'The Hobbit And' Once Upon A Time

The definition of a hero is an individual, man or woman, in which he or she exhibits immense courage, fortitude, and being humble. In today 's culture, one might think of Batman or Wolverine as heroes, however, in J.R.R Tolkien 's The Hobbit, Bilbo Baggins redefines the entirety of the definition of a hero and deemed like no other. Throughout his adventure across middle-earth with the dwarves, Bilbo exemplifies several of these qualities. In contrast to both Norse and Anglo conceptions of heroism, Bilbo Baggins redefines the conception and definition of hero.

Welcome dear reader, to this report. In the following paragraphs, we will explore the characters, setting, and story of J.R.R. Tolkien's 'The Hobbit'. Finally we will be ending with my evaluation of the book as a whole. Enjoy!A Hobbit is a small hairy creature that lives underground, not in a cave, but in a hobbit hole, an extragantly decorated home under the hills of the shire, with a large, round door, pokeing out of the hill. One such creature, is a fellow named Bilbo Baggins. Bilbo loves nothing more than to sit on his porch, smoking his pipe. He never even thinks about leaving home, atleast he didn't until he met Gandalf, ab old wizard who was a friend of Bilbo's Grandfather. Gandalf is very tall even standing taller than some elves!

“The world is not in your books and maps.” - J.R.R Tolkien.  ‘The Hobbit’, written by Tolkien which was published in 1937, follows the journey of a “reluctant hobbit” who sets out on a unexpected adventure to the Lonely Mountains, with a “spirited group” of dwarves and a “talented wizard”, to reclaim their mountain home - and the gold within it - from the dragon Smaug.  Through this dynamic text, Tolkien conveys to the reader the value of community and property; the quest - both for “treasure” and heroic stature and lastly the influence of race, lineage and character in a novel.  J.R.R Tolkien successfully conveys these ideas through different characters

In life, one grows and changes in time, their overall personality goes through a transformation. The characters of the Novels Lord of the Flies, Fifth Business, and the Deathly Hallows the characters go through transformations based on the decisions they make, the interactions they have with the other characters of the novel and, thinking of major events that have happened in their life. Overall, characters go through transformations based on their actions, relationships, and reflection.

The Hobbit by J.R.R Tolken displays a detailed Hero’s Journey that barely falters from the exact format. The stage of Into the Abyss is where the greatest challenges are faced and for Bilbo they were small, but caused significant mental, moral, and physical changes. Bilbo’s time spent in the goblin-infested Misty Mountains demonstrated him going Into the Abyss due to the revealing of how seemingly unimportant moments can end up being the most influential and change a person drastically.

Joseph Campbell once said, “A hero ventures forth from the world of the common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from the mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man.” A hero is willing to take a journey to accomplish something through hard work and determination, no matter how difficult the challenges are. In the critically acclaimed novel, The Hobbit, by J.R.R Tolkien, the protagonist, Bilbo Baggins is described as to be an unlikely hero. Bilbo is thrown into a situation in which he must choose between two different lifestyles and to overcome his fears to accomplish his quest. Throughout the story, Bilbo Baggins undergoes a transformation through the stages of The Hero’s Journey. He moves from safety of Bag End, to risk his life through the vulnerability of the outside world. He no longer has the relative control over his environment and surroundings, but he is still able to come to terms with his adventurous side through the unexpected events of his quest. From the beginning of the storyline to the end, Tolkien describes each stage of the Hero’s Journey and Bilbo’s identifies transformation within them including, The Separation from the Unknown, Challenges, the Transformations, and lastly the Return to the Known World.

“His heart was filled and pierced with enchantment and with the desire of dwarves; and he gazed motionless, almost forgetting the frightful guardian, at the gold beyond price and count” (215 Tolkien). In The Hobbit, you travel with Bilbo Baggins on a journey that portrays the battles and hardships faced in World War I. Bilbo and his friends run into trials that would have been present in the harsh and frightful environment of World War I. The Brutality of World War I (WWI) correlates with the ideals and events presented in The Hobbit.

The events associated with J.R.R Tolkien’s book The Hobbit resembles a hero’s quest journey, step by step until the final stage. Bilbo Baggins is the main character in this book and his life sonorously fits into in a typical hero quest journey. The three primary components of Bilbo’s quest are, the call to adventure, tests, allies and enemies, and the reward. In the book The Hobbit, Bilbo’s life is very plain and simple until he embarks on a marvelous journey with thirteen dwarfs and the wizard Gandalf, together they go on an obstacle filled journey to raid the treasure hoard of Smaug the dragon. Throughout the story Bilbo and the Dwarfs are tested several times unit the get to the last stage. Therefore the Hobbit by J.R.R Tolkien is one of the classic hero quest stories because of the many affairs that resemble the hero quest cycle.

