The Hobbit is a fantasy novel, by J.R.R. Tolkien that tells the story of an unexpected story. Rather than being about a main character who is brave and noble, this story is about Bilbo Baggins, a predictable, mild-mannered hobbit. He lives in his cozy home and avoids anything out of the ordinary until he is presented with the opportunity of an adventure with Gandalf the wizard along with 13 dwarves. The goal is to take back the homeland of the dwarves from the dragon, Smaug, who has attacked and taken over. The journey entails mountains, forests, and creatures such as trolls, goblins, elves, and more. And even though no one sees much potential in the seemingly weak hobbit, Gandalf sees traits of a hero within Bilbo. This journey results in …show more content…
At this point in the novel, the narrator describes, “On they went, Gollum flip-flapping ahead, hissing and cursing; Bilbo behind going as softly as a hobbit can” (85). Once Gollum gets angry, Bilbo slips on the ring and becomes aware of its power invisibility. He takes advantage of this and follows Gollum until navigates his way back to the dwarves. This demonstrates Bilbo’s cleverness because it shows his ability to quickly read a situation. He has to think on his feet and independently if he is to return to the others. Bilbo has never been put in a situation where he has to quickly think on his own quite like this, so clearly, he has exhibited cleverness which has commenced his transformation. Through his experience in Mirkwood, Bilbo exhibits selflessness, which continues his transformation. In this episode, Bilbo and the dwarves enter the dark forest of Mirkwood and encounter giant spiders they have to fight off. The spiders entrap the dwarves in their silk, leaving Bilbo (with the ring) to find a way to save everyone. Bilbo shows his selflessness at this point when the novel says, “Bilbo saw that the moment had come when he must do something. (159)” and then later continues to say, “In this way, [Bilbo and Fili, who he had just rescued] rescued Kili, Bifur, Bofur, Dori, and Nori” (162). This shows Bilbo’s selflessness because he’s so determined to rescue the other dwarves and he once again has to think
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.
By putting his life in danger Bilbo shows a true example of heroism. Though the dwarves were still skeptical of his abilities, they were starting to take into consideration of what Gandalf had said about this little hobbit. Continuing their adventure the group is attacked by goblins where they are eventually saved by Gandalf. Throughout the turmoil of the attacking goblins Bilbo gets lost in the caves and finds himself alone in the darkness. It is in this event when Bilbo finds Gollum’s ring. Gollum was a sickly looking creature that had been dwelling in the caves for many years. Bilbo used his wits to outsmart the creature by playing a riddle game with him and eventually made it to safety. Having Bilbo win the riddle game shows that his smart and witty mind aids him in becoming the hero. Bilbo wasn’t some tough strong stereotypical super hero, he used his smarts to outwit his foes and to triumph over evil. Though Bilbo at the time did not know the power of the ring that he had retrieved from Gollum’s lair (the power of invisibility), it was his heroic fate that he found it as it assist him in becoming the hero of the story. Fate has it that Bilbo will become a hero, but Bilbo also has the courage on top of his fate to get the dwarves out of life threatening situations.
“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
The Hobbit by J.R.R Tolkien is said to be one of the greatest children's novels of all time. The novel, due to its use of such characters as goblins, elves, trolls, giants, and others is in tradition, a fairy tale. The tale centers on a small hobbit by the name of Bilbo Baggins. It follows the journey of a band of dwarves, a wizard named Gandalf, and their robber, Bilbo on their way to retrieving treasure that had long been taken away from them. The hobbit traveled all over Middle-Earth, beginning with Bilbo's tiny hobbit-hole in the ground, to Mirkwood forest, to finally reaching the Mountain in which the dragon Smaug lives. Tolkien uses a large amount of imagery in his writing which can been seen through settings in The Hobbit. The
Fact 1: Bilbo Baggins went through several tasks that made his character grow. Through countless excursions into the wild it was obvious that Bilbo developed greatly into a wonderfully cheerful hero. After Bilbo beat Gollum in a game of riddles he became more confident in himself. Bilbo’s task was to solve a riddle that Gollum gave him. If he got the answer he lived. If he was wrong, Gollum would eat him. Bilbo was good at riddles and he defeated Gollum. Then Bilbo used his ring to escape. This event made him even more confident. Bilbo realized that he had accomplished a very tough task when he beat Gollum. This event also made Bilbo more skilled in being stealthy when he had his ring on.
