Free Hobbit Essays: Intelligence And Physical Strength

In 1949, Joseph Campbell discussed the hero’s journey, the foundation commonly used in stories throughout history. In J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit, the hero’s journey narrative is used to tell the story of Bilbo Baggins’s adventure. The novel follows Bilbo Baggins and a company of dwarves as they seek to take back the dwarves’ fallen kingdom. As the story progresses, Bilbo’s character develops and the dwarves perception of him develops through the many trials before the death of Smaug the dragon and the final battle between a variety of mythical creatures. In The Hobbit, the dwarves originally doubt Bilbo’s abilities but as Bilbo encounters more obstacles and succeeds, the dwarves perception turns to one of respect and admiration.

In the novel, The Hobbit, the author J.R.R. Tolkien, suggests when an individual pushes themselves to explore risk-taking, they take the opportunity to grow within themselves, and test the extent of their newfound values, which result in the character fostering a stronger sense of self-identity.

Mahatma Gandhi once said “Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.” A person’s will is the key to survival. While physical strength is an advantage, a person needs the mental capacity to problem solve. Survival is attainable only when a person uses brain power to avoid panic situations. Most people desire physical strength, but mental strength is the most valuable in a survival situation.

Strength is that part of your intellect or nervous system that is more effective and productive than other parts. Throughout your experience of life, your actions or reactions drive different thoughts, behavior and emotion in your brain. The requests that are processed more efficiently and rapidly are known as your strengths. Nowadays, strengths-based approaches to work and life are gaining a lot of popularity and often they are used to improve leadership and create more productive and efficient work teams.

Gottfredson, (1997) stated that intelligence is ‘a very general mental capability that, among other things, involves the ability to reason, plan, solve problems, think abstractly, comprehend complex ideas, learn quickly and learn from experience.

Do you ever wonder what kind of person you are? Are you adventurous, perseptive, athletic? Have these traits ever affected your decision making? Because in “The Hobbit” By J.R.R. Tolkien, The protagonist Bilbo Baggins feels conflicted whether he should act like his more daring ancestors, the Tooks by embarking on a perilous journey to retake a kingdom. Or to be like his more respectable ancestors, the Bagginses and stay in the comfort of his warm home. As you can see, the traits he has acquired from his forebears are altering the way he sees the situation. Much like Bilbo, I believe that we all have similar sides to our personalities, whether the conflict is to be brave or timid, or smart rather than foolishly. And it is up to us to correctly

Being intelligent is a very helpful trait to have in your life because it guides you through difficult situations. In J.R.R Tolkien’s novel The Hobbit you can see this through the protagonist of the novel, Bilbo Baggins. Bilbo, like many other hobbits, is shy, lives a simple life and likes to keep to himself until a powerful wizard named Gandalf arrives and convinces Bilbo to join a group of dwarves on a quest to defeat the mighty dragon Smaug and to get back their treasure and take back their home . While Bilbo is hesitant to join the adventure, Bilbo’s intelligence helps him to overcome difficult obstacles such as Gollum, spiders and Smaug.

He might not have the physical strengths and capabilities as most heroes do, but he sure does have the intelligence that got him through this journey. It all started when, as I mentioned in the second paragraph, when Bilbo meets Gollum, it is also a turning point in the novel in which Bilbo finds Gollum’s ring which has the ability to make you invisible. At the time, Bilbo is unsure of the ability of the ring, but decides to hide it from Gollum using his wit and sneakiness. Gollum realizes his ring is missing and starts suspecting Bilbo as stealing it. “What has it got in it’s nasty little pockets?” Gollum will not let Bilbo go until he beats him in a riddle challenge. "Well, if it loses, precious, then we eats it! If Baggins loses, we eats it whole." With Bilbo having the ring in his pocket he asks “What have I got in my pocket?” Knowing Gollum has no chance of answering correctly, Bilbo uses his wit and intelligence of winning and escaping Gollum. Another example of Bilbo’s intelligence is when he is the saviour of the dwarves from the wood elves. He uses the ring as an advantage for his success of sneaking around the elves while invisible and gets the keys for the dungeon and sets free all the dwarves. “When he heard this Bilbo was all in a flutter, for he saw that luck was with him and he had a chance at once to try his desperate plan.” With Bilbo only having the ability to not be seen, he must think of an quick escape plan for the others. He suggests they go in the barrels and sets them into the river, escaping the elves. With such a short amount of time and quick decision making, Bilbo’s intelligence has never got them into

These books are an amazing at showing the hero's journey in mostly different ways,wet they still have similarities. A dog’s life is about a stray dog struggling to find a home and is given many challenges. The hobbit is about a fat hobbit who is brought up to a journey by the wizard Gandalf to help the dwarves reclaim there mountain stolen by a dragon. Both authors portray the hero's journey in mostly different ways yet some similarities. The first way the novels are different is that stages both protagonist in the novels faced are different.

Bilbo Baggins is the courageous hero of this story who knows how to get out of a pickle. His quest to defeat the mighty Smog will amaze and startle you. Baggins is the hero of this story because he goes on a quest for identity. A quest for identity is not very common in books for smaller kids, but will in pre-teen and up, so this isn’t too uncommon. This is the quest to find who you are or to find a new part of your personality.

Intelligence by definition is “the ability to acquire and apply knowledge and skills” (Oxford Dictionary, 2014). However, many psychologists argue that there is no standard definition of ‘intelligence’, and there have been many different theories over time as psychologists try to find better ways to define this concept (Boundless 2013). While some believe in a single, general intelligence, others believe that intelligence involves multiple abilities and skills. Another largely debated concept is whether intelligence is genetically determined and fixed, or whether is it open to change, through learning and environmental influence. This is commonly known as the nature vs. nurture debate.

“All we have to decide is what we do with the time that is given to us. There are other forces at work in this world, besides the will of evil” (Tolkien 304). Growth and courage are both vital actions in life. One cannot hope to live and thrive without growing both internally and externally, and having the courage to stand up for what one’s beliefs. Courage is directly affected by growth, for without growth, one will never obtain the courage to move on and push forward when times get tough in life. Stepping out of one’s comfort zone takes immense growth and no small amount of courage, but can prove to be a pivotal moment within climactic events. In his epic tale

Why physical strength is important? A person’s strength define their place in a group of people; as a leader, Odysseus is strong in many different ways. According to book twenty-one: “...he draws between his thumb and forefinger, a sweet new string upon a peg: so effortlessly. Odysseus in one motion strung the bow… In the hushed hall it smote the suitors and all their faces changed.” (Homer 1155) Odysseus pulled the bow so easily unlike everyone else who tried it, and all the young suitors who did not believe in him first was

From the readers prospective of The Hobbit it is starting to seem like intelligence is the more important trait, because if you have enough wit you can out smart your opponent which is very, very important, One example, is when the dwarves sent Bilbo up the hill to see what a certain light was Bilbo found some trolls they fought for

Bilbo Baggins is one of the main characters of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit. Being a main character in a story, especially an adventure story, typically comes with some pretty hefty responsibilities. More often than not, the main character is also the hero. A hero is defined as “a person, typically a man, who is admired or idealized for courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities,” and these are not necessarily qualities readily attributed to Bilbo Baggins (oxforddictionaries.com). This essay will look at three ways in which Bilbo contrasts the traditional characteristics of a hero and what transformations he ends up making to fit the mold more closely. It will examine his lineage, his strength, and his attitude as well as the changes he makes throughout the story.