Can you imagine the terror at being trapped in a barrel with no idea of when you might be released, if at all? Sort of like being buried alive, but with less legroom and a chance of slowly drowning if there were any leaks. What would it be like to have Bilbo Baggins your only hope at survival? Each dwarf could only wait, alone and in complete darkness, not knowing if he would suffocate, be smashed on rocks, or die of thirst before Bilbo let him out. Assuming Bilbo survived the escape.
Tolkien alludes to the beating that some of the dwarves took, bouncing around in the larger barrels. He also mentions the problems of thirst and lack of air, which I think would be far more worse than presented in the story. And he mentions that the dwarves were filthy when they came out of the barrels. This would be an understatement.
I've never gone 24 hours without peeing. Few people have. Perhaps dwarves are different than humans in this regard, and we know they're very tough. Even though they had nothing to drink in those barrels, it would either be maddening to hold it for that long, or disgusting if you couldn't. The only way to make the dark, lonely, cramped, terrifying, barrel-escape even worse would be if you wet your pants.
I'm no dwarf, but I would have remained a prisoner of the wood elves forever rather than accept Bilbo's incredibly dangerous and difficult plan. Considering he wasn't sure how, when or where he would let the dwarves out, the word "plan" may not be appropriate.
Birthday Observance Idea
See how long you can put off going to the bathroom. Tough isn't even the word for those dwarves! I can't drive from Chicago to St. Louis without stopping at least once.
To read my loving, insightful, full-length parody of The Hobbit, (which does not dwell on bodily functions, unlike this post: my apologies to my more sensitive readers) order a copy of my eBook The Wobbit on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004ZR9ELK
To visit The Wobbit website: http://www.thewobbitaparody.com
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