Every book is related. They all include tons of archetypes. Like what it actually means to eat food together or how the real reason of a quest is always self-knowledge. In “The Hobbit,” by J. R. R. Tolkien, there are many examples of these archetypes. “The Hobbit,” is a great book and in order to understand here’s a quick preview. A Hobbit is a smaller human like- creature. They are usually very calm and non-adventurous. Bilbo Baggins is like most Hobbits calm and tiny. All the Baggins are known to be very proper and cozy people, just like Bilbo has presumed himself to be. Although all his life he has acted like a Baggins, his mother was a Took, the only adventurous hobbits anyone will meet. Bilbo will soon discover what that truly means.
The Hobbit is a book filled with adventure and challenges. This novel is a tale of a quest. For the hobbit this isn’t just an ordinary quest it’s a hero’s quest. This novel offers a variety of archetypes, such as the hero’s quest and communion.
This archetype displays a fall in action. The hero will usually some type of loss. In The Hobbit, this is when the battle of five armies breaks out. Everyone wants a share of the gold that is now sitting unoccupied. In the war, Thorin, Fili, and Kili are killed. After the war, Bilbo is never really accepted by his fall hobbits. Another book with a really suspense filled fall, is The Hunger Games (Suzanne Collins). In the ending, Katniss and Peeta are being chased by huge dog-like creatures. It almost seems like they are going to die, until they eventually kill the dogs. Then they take poison berries and threaten to eat them if they both can’t go home like promised. Then they end up winning. Those last chapters are some of the most suspense filled
If you have noticed similarities in different books it is because of archetypes, the main example of a archetype is the Hero's Journey. The Hero's Journey has 3 stages Separation Initiation, and Return, the Hero’s journey is a set of stages that describe the path of total heroism. In The Hobbit Bilbo is embarking on his journey to retrieve the Lonely Mountain with the dwarves along the way, he faces challenges like Gandalf leaving, giant spiders, goblins, wood elves. These challenges shape him into more of a hero, he found some items key to his journey. He has a ring that allows him to disappear every time he puts it on.
Many people find the story, “The Hobbit” by J.R.R. Tolkein as just an invigorating story of a normally unadventurous hobbit who goes on an adventure. Others may “read between the lines” and see that each event that takes place within the book is a symbol. These symbols are called archetypes. An archetype is basically a symbol or character in a story that represents common experiences, and has become patterns in English literature. In The Hobbit, the archetypes/symbols include: a quest, communion and, death and resurrection/ descent into the underworld.
The most prominent archetype in The Hobbit is the hero’s quest, because Mr. Bilbo Baggins goes on a mission to help retrieve gold from a fearsome dragon that rightfully belongs to the dwarf friend’s he has made. According to Mr. Thomas C. Foster in his book, How To Read Literature Like A Professor on page 3, he states that a quest “consists of five things: (a) a quester, (b) a place to go, (c) a stated reason to go there, (d) challenges and trials en route, and (e) a real reason to go there.” The Hobbit has all five of those basic structures.
Bilbo Baggins Is A Hero “A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles.” This quote by Christopher Reeves is a great description of Bilbo Baggins. Bilbo is just an ordinary hobbit. There is not anything exciting about his life. He lives in a quiet house, in a quiet town, with quiet people.
Archetypes are the roles that certain characters play in a story. Each archetype represents a different role in the story. Bilbo is the hero. Gandalf is the mentor. Smaug is the threshold guardian.
Archetypes are used in everywhere such as films, books, and art. They can be in characters, images, and themes. Archetypes repeat in every literature in every genre.
Bilbo Baggins is the protagonist of The Hobbit. Bilbo Baggins has curly brown hair and thick leathery feet. He was fat in the stomach and was half the height of an adult. He likes having multiple meals a day, and snacks. Bilbo also had long clever fingers. Bilbo is a very respectable individual. He enjoyed staying at home, Bilbo doing something unexpected was unheard of. Before the adventure, he thought highly of his neighbor's opinion about him. When Gandalf chose Bilbo the other dwarves thought that he was unfit for the job. The dwarves did not
“Going on from there was the bravest thing he ever did. The tremendous things that happened afterward were as nothing compared to it. He fought the real battle in the tunnel alone, before he ever saw the vast danger that lay in wait” (132). In J.R.R.Tolkien’s The Hobbit, the reader is taken through a parable that follows Bilbo Baggins on the ‘Hero’s Journey.’ This fantasy classic begins with an ‘everyman’ hobbit, Bilbo Baggins, who takes on a perilous journey to reclaim the dwarves’ homeland, The Lonely Mountain. After being spurred into action by Gandalf, the herald and mentor figure, Bilbo finds himself going on a pernicious venture that contradicts his docile nature, pushing him to play the role of
“Hobbits really are amazing creatures… You can learn all that there is to know about their ways in a month, and yet after a hundred years they can still surprise you at a pinch,” explained Gandalf (Tolkien 62). Bilbo likes the comfort of his home and his habits but also has a small wish in the back of his head to do something more with his life. He finds his opportunity when Gandalf and the Dwarves hire him as a Burglar in their Company. Along the Company’s journey, Bilbo makes discoveries about his strength he didn’t know he had. By the end of the story, Bilbo was put through many trials that would have changed a simple man, but his ethics emerged unscathed. Although Bilbo Baggins is only half the size of a human, the way Tolkien develops
Bilbo uncovers things about himself that he didn't even know possibly existed within him. In the cliché theme of 'good versus evil', Bilbo, without question, automatically jumps to the 'good' side. In his character, there are no uncertain borders, as there are in the temperaments of the dwarves. From the beginning to the end he stays an honourable and honest hobbit,
The Hobbit, written by John R. R. Tolkien, is a fantasy novel published on September 21, 1937. It was written as a prelude to the famous series, The Lord of the Rings, written seventeen years later. The Hobbit introduces the reader to an incredibly immersive fantasy world, that enriches the reader into its epic storyline. The story takes place in a land called Middle-earth, a land filled with enchanting surprises and magical wonders. It was the perfect playground for Tolkien to develop his main character Bilbo Baggins. Bilbo Baggins was a small hobbit, who unaware in the beginning would become a large role in the plot. It is through this character that Tolkien implemented the theme of heroism into the story. Bilbo’s
The hero’s journey begins with the hero being introduced in their ordinary world. This is where the reader learns about the hero’s background, flaws and strengths. This is so that the reader can establish a bond with the situation, which gives them experience of an adventure through the hero. In chapter 1 of The Hobbit, Tolkien introduces Bilbo Baggins as an ordinary hobbit who lives in an ordinary hobbit hole on the side of The Hill. In this chapter Tolkien hints towards Bilbo’s mother’s side, the Took-clan, who ‘something was not entirely hobbit like about them’ (Page 13).
The Hobbit is a fictional novel written by J.R.R Tolkien. The novel is about a hobbit named Bilbo Baggins who was approached by a group of dwarves who were in search of treasure in the mountains. Along the way, the group faced many obstacles and bumps in the road. On the contrary, Thomas C. Foster wrote a book, “How to Read Literature Like a Professor”, that gives students a bit of insight on how to understand what they’re reading, and it also helps students to figure out the true meaning of different situations and things that are written in literature. In the book, Foster went on to explain different archetypes that are typically hidden in literature. Some archetypes that Foster elaborated on were the hero’s quest, death, resurrection, and communion. Archetypes such as the hero’s quest can be applied to the the journey that is depicted throughout the novel: The Hobbit. Aspects of this archetype that will be discussed later include the quester, a destination, a stated reason to embark on the journey, obstacles along the way, and the actual reason for going on the journey.