Analyzing Characters in Tolkien's The Hobbit
The Hobbit (1937) by J.R.R. Tolkien is an exciting novel, an adventure that takes on a whole new meaning. At the start of the novel, Bilbo Baggins, an ordinary hobbit, is doing what the ordinary hobbit does, just staying at home. Hobbits are very comfortable with life and look for no excitement or change whatsoever. When Gandalf shows up on the doorstep of Bilbo Baggins' cave (home), it was a major shock to him. Slowly dwarves show up at his doorstep, after Gandalf leaves, they slowly appear groups at a time. After thirteen dwarves show up on Bilbo's doorstep and make themselves at home, Bilbo starts to freak out and wonders why this is happening to him on a beautiful, and what he thought to be, a normal day. The reason for the dwarves being at his house is the fact that they want Bilbo's help with a plan; to go to Lonely Mountain to retain a treasure that Smaug, the dragon, had stolen long ago from their ancestors.
Throughout the novel, it is a constant battle to get to the dragon. Bilbo faces danger and also evil. On page 16, this quote demonstrates the fear of Bilbo Baggins: "He thought of plundering dragons settling on his quiet hill and kindling it all to flames...he shuddered... he was plain Mr. Baggins." Mr. Baggins never faced this type of adventure before, and he was deathly afraid.
This novel is the classic story about an adventure, and in the end, the hero defeats the enemy. Although this novel has the basic overlook as a heroic novel, it also has a deeper meaning through the character Bilbo Baggins. This is an adventure about how he is challenged to complete a heroic task, but on the way, he grows to be more confident and stronger and, most importantly, finds who...
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...or guidance by the time they reach Lonely Mountain. To face Smaug, it takes an extreme amount of bravery from Bilbo, but he did it even though he thought constantly about the comfort of being back in his hometown looking at the Hill.
By the end of the novel, it is definitely clear that the hobbit, Bilbo Baggins is not the hobbit he once was. "Gandalf looked at him. "My dear Bilbo!" he said "something is the matter with you! You are not the hobbit that you were. "' (302). Not being the normal, big guy, heroic figure did not stop him from rising to the heroic rank at the end of the novel. When faced with an opportunity, some people take the risk, but others do not. Tolkien shows that Bilbo excelled and found a new improved hobbit.
Works Cited
Tolkien, J.R.R. Revised Version. The Lord of the Rings: The Hobbit.
New York: Ballantine Books. January, 1982.
Once the fictitious thought of slaying dragons and fighting off trolls becomes a reality for Bilbo Baggins, he learns the truth about the importance of being unique in the astounding novel, “The Hobbit” by JRR Tolkien. JRR Tolkien captivates a variety of readers with this story about an introverted hobbit whos lives in a hole in the ground and the open opportunity he chooses for adventure. At the beginning, he believed he wasn't tolerable for this enterprise, but he began to realize he became essential to hs fearful mission. Thirteen dwarves showed at his door and demanded his help, so he left his small town and followed the unknown dwarves. This journey demanded a lot of physical endurance including an abiding fight with trolls. Bilbo endures until the end and he ends as a greater hobbit. In “The Hobbit” by JRR Tolkien, three main sections, the departure, initiation, and the return become clear, and Bilbo Baggins changes tremendously in these sections.
J.R.R Tolkien's action packed, fantasy driven, inspiring novel The Hobbit shows the message that everyone must know, that you should never give up even if all hope seems to be lost. It shows setting of evergreen forests with villages scattered along the paths of which they must take and mountains just on the horizon. The read must go along with bilbo baggins a hobbit that does not realize there is more to him than just being a baggins and that he will live up to his family's name. Even after gandalf tells him that he will embark on a great adventure he still doesn’t believe he is anymore than just bilbo. Therefor this story is inspiring and shows that with the setting, character, and theme combined make this story a great read.
The Hobbit in the movie ‘The Hobbit’ by J.R.R Tolkien, the protagonist, Bilbo Baggins, displaying a hero’s journey starting as a weak and cowardly person with no knowledge of the world outside his comfort zone. As a trilogy the movie only follows part of the hero’s journey to the ORDEAL.
The Flannery O’Connor story “A Good Man is Hard to Find” illustrates a parallel between the Misfit and the grandmother, showing that good and evil are not mutually exclusive in an individual. The grandmother and the Misfit display a flowing, changing state of character, representative of this shift. Flannery O’Connor develops these two characters on the surface as simply being a good person and a bad person. However, there is more to each character than the surface level, as they exhibit traits that wouldn’t ordinarily seem fitting in regards to what would be expected. It is this complexity in human characteristics that O’Connor takes the time to develop and show the audience the depth of humanity.
“I like six eggs with my ham, when starting on a journey.”(Tolkien, J. R. R.) remarked Thorin, a dwarf, and one of Bilbo’s companions. Bilbo, called upon by a tall old wizard named Gandalf, is a hobbit, and the protagonist in The Hobbit. He sets out with a band of dwarves to kill the infamous Smaug, a dragon, and reclaim ownership of Erebor, the lonely mountain. Beginning hesitant and shy, he feels uncomfortable with the notion of leaving the Shire, his homeland. Though he eventually agrees to accompany the dwarves on their journey, his timid personality remains, and overcoming it becomes one of his major challenges throughout the journey. Bilbo’s journey in The Hobbit follows almost if not all of the stages in the hero's journey archetype, and he discovers his inner courage and love for adventure.
