What Is The Archetype In The Hobbit Bilbo Hero's Journey

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.

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.

The archetype of the Hero’s Journey holds a prevalent pattern in the works of “Initiation” by Sylvia Plath, “A & P” by John Updike, and “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker. These works all follow the 17 stages of Joseph Campbell’s Monomyth which are separated in three stages; separation, initiation, and return. The main characters have different characterizations; however, they all follow the basic structure of the Hero’s journey archetype. There are many similarities and differences between the stages that are shown through many context clues and literary devices in each work. The Hero’s Journey archetype expressed in these literary works follow a similar and direct narrative pattern.

One of the most apparent character archetypes used in this novel is the everyman, a simple, adventure less, commonplace character that is played by Bilbo Baggins. In the beginning of the story, Bilbo is the classic everyman that lives in the Shire, but is soon thrust into a world he does not understand. As the story progresses Bilbo fulfills the role of the hero all while making a full circle back to the beginning and thus completing the Hero’s Journey. Another important figure in The Hobbit is Gandalf, who takes on the role of both the herald and the mentor. Gandalf’s role as the herald is clear as he embarks Bilbo on his adventure in the beginning of the novel. His role as the mentor is a longer and more subtle one as he guides Bilbo through his obstacles while letting Bilbo overcome them himself. His dual role helps support the storyline in building the full circled journey. The shadow role and the threshold guardians create a conflicting force that rivals the protagonists. The shadow is portrayed as Smaug and can be referred to as the antagonist throughout the expanse of the book. Bilbo and the dwarfs entire journey is based on their rivalry against the dragon guarding the homeland of the dwarfs, The Lonely Mountain, as he stands in the way of what they want, "Bilbo was now beginning to feel really uncomfortable. Whenever Smaug's roving eye, seeking for him in the shadows, flashed across him, he trembled, and an accountable desire seized hold of him to rush out and reveal himself and tell all the truth to Smaug. In fact he was in grievous danger of coming under the dragon-spell" (231). The use of this character in the Hero’s Journey is what creates a story and adds the necessary conflict to create the plot and engage the reader with the momentum it builds. Threshold guardians play a similar role in gathering momentum,

Have you ever noticed the continuous recurring theme in your favorite movies and books? That is called the Hero’s Journey. Bilbo Baggins, a supposedly unadventurous hobbit is requested to accompany a group of dwarves on a difficult journey by none other than Gandalf, the well-known wizard himself. Ishmael Beah, a young, happy boy goes out with his friends without saying goodbye, not knowing it may be his last time to see them. While with his friends, his town gets attacked by the rebels and his whole world turns upside down. Both authors portray the Hero’s Journey, but there multiple differences and a few similarities in their techniques.

The hero's journey of Bilbo starts when he is asked by a charter in the book to come on a journey across the country. Bilbo first says no then is convinced that is will be okay to go. They first start the trip, then Bilbo starts to get a little worried,

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.

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.

Explain which Archetypes are represented by which characters in the novel. Write a paragraph on each of the 7 archetypes, explaining which character(s) represent the archetype (Remember that there might be more than one character representing each archetype, some characters might embody more than one archetype, and some archetypes might possibly be missing.)

The hero’s journey is a type of archetype shown in many stories that shows the steps of how a hero becomes a hero: mostly every protagonist goes through this journey. In A Long Way Gone, Ishmael goes on a hero’s journey. He was separated from his normal happy childhood when war hit his country. He then had to fight in the war but UNICEF (The United Nations Children's Fund) took him from the war, rehabilitated him, and he eventually ended up in the U.S where he was safe. In The Hobbit, Bilbo also went on the hero’s journey when he was separated from his non-adventurous life in his hobbit hole and went on an adventure with the dwarves. On that adventure he came across many struggles like saving the dwarves lives and escaping death many times.

In the novel The Hobbit, the characters have many different and diverse personality traits. A few of the traits are negative while some are positive. But it really depends on the situation; the trait could be a positive or negative one. Tolkien also shows that intelligence is more important than physical strength.

(Ashton, 92). Specific characteristics come to mind when one envisions are hero, such as extraordinary strength and great courage. Heroes most commonly receive recognition for notable talents and remembered for their astonishing deeds and accomplishments. For example, Superman possesses superhuman strength, speed, and the ability to fly, qualities most frequently associated with heroes. However, not all heroes fit this model. Just a small hobbit from The Shire, Bilbo Baggins does not possess any great strengths or abilities, and many would view Bilbo as the antithesis to Superman. In J.R.R Tolkiens, The Hobbit, Bilbo Baggins portrays an unlikely hero due to his small size and stout appearance, his cowardly personality, and his tendency to appear as an onus to the group. However, through his actions of bravery, Bilbo demonstrates that anyone, no matter what size or shape, can perform heroic deeds.

The Bag-End is basically the Hill where Bilbo lives, but his mother’s side of the family calls this The Water. The Lone-lands is where people spoke strangely, and they also sung songs that Bilbo never heard before. The Long- Lands is where Bilbo meets the trolls. Rivendell is the location of the "Last Homely House" protected by the great lord Elrond. Mirkwood is a dark forest with suspicious Wood-elves, eerie enchantments, and giants spiders. The Lonely Mountain is the end of the quest. It was hard to get inside the mountain. They had to wait a specific day till they can unlock the side door and get inside. This is also where Smaug was killed at. During the whole quest Bilbo’s hobbit hole represented him before the quest. Bilbo whenever he was scared or hungry thought about his home as a sort comfort for him while he was away from it. Looking at Bilbo starting from how he was before he left his home to now he has come a long way. Him going on dangerous quests represents the change in Bilbo. When Bilbo returns home from the quest his home is changed. His home now has a sword hanging over the mantelpiece and he also has a chainmail coat hanging in his hallway. All these items represents the change in

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).