This fella used Big Data analytics to look for patterns of individual style, based on gender and other factors. Interesting stuff about a lot of novels, authors, etc. I only cited the Hobbit because I could see Stephen Colbert making a joke about his 13-year-old self already being fully aware that few girls were involved
Huh. The article says the only “she” is applied to Bilbo’s mom. Lobelia Sackville-Baggins is mentioned at the end of The Hobbit, isn’t she? I wonder how she didn’t merit a “she”.
Now I’m wondering how many times he used the word he. Because if that number is small, he may just have used language patterns that avoided bare pronouns in general. I could picture him being a bit kenning-influenced.
At first I was thinking this as well. My reflex when presented with a shocking number is usually to ask “compared to what?” And much of the time, it’s a good reflex to have.
But apparently (it’s been a while since I read it) no women appear in the Hobbit at all, and only one woman is even mentioned by name: Bilbo’s mother, Belladonna Took. So we don’t need to grasp at “maybe Tolkien hated pronouns” as an explanation.
I’m not sure anyone in this thread (or the article linked in the OP) has said explicitly said there should be female characters in the Hobbit. (Maybe it’s implied by Sattua’s mention of “sexism”.) I’m not sure I would say that any individual novel should have a certain male-female ratio. (I would say that female characters are underrepresented in certain genres as a whole.)
But personally I found the number surprising, even knowing that Tolkien wrote a lot more male characters than female ones. I wouldn’t have thought to name “the Hobbit” as “most male-dominated novel I ever read (with a minimum of, say, 10 characters)”, but I suppose it is.
Lord of the Flies – also mentioned in the article linked in the OP – is probably up there as well. But the Hobbit at least has the title of “most distance walked without encountering a woman” pretty solidly locked up.
“Butthole” is like the least sexy term you can possibly use in erotica. What the hell, New York?
Most of Tolkien’s supposed racism is due to very selective reading by people with a bone to pick. With regard to gender, yes the medieval kingdom has very strongly prescribed gender roles.
Have all 13 members of Thorin’s company been actually referred to as he? Because while I’m 100% certain all 13 are male, female dwarves are supposed to look the same as males…
The only ones who might be suspect would be Bifur Bofur and Bombur. Everyone else is a male sibling, I think at some point referred to as brothers in the book. Bombur, I’m quite certain, rates a “he” or “him” or “his” at some point, given the fact they had to haul his ass around after he fell into the river in Mirkwood and he fell asleep.
It’s not quite as clear as that. I’ve been searching the book quite a bit, and the word “brother” only shows up 4 times - describing Balin & Dwalin when they first arrive, Beorn saying you should only trust someone “you know as a brother or better”, Bifur is described as Bombur’s brother, and Thorin is Fili & Kili’s mother’s brother.
There is one sentence however, which appears to state all the dwarves are male, when they arrive at Rivendell:
“There was only a narrow bridge of stone without a parapet, as narrow as a pony could well walk on; and over that they had to go, slow and careful, one by one, each leading his pony by the bridle.”
Apart from that, you’d probably have to read the whole book carefully to see who gets a “he” “him” or “his” - the non-primary dwarves are generally referred to in groups and get a “they”, “them” or “their”.
The specifically described as male dwarves that I’ve found so far:
Thorin (son of Thrain, son of Thror, King under the Mountain)
Balin & Dwalin (explicitly described as brothers at Bilbo’s home)
Bombur & Bofur - “There they were at last, twelve of them counting poor old Bombur, who was being propped up on either side by his cousin Bifur, and his brother Bofur”
Since I’m bored waiting for a meeting to start, here are some more explicitly male dwarves:
Gloin: “He (Gandalf) scowled so angrily at Gloin that the dwarf huddled back in his chair”
Fili: "
Dori: ““Half a minute!” said Dori, who was at the back next to Bilbo, and a decent fellow. He made the hobbit scramble on his shoulders as best he could with his tied hands”
Fili and Kili: " ‘The sons of my father’s daughter,’ answered Thorin, ‘Fili and Kili of the race of Durin’ "
