Analysis of Tolkien's The Hobbit

J.R.R. Tolkien starts his world renowned book The Hobbit with, “In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit” (1). This book is a tale of a small hobbit named Bilbo and his ever-memorable journey through the evil world during his time. Living in the Shire, as his homeland is called, it is very calm and pleasant for Bilbo, but once the outer limits of the land are reached Bilbo is in for a great surprise. Needing a burglar on his journey Gandalf the Grey, who is famous for his magic with fire and light, came to ask for Bilbo's assistance. Gandalf was accompanied with thirteen dwarves who were after their long ago taken, but never forgotten treasure. The last evil dragon, Smaug, who overtook the Dwarf Kingdom of Lonely Mountain many years ago, took this desired treasure. Bilbo didn’t want to go, but with his, along with all other hobbits, ability to escape quietly, quickly and easily in the woods and mountains, Bilbo was a perfect burglar for the journey. The adventurous group of now fifteen set off to find trolls, orcs, goblins, wargs, aggressive elves, giant spiders, dragons and numberless natural disasters including wind, snow, rain and scorching heat, None of these obstacles came to be the one most powerful and dangerous enemy to Bilbo and the others, though. This powerful enemy was the greed and lust for the horde of gold and silver and precious jewels that lured the dwarves to pursue it no matter what the cost. And thanks to this and other antagonists Bilbo successfully transformed from a common hobbit to a true hero.

Bilbo was a bit taken off guard and didn't really understand his purpose on this adventure so he demanded some explanations. With the dwarves was Thorin son of Thrain King under the Mountain, as he was known. Th...

... middle of paper ...

... Bilbo only escaped with life by a narrow margin many times. No obstacle was as heavy upon his heart and as hard to kill, though, as the lust and greed that he (along with the Dwarves, Elves, Goblins, and Wargs) had for the treasure that Smaug so greedily slept upon night after night without use. In the end, the journey clearly showed, that Tolkien didn’t truly want to make a journey of gold, no which was the substance, the true idea of the story was changing Bilbo for the better. Although it is hard to chose, the most evident change exists not in one part, but in the story’s beginning and end, Bilbo was a hobbit, no more, and now he is no less than a true heroic leader. Tolkien is trying to show us that everyone is capable of great change, no matter from what walk of life you come from, no matter who you were, everyone can change for the better and do great things.