The Hobbit by J.R.R Tolkien is said to be one of the greatest children's novels of all time. The novel, due to its use of such characters as goblins, elves, trolls, giants, and others is in tradition, a fairy tale. The tale centers on a small hobbit by the name of Bilbo Baggins. It follows the journey of a band of dwarves, a wizard named Gandalf, and their robber, Bilbo on their way to retrieving treasure that had long been taken away from them. The hobbit traveled all over Middle-Earth, beginning with Bilbo's tiny hobbit-hole in the ground, to Mirkwood forest, to finally reaching the Mountain in which the dragon Smaug lives. Tolkien uses a large amount of imagery in his writing which can been seen through settings in The Hobbit. The
In conclusion, we can now see that Bilbo is in fact a dynamic character. He gains many qualities he can use in the future, like courage, learning to use his wits, and letting out the adventurous side in him. He used to be almost paranoid, to himself, and strict. But now he has turned into something much bigger, an adventurer. So the adventure changed him for the better. This is how Bilbo Baggins, the hobbit we thought would never do anything
Bilbo lives a quiet and comfortable life in his hobbit hole in Bag end and he almost never leaves home. But the wizard knows that there is more to Bilbo that meets the eye and he has certain powers that can help the dwarves in their journey to
In the resound novel “The Hobbit”, written by J.R. Tolkien, the main character Bilbo Baggins has to overcome many power struggles to find out who he really is. Bilbo is one, if not the, most powerful ideological character there ever was in a book. His small stature and uncanny upbringing makes him so important to the concept of power. In the book, the hobbit is the smallest and most quiet race, they keep to themselves and do not like adventure or anything out of their norm. One day a large wizard comes to take Bilbo away on an adventure, he has to choose whether to stay in the norm or take a step outside of it. He chooses to take the leap and uncovers the first step to unlocking his inner power. The reason Tolkien uses a Hobbit as the main character is simple, hobbits are a small, weak creatures who
The dwarves respect his many decisions that he had made with quick reflexes accordingly to the actions that are provoking him to take action in being a leader, saving his fellow expedition mates. Bilbo using his traits of courage, heroism and intelligence demonstrate to him that adventures aren’t as bad as the hobbits have always thought they were.
The Hobbit tells the story of a Hobbit by the name of Bilbo Baggins that goes on an adventure. It is a captivating story but is has an amazing amount of archetypes within it. It is truly a work of art.
Although this may seem like something your typical hobbit would stray away from, Bilbo is not your typical hobbit. In this moment, Bilbo truly becomes a hero. Before Bilbo was needed to save the dwarves, he was all by himself facing off against a spider. Once he had killed the spider with no help from any dwarf or wizard he became very confident. The book says,”Somehow the killing of the giant spider, all alone by himself in the dark without the help of the wizard or the dwarves or of anyone else, made a great difference to Mr. Baggins.” Bilbo knew that he was capable of being a hero, which aided him in becoming a one. After this, with the help of his magic ring, Bilbo was able to rescue the dwarves from the other evil
Bilbo Baggins changes a lot in the novel The Hobbit. In the beginning he is a small peaceful Hobbit who lives in Hobbiton. He loves to keep things in order, and hates things that are disorganized. “Please be careful,” and “Please don’t trouble. I can manage” (Tolkein, 12). Then one day a wizard by the name of Gandalf comes and gives Bilbo the opportunity to go on an adventure. Bilbo turns his offer down, but the next day thirteen dwarves come to his house. They have meals together and they sleep at Bilbo’s house. Gandalf then convinces him to go on an adventure with them. Bilbo is many things, in the very begging he is flat, static, main, and he is the protagonist. By the end of the story he is round, dynamic, main, and he is still the
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,
Bilbo Baggins is a hobbit living in the Shire having a peaceful quiet life in his hobbit hole. One day after living a life of leisure and pleasure he is awakened by a rude knock on his door. In a matter of a few hours he will meet the people that changed his life for good. The Hobbit by J.R.R Tolkien is a story about a hobbit and his adventure. His adventure starts with a knock on his door by his old Friend Gandalf. Gandalf then promptly asks Bilbo”I am looking for someone to share in an adventure”(tolkien). Bilbo then denies Gandalf and continuous with his usual day until that night. When Bilbo is about to eat his dinner he gets a knock. He opens it to find two dwarves Dwalin and Balin. Bilbo 's shocked but invites them in. Bilbo does this eval times until he 's left with thirteen dwarves Dwalin, Balin, Kili, Fili, Dori, Ori, Nori, Gloin, Bifur, Bofur, Bombur, and Thorin Oakenshield. They then invite him on a quest that would change his life. During his quest he faces many evils and overcomes them all to become a hero.