Tolkien to be very good. He develops the story gradually, building up to the climax, and changing the main characters attitude. In the beginning Bilbo, the main character, starts as a very timid hobbit who knows nothing beyond his home, and is overwhelmed by the appearance of the twelve dwarves sudden appearance to his house. Although he grudgingly agrees to join them in their quest, he is very unhappy, and conveys it through this quote: “I wish I was home by the fire, with the kettle just beginning to sing!” This shows how unhappy Bilbo was at the beginning of the story. Over the course of the story, J.R.R. Tolkien develops Bilbo into a brave character who had proved himself through his many acts of bravery. In conclusion, the author did an excellent job developing Bilbo as a
In the short story “A Good Man is Hard to Find”, Flannery O’Connor shows the dynamics of a 1950’s family, hypocrisy and finally grace. In the story, the family is taking a vacation by driving to Florida. The grandmother, who is one of the central characters, convinces her son to take a side trip to visit an old plantation that she had seen in her youth. Only she misremembered about the plantation and it wasn’t there at all. On the way, the family has an accident and their car ends up in a ditch. This is where the family meets The Misfit. This story is a Southern Gothic, that has damaged characters who meet a violent end.
Bilbo has gone through quite a bit of extraordinary changes throughout the book in a result of some pretty bizarre occurrences. In the beginning, Bilbo was the kind of Hobbit who had only found it necessary to step foot outside if it was to buy food or to observe the wildlife. Little did Bilbo know that his fate would soon lead to something more than just being a measly homebody Hobbit who had nothing better to do than to make a spot of tea. Bilbo would soon be put in death-defying situations that he must learn how to overcome by himself. From being safe and sound in the comfort of his own home to literally be facing death itself, Bilbo will go through unbelievable changes that will soon sculpt him into the unstoppable and
Heroes are present in many of the films produced today and these heroes generally follow both Campbell’s “Hero’s journey” and “Heroic Archetypes”. Some of Campbell’s tenets for a hero are that he must be called to a quest, he will face trials and tribulations, face temptation, complete a task, and eventually return home. The hero must also fit an archetype and its quest, fear, dragon, task, and virtue. Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is in fact one of the aforementioned heroes. Bilbo Baggins has always wanted an adventure and one day he is called on a quest to win back the Dwarfish kingdom of Erebor from the dragon, Smaug. Bilbo had not realized at the time of his departure that he was a hero and at first he even refused to go on the quest. Bilbo fits many of the tenets of the departure, initiation, and return of Campbell’s “Hero’s Journey” along with one of his archetypes. Joseph Campbell defines a hero as “someone who has given his life to something bigger than himself” and this is what Bilbo Baggins has done by accepting his quest to aid the Dwarves on their journey to the Lonely Mountain.
In the book The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien, Bilbo seems to be very brave because he is a hobbit who didn’t like adventures, but he decides to go on one and shows that he has courage , and he is not afraid of something that others might be afraid of.
In conclusion, it is through Bilbo’s intelligence and courage, and the loyalty he showed to the others around him that establish him as an indubitable hero. Bilbo was able to heroically lead the dwarves and without his contribution in the adventure, it would not have been possible for them to achieve what they did. Bilbo is a small person with a big heart, who was able to make a difference without fighting or using his power to change anything through force. He was able to demonstrate his compassion, innocence, and ethics in his development into a hero. Nevertheless, his heroic deeds did not change whom he is as a person, which contrasts greatly with how a hero is defined today. Overall, Bilbo was a hobbit with courage that contributed into shaping his world into one where honesty, peace, forgiveness, and merry meals make it a better place.
The Hobbit, written by John R. R. Tolkien, is a fantasy novel published on September 21, 1937. It was written as a prelude to the famous series, The Lord of the Rings, written seventeen years later. The Hobbit introduces the reader to an incredibly immersive fantasy world, that enriches the reader into its epic storyline. The story takes place in a land called Middle-earth, a land filled with enchanting surprises and magical wonders. It was the perfect playground for Tolkien to develop his main character Bilbo Baggins. Bilbo Baggins was a small hobbit, who unaware in the beginning would become a large role in the plot. It is through this character that Tolkien implemented the theme of heroism into the story. Bilbo’s unexpected adventure with the dwarves and the wizard gave him the opportunity to develop into the ultimate hero of Tolkien’s tale. Bilbo’s epic journey to become the hero of the story begins when Gandalf, the wizard, tells Bilbo of an expedition that would soon change his life forever.
“A Good man is hard to find,” is about a family who decide to go on a trip to Florida. The story revolves around a self absorbed grandmother who loves to talk about how everything used to be back in her day and takes the time to dress herself so that “In case of an accident, anyone seeing her dead on the highway would know at once that she was a lady (358).” She sneaks the family cat with her despite her son’s disapproval of bringing the creature along violating her boundaries to how a lady would act. The family encounters an accident along the way and happens to come across ‘The Misfit,’ a runaway criminal. Using ‘The Misfit’ as a tool, O’ Connor sends a message to her readers of how hypocritical a person can be when it comes to belief.
Perhaps this quest of self-discovering of Bilbo also reflects the trek everyone must also partake. The road to success is a combination of confidence, courage, love and support, and self-acceptance. Bilbo saves the dwarves multiple times, and accomplishes his task near the end of the book. This shows teens that good will come out of doing the right thing, and this will encourage them. Seeing and processing positive examples from the Hobbit will give teens the idea that doing the right thing is the most rewarding, and to not give up when confronted with difficulties in life. With careful readings and reflections, the Hobbit can motivate teens to make the right choices in life and inspire them to strive for success.
It is imperative to study counseling theories when beginning field based work. Counseling theories provide a foundation to be able to learn and develop my own techniques. Some ideas that exemplify the significance of counseling theories are; research, application of theories, and case studies.