in general. Hobbits are shown to be averse to adventures ("We don't want any adventures here, thanks!"), which is counterintuitive for the protagonist of a fantasy legend. Hobbits are known for having multiple pantries in their home, eating multiple breakfasts, and living a generally sedentary lifestyle. Throughout the story, there are several instances where we see Bilbo longing to return home to his cozy Hobbit hole. In fact, these are the same traits that make a fictional species all the moremore accessible in a legendary setting. Gandalf, the wizard, is one of the most mysterious characters in The Hobbit. His strange character is accentuated by the way he dresses ("He had a large blue pointed hat, a long gray coat, a silver scarf from which a white beard hung down to below his waist and huge boots Besides that, one of the first things readers discover about Gandalf is that "tales and adventures sprouted up wherever he went, in the most extraordinary ways." Gandalf, who happen to be two of the most important characters in the story, there are many other examples of descriptions or traits of several minor characters that make us judge them instinctively. Trolls, for example, were given a cockney accent. , which is a standard trope to depict them as slightly less intelligent beings The introductory descriptions of the Mirkwood spiders ("The nastiest things they saw were the cobwebs: dark, dense cobwebs." with extraordinarily thick threads, often stretched from tree to tree... glowed in the darkness around them, and sometimes pairs of yellow, red or green eyes stared at him from a little distance, then faded and slowly faded away to slowly shine again in another And sometimes they shone from the branches just above him; and it was very terrifying... horrible sort of pale bulbous eyes (Tolkien, The Hobbit, The Flies and the Spiders)) depict them as sinister creatures. Their initial descriptions exploit the fear of the unknown. So far we haven't yet discovered spiders, but we already know that there is something morbidly unpleasant about them. The association of certain character traits that induce fear with evil is explained by the rule of instant moral judgment. An important factor to keep in mind when considering this rule is that the eyes do indeed serve as "the most reliable visual guides for fictional characters (Rabinowitz)." They may speak of insight, omniscience, or potentially a portal to the mind. The different characteristics that the eyes are usually associated with are: insight, light, prudence, moral conscience and truth. Looking at someone unflinchingly is a standard Western trope of honesty and truthfulness. In Harry Potter, the main character has his mother's green eyes. This likely reflects his "deepest nature" being more like his mother than his father, despite his outward appearance largely resembling that of James. The antiquated Egyptian Eye of Horus was a protective image, which later morphed into the doctor's "Rx" logo. When eyes turn to iconic work, they are usually linked to topics of recognition, vigilance and, occasionally, mystical forces. On a threatening note (as in the case of spiders), the eyes can be linked to a double game, to a fiction, while being subject to constant recognition. They are also about appearances – both superficiality and the ability to see the real nature of something. The use of the "glowing eyes" technique in the film Blade Runner is intentionally done by the filmmakers to indicate replicants (androids) and artificial creatures. The eye of Sauron in The Lord of the Rings is anything but a gigantic, flaming eyeball like in the film adjustments, but the red eye in any case serves the same purpose of showing evil and constant surveillance. The final rule of service includes rules of cause. He states that "temporally connected events are causally.