1. Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

2. Exposition is a literary or drama terms describing introductory material that provides background information necessary to the story. Generally this includes introducing characters, describing the setting, and providing necessary history. Describe the ways in which Tolkien inserts exposition into the narrative in these first chapters of the novel.

3. The feeling of attitude of a work is called its tone. How would you describe the tone of the first two chapters? How does the tone change in chapters three, four, and five? Use specific examples from the text to support your answers.

4. Bilbo tells the guests at his party: “I don’t know half of you as well as I should like; and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve.” Is this a compliment or an insult?

5. A theme is an insight about human life that is revealed in a literary work

6. Gandalf tells frodo that not only does Sauron search for the Ring, but that the ring is actively trying to get back to Sauron. However, Gandalf sees in the circumstances of Bilbo’s adventures something else going on also: “There was more than one power at work, Frodo. The Ring was trying to get back to its master… [but] there was something else at work, beyond any design of the Ring-maker. I can put it no plainer than by saying that Bilbo was meant to find the Ring, and not by its maker. In which case your were also meant to have it. And that may be and encouraging thought.” Similar to Romeo and Juliet, what theme do we once again see developing here? What do you think Gandalf meant that it might be an encouraging thought?

7. Where are we in the story structure? Questions about chapters 1-5? Quotes or passages that you found particularly interesting/moving? Predictions about what will happen in the next section?