JJ48
Well-Known Member
One of the most controversial questions we've encountered in class, I think, regards the identity of the Prancing Pony's stablehand, Bob. Is he a man, a hobbit, or something else? The text doesn't say...or does it? While the text does not explicitly state Bob's race, it does provide us with enough clues to reasonably conclude it.
The key passage comes, unsurprisingly enough, from the hobbits' stay in Bree. After Frodo finishes singing his song, some of the guests cry out, "Where's old Barley? He ought to hear this. Bob ought to learn his cat the fiddle, and then we'd have a dance." Note that Bob, apparently, owns a cat.
No where else in the entire texts of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings is there mention of any (other?) hobbit owning a cat. In fact, even when cats are mentioned, it is often comparing something evil to them (e.g. Smaug's snoring having elements of "a gigantic tom-cat purring" or Sauron's Eye appearing "yellow as a cat's" in the Mirror of Galadriel). We should also note that in Bilbo's "no-legs" poem, it is a man who sits on the stool and eventually gives the bones to his cat; not a hobbit. Furthermore, we do read of hobbits having dogs (particularly, Farmer Maggot). From all this, we can reasonably conclude that Shire hobbits, at least, are dog-people rather than cat-people.
Of course, customs may be different among hobbits in the Shire vs those in the Bree-lands, but it was only in 1601 that the Shire was established. It strains credulity that dog-people could become cat-people (or vice-versa) in only the roughly 1400 years that the peoples have been sundered. Therefore, we must conclude that the Bree hobbits are also dog-people, and would never own a cat. We thus reach the thoroughly inescapable conclusion that Bob cannot possibly be a hobbit. Since the only options from the text appear to be hobbit or man, we must therefore conclude that Bob is a man.
The key passage comes, unsurprisingly enough, from the hobbits' stay in Bree. After Frodo finishes singing his song, some of the guests cry out, "Where's old Barley? He ought to hear this. Bob ought to learn his cat the fiddle, and then we'd have a dance." Note that Bob, apparently, owns a cat.
No where else in the entire texts of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings is there mention of any (other?) hobbit owning a cat. In fact, even when cats are mentioned, it is often comparing something evil to them (e.g. Smaug's snoring having elements of "a gigantic tom-cat purring" or Sauron's Eye appearing "yellow as a cat's" in the Mirror of Galadriel). We should also note that in Bilbo's "no-legs" poem, it is a man who sits on the stool and eventually gives the bones to his cat; not a hobbit. Furthermore, we do read of hobbits having dogs (particularly, Farmer Maggot). From all this, we can reasonably conclude that Shire hobbits, at least, are dog-people rather than cat-people.
Of course, customs may be different among hobbits in the Shire vs those in the Bree-lands, but it was only in 1601 that the Shire was established. It strains credulity that dog-people could become cat-people (or vice-versa) in only the roughly 1400 years that the peoples have been sundered. Therefore, we must conclude that the Bree hobbits are also dog-people, and would never own a cat. We thus reach the thoroughly inescapable conclusion that Bob cannot possibly be a hobbit. Since the only options from the text appear to be hobbit or man, we must therefore conclude that Bob is a man.
