[Formendacil]

Diving in for a more thorough overall look at this chapter- and doing it before the posting of the next one, for a miracle- I have to say that it's never been a particular favourite of mine.

Not that it isn't well-CRAFTED. Tolkien does an excellent job of simultaneously moving the plot along and letting the reader feel the passage of time. Moreso than any other chapter in this book, I really feel the days pile up, and yet Tolkien never quite falls into the trap of over-describing the boredom.

On this note, one of the most vivid moments in this chapter, in my mind, is the "Butterfly Incident", when Bilbo (poor, scared-of-heights, Bilbo) climbs up the great tree, and gets a glimpse of the warm sun, and green treetops of summer, and the fluttering butterflies, and ascends temporarily from the gloom of his day-to-day life.

All the same, I sympathise a great deal with Bilbo in this chapter, getting progressively more hungry and more lost. Perhaps I sympathise too much, and that's why I don't like the chapter too much. Perhaps I'm too fond of Bilbo. If so, then kudos to the author!