In the novel The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien, Bilbo Baggins, a hobbit, is part of the adventurous family known as the Took. Bilbo is greeted by a powerful wizard named Gandalf, who brings him on a journey to Lonely Mountain that changes his life forever. This journey forces Bilbo to come out of his comfort zone and complete the upcoming journey. Bilbo is greeted by Gandalf, a wizard, states that he doesn’t want anything to do with his adventures by declaring, “ Sorry! I don’t want any adventures, thank you. Not today” (Tolkien 6). However, Bilbo starts thinking what it would be like to go on an adventure and live up to the family name as Tolkien said, “the Took-clan would go and have adventures” (3). Gandalf explains to Bilbo what the adventure …show more content…
After being caught stealing from the trolls Bilbo says, “I am a good cook myself, and cook better than I cook, if you know what I mean” (Tolkien 37). The trolls consider letting him go after his kind gesture, showing Bilbo’s cleverness by using his ability to play with words. While on the journey Bilbo finds a ring that makes him invisible to everyone. “...it was a ring of power, and if you slip that ring on your finger, you were invisible” (Tolkien 81). This ring makes Bilbo greedy because he feels as if it can hid during the journey rather than exposed to the evils. However, the ring that Bilbo learns the truth in greed. Bilbo is challenged when the company enters the forest and encounter the spiders “Somehow the killing of this giant spider, all alone by himself in the dark . . . made a great difference to Mr. Baggins“ (Tolkien 166). The spiders help Bilbo test his morals due to killing of all the spiders. It is with these challenges that Bilbo changes throughout the novel as an overall character, which also lead up to his final qualities after the journey to Lonely Mountain. Bilbo’s ending qualities are very different from when he started this journey. He learns it is okay to be dishonest to people in certain situations, such as in the situation with the trolls where it is needed to save lives. The second quality he learns is not to be greedy by using objects for fun, but for the right purposes. The final quality Bilbo learns that differs from the beginning is he would have never killed, but he learns that killing for defense is okay. The final qualities Bilbo maintains show an extreme change in the character he has become throughout the
Bilbo Baggins lived a very simple life, a life he enjoyed very much, until the day when the wizard Gandalf arrived at his door one morning. Gandalf was searching for someone to share an adventure with, but Bilbo quickly declined, saying, “We don’t want any adventures here. You might try over The Hill or across The Water,” and with that the hobbit dismissed the wