Maira Riley
Professor: William Tooma
English 215
November 10 2015
The Hobbit: The Metamorphosis of Mr. Baggins.
In The Hobbit, written by J.R.R. Tolkien, the main character Bilbo Baggins experiences a drastic inner transformation along the story. The author executes the development of the protagonist’s personality in three stages: before the quest, during and after it. Previous to his journey, Bilbo was a coward and conventional hobbit. During the first part of the quest he is not confident of himself but as he embarks on these adventures, he gradually begins to rely on his own abilities and starts to take initiative. By the end of it Bilbo transforms to a brave and confident hero. Prior to the quest, the protagonist is a well-respected and conservative hobbit. He is very neat and methodic. Bilbo Baggins is a simple, routine-loving hobbit who wants nothing more than to live his quiet life inside his home. He does not want to go on adventures or risk missing his next meal. Tolkien commences to develop the story by describing Bilbo’s family, The Bagginses: “They never had any adventures or did anything unexpected.” (Tolkien 3). Certainly Bilbo and his father’s side of family are like most hobbits, comfortable and complacent. When Gandalf invites him to be part of an adventure his respond is negative “ Nasty disturbing uncomfortable things!“ (Tolkien 4). His answer reflects the way many hobbits view adventures. However Bilbo has inherited a streak of adventurousness from
The only thing a reader needs to know about how Bilbo Baggins, the protagonist of The Hobbit feels about adventures, is that “We are plain quiet folk and have no use for adventures”, which is much the same as any other hobbit (4). First of all, it should be known what hobbits are and how Bilbo acted like a stereotypical hobbit in the beginning. Hobbits are humanoid creature who shorter than humans, but have a longer life span than a human. They typically like a rather quiet and peaceful life along with smoking and blowing smoke rings. This was why the wizard, Gandalf is generally disliked for “so many quiet lads and lasses going off into the Blue for mad adventures” (5-6). Second of all, it should be noted that Bilbo is in fact not some flat chapter, but has been raised to
At the beginning of the adventure, Bilbo was a timid, little hobbit with no idea how to steal or survive outside of his little hobbit hole. When Thorin and the rest of the dwarves first meet Bilbo, they question
When you think of a hero, is the first character to pop in your head a little hobbit named Bilbo Baggins? In most cases, people think of Superman or Hercules, but in The Hobbit, an unexpected hero emerges and changes the name for all heroes to come. The Hobbit is a novel about Bilbo Baggins and his journey, with thirteen dwarves and a wizard, seeking the treasure stolen by the dragon, Smaug. While on this unexpected journey, Bilbo and his companions overcome many obstacles to eventually get to the treasure and retrieve it. Throughout the story, Bilbo develops into a courageous man, who indeed, is a hero. Richard Tyre wrote an article, “You Can’t Teach Tolkien,” and he explains his theory in which he connects multiple story’s plot with six elements. The Hobbit, is assuredly a prime example of Tyre’s theory because it follows all six steps throughout the story simultaneously. The six elements are; “(1) those who hunt for treasure, (2) must go alone, (3) at night, (4) and when they find it, (5) they must leave some of their blood behind, (6) and the treasure is never what they expected” (Tyre 19). These elements are steps in which a character must take to emerge into a hero in the end. Bilbo Baggins is the hero in The Hobbit, but he doesn’t start off as the hero. He has always had heroic traits but throughout the novel, he pursues those six steps and in the resolution, he is transformed into an actual hero.
Many science fiction fantasy novels have a hero or heroine. In J.R.R Tolkien’s novel the hobbit Bilbo Baggins is a hero, Even though he finds a ring of invisibility that allows him to preform surprising feats. Some of his acts of heroism are when Bilbo make his first attempt at burglary when he steals from the trolls, when he creates a plan to free his friends from the ElvenKing and follows it through and when he goes down to visit Smaug for the first time to fulfill a promise.
As children develop into adults, certain events and time periods stand out as the reason for important changes in their character. J.R.R. Tolkien portrayed the main character of The Hobbit, Bilbo Baggins, as a child on his trip into adulthood. Throughout The Hobbit, Bilbo Baggins, the protagonist, changes from a childlike hobbit to a fully matured hero. J.R.R. Tolkien divides the change in Bilbo's character into the three major part of the book, prior to the quest, during the quest, and after the quest.
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.
Going forward, in this essay, topics such as heroism and transformity will be strongly analyzed through quotes directly from the book The Hobbit and opinions formed while reading. Through the book The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien is able to show how a hero isn’t always the typical buff and boots with a cape on his back kind of person. Tolkien shows the reader that a hero is made by the struggles he conquers and isn’t just a perfect character thrown into the beginning of the story.
Have you ever changed in your life for the better? Well, in the novel, The Hobbit by J.R.R Tolkien, there is a main character named Bilbo Baggins who is a hobbit. Bilbo changes throughout the story because he is a dynamic character. He becomes courageous, adventurous, and learns to use his wits as the story develops. Let me go into further detail with this.
Have you ever gone somewhere and came back as whole new person? You arrive as if your old self never existed. In the novel, The Hobbit, Bilbo Baggins( a hobbit who appreciates life without much extravagance) goes on a breathtaking adventure with thirteen dwarves and a wizard. In his time with these people, Bilbo realized that he craved adventure. Bilbo went from a “hobbit to a hero” when he bravely escapes Gollum and the goblins, when he single-handedly slayed a giant spider, and when Bilbo released the dwarves from the wood elves prison by stealing the key. Bilbo may be small, but he is a hero capable of amazing things.
When Gandalf visits Bilbo he invited Bilbo to join him on an adventure, which Bilbo declines since he is deathly afraid of leaving his home. The next day he is visited by dwarves who believe that he can help them on their journey to Lonely Mountain to recover their ancestral treasure. The comments made by the Dwarves made Bilbo realize that Gandalf had said that Bilbo was a burglar. Bilbo eventually agrees to go, but then changes his mind the next morning, but eventually agrees to go again. After Bilbo, Gandalf, and the dwarves had been traveling for a while Bilbo starts to regret coming on the adventure as the landscape gets a lot more hostile. Shortly after this
In the fantasy novel The Hobbit, by J.R. Tolkien there are a lot of obstacles the character Bilbo Baggins has to confront. Throughout the book Bilbo seems to take on different challenges, which allow him to mature faster in a way that the Shire would not allow. In the Shire, Bilbo was just a normal hobbit who minded his own business and was never late for dinner. But after Gandalf and the dwarves came knocking on his door, his whole life seemed to change in an instant and it kept changing in a way that Bilbo had no control over. The farther that Bilbo moved through this journey the more he opened up to the world. At the shire Bilbo could have been considered a child in some ways because, he knew of no evil that existed outside of his world
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 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
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.
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.