The capability of beaming brightly and showing strength in the face of great pain, grief, or danger. To be seen in admiration by the people for one’s noble qualities and achievements. This defines the courageous behavior to that of a hero. During the progression of the novel, The Hobbit, by J.R.R Tolkien, a clear resemblance of heroism has been shown by many characters throughout. However, when asked to define the term “hero,” the majority of people would describe a physically strong man, who’s tall and stands in the face of danger; people such as Beowulf, Sir Gawain, and King Arthur. In contrast to that common stereotype, Tolkien describes nothing but an undersized and feeble farmer named Bilbo Baggins, who lives in a well furbished hole in the ground, and how this man will embark on an unexpected journey to become a heroic figure. This reveals the fact that society doesn’t dictate the standards of a hero; only that individual can regulate their own future, and how they can be a conqueror too.

The inspiring novel, The Hobbit, written by J. R. R. Tolkien, definitely deserves the right to be considered a timeless classic. Tolkien uses the main character, Bilbo Baggins, a well respected hobbit, to explain how fast one’s life can change. Mr. Baggins doesn’t believe he will go on an adventure through Middle-Earth the day Gandalf comes to Bag End to tell him so. Nor does he think the many races he only heard of in stories, will face him in the mountain pass. As the expedition takes the reader through the marvelous sights, the author drags them through the horrid forest of Mirkwood and traps them in the Elvenking’s dungeon. Tolkien’s excellent word choice enhances the novel further, indicating that it is a tale told long after the journey finishes. Through the use of dwarves, Tolkien describes the fact that all races show their true colors at one point or another, but it does not define them to be the same as all the others of that race. Mr. Tolkien beautifully intertwines the underlying messages and powerful statements in the wild settings and creative characters.

As young children watching movies and reading books, we tend to always fall in love with one character, and they become our favorites. Some of your childhood favorites may have been Batman, Luke Skywalker, Rapunzel, and Captain America, or Winnie the Pooh and Dorothy. These characters are all heroes and are all very similar, for they all have loyal sidekicks who stand by them through thick and thin. Batman has Robin. Luke Skywalker has Princess Leia. Captain America has Bucky Barnes, and Winnie the Pooh has Piglet. Some might as well have loved the sidekick just as much, or even more than the hero. It is after all hard to not fall in love the Rapunzel's adorable chameleon, Pascal. Overall, sidekicks are often placed in a story to help by showing the utmost loyalty to their own dignitary; some do this by giving knowledge, others just through cracking jokes. With different cultures and different settings for stories, the sidekick’s usefulness and value to the hero varies. Depending on the story, the sidekick might not be portrayed as very helping, but in another time and place, they might be a very key character, in a different story.

People like stories that contain much action and adventure. Such stories are real exciting and fun to read. The Hobbit By J. R. Tolkien is able to convey a great story through its characters, thematic elements, and literary features. There is something however, that is able to have a major effect on a story. That is supernatural events. These events are something within a story that the common audience would not firstly expect to occur. It is of these happenings that make a story that little more interesting and fun to read, as these events are able to change a story majorly.

In the “Fellowship of the Ring” written by J.R.R. Tolkien and it reveals a new world of elves, magic, men, dwarves, hobbits, and other unworldly creatures. Middle Earth is the name of the lands every creature inhabits, and like our world, it is divided up and has different realms of elves, dwarves, men and so forth. Much to my surprise I enjoyed the book and found it was very intriguing. While I was reading further into the book I became more drawn into the plot and main characters. The “Fellowship of the Ring” is part of a trilogy and I would enjoy reading the other two books in the series.

In a letter to one Milton Waldman, J.R.R. Tolkien explains that “myth and fairy-story must, as all art, reflect and contain in solution elements of moral and religious truth (or error), but not explicit, not in the known form of the primary 'real ' world.” As The Lord Of The Rings is, by Tolkien’s definition, a fairy-story, it would be correct to assume that it, too, contains “elements of moral and religious truth.” However, many who read Lord Of The Rings dispute the trilogy’s religious content. Tolkien states, "The Lord Of The Rings is of course a fundamentally religious and Catholic work… That is why I have not put in, or have cut out, practically all references to anything like ‘religion’...” Tolkien sprinkles bits of Christianity into Middle Earth to create an ultimately Christian work through his creation of a tripartite Christ figure, his inclusion of pity as a means of self-sustainment, and his working of providence throughout his characters’ toils.

In “The Hobbit” and the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy there are two characters of similarity that play a key role in both narratives. Thorin II Oakinshield and Aragorn II Elessar are two would be kings who come into their crowns in time for their own respective books or series to end. Both dwarf and man have a journey to their individual thrones and in particular the genesis, the journey and the end of their adventures share a great deal of commonality and precarious differences, variables that with or without their crowns says and awful lot about them.