The Hobbit Research Paper

In 1937 J. R. R. Tolkien shaped the pathway for a greater interest in the fantasy world by writing the first books in Lord of the Rings Trilogy, The Hobbit. In creating the fantasy world of Middle Earth Tolkien not only created a world of characters with descriptive personalities and traits, but he also exposed the world to ideas such as racism and segregation which were prominent issues at the time. Tolkien primarily conveys the themes of segregation, racism, and religious intolerance through the use of characters, symbolism, and plot. Tolkien’s past experiences gave him the ability to give deeper meanings to his stories by allowing the characters to represent real issues instead of focusing on the fantasy and uses this to portray current

Tolkien, due to his studies was considered an academic scholar. He researched the fields of Anglo-Saxon and Medieval English Cultured which helped him to find inspiration for the formation of middle earth (Koster, 27). Tolkien was able to use fantasy and childhood rhetoric in order to capture a younger audience and to make the themes and the characters of his story more relatable and easier to comprehend. Tolkien even addresses a child audience in most pages of the book (Kocher 44). We see this in the first page of the story through the style in which Tolkien describes Hobbits: what is a hobbit? I suppose hobbits need some description nowadays, since they have become rare and shy of the Big People, as they call us. They are (or we're) a little people, about half our height, and smaller then the bearded Dwarves. Hobbits have no beards. There is little to no magic about them except the ordinary everyday sort which helps them to disappear quietly and and quickly when large stupid folk like you and me come blundering along, making a noise like elephants which they can hear a mile off. (Tolkien

Tolkien’s religious influence is shown in many critiques of his writings including Peter Epps’s article that criticizes Joseph Pearce’s book on The Hobbit which compares the dwarves journey to reclaim their mountain as a pilgrimage. The journey is much like a pilgrimage because when Bilbo goes back to The Shire he is changed and considered a social outcast because he went on an adventure. Jennifer and Geoffrey’s article explain how the hero’s traits portrayed by Tolkien in the Hobbit are based on kenosis, or the giving up of oneself for others (Vaughan 31). Another aspect of religon is that in this article Smaug is often compared to man’s evil, as well as in many other criticisms of The Hobbit. It also describes in the article how Pearce’s book suggests that with the downfall of the dragon the evil in the rest of the characters comes out more, but in the end they learn from their greed (Epps