The Hobbit

1. The Hobbit Chapter 11 : On The Doorstep By: Danish & Jasim

2. As the dwarves and the hobbit approach the Lonely Mountain, the land turns bleak and harsh. All wildlife has been burned by Smaug the dragon. When they reach the starting of the mountain Thorin decides to send three dwarves and Bilbo to investigate the main entrance on the south side. Bilbo and the dwarves discover that the entrance is too dangerous for them to use it since Smaug uses it. They decide to find the secret entrance. After a long search for the secret entrance Bilbo discovers a narrow passage leading up to a cave like area on the side of the mountain. The dwarves were excited and they did not doubt this was the secret entrance to the mountain. They knew there must be a door. They beat at the door with picks and axes but they achieve no success. The door was guarded with magic. The dwarves were getting discouraged. One evening Bilbo was sitting outside the door when a large black Thrush landed on a rock and cracked open a snail on the wall. Suddenly Bilbo remembered the riddle on the map. He gathers the other dwarfs and they watch as the sun sets and with the sun’s last light a single ray falls upon the door and reveals a keyhole in the door. Thorin quickly puts the key he got with map into the hole. The door opens and the hobbit and the dwarves peer into the mountain depths. Plot

3. CharacterRevelation • Bilbo is proving to be a lot of help and the dwarves are respecting him much more than they did when they started the trip. They now believed why Gandalf said that he would prove himself. • When the dwarves and the hobbit found the door they could not open it till later. But in this time the dwarves got impatient and they were saying Bilbo isn’t helping. The dwarves just wanted him to do all the dangerous things while they watched. • Bilbo kept thinking about Gandalf coming back to save them and he was losing confidence in himself. • Bilbo was the only one that remembered the riddle from the map and proving to be very intelligent.

4. Literary Devices Personification- “They could see in the wide valley shadowed by the Mountain’s arms the grey ruins of ancient houses, towers and walls.”(Tolkien 204) This is an Example of a personification because the mountain was given a human feature , which was arms. Simile- “And I don't like these birds, they look like spies of evil.”(Tolkien 204) This is a simile because It compares two unlike things (the birds and spies of evil) using the word like.

5. Literary Devices Cont’d Foreshadowing- “ I should turn dizzy and tread on my beard, and then you would be thirteen again. And the knotted ropes are too slender for my weight . Luckily for him that was not true, as you will see.” (Tolkien 207) This is an example of foreshadowing because the author is giving us a clue about what is going to happen later on in the story. Onomatopoeia- “Crack! It had a snail and was knocking it on the stone. Crack! Crack!” (Tolkien 209) This is an onomatopoeia because the word crack sounds like what it means.

6. Questions What was the land like along their journey up the mountain? Why do you think this is? What were the black coal coloured birds called in the book? Why didn’t Bilbo and the dwarves go in through the front entrance on the south side of the mountain? Why was Bombur left behind when they went to explore the doorstep? How did the Thrush cracking the snail on the rock help Bilbo find out about how to make the door open? Hint- Remember the moon letter translation on the map. There was another clue the author was giving in this chapter about the riddle written on the map, what did the author keep saying? Hint- Remember what the elf said about Durin’s Day Why did the dwarves start saying that Bilbo wasn’t helping? Who were the three dwarves that went with Bilbo to investigate the front entrance on the south side of the mountain.

7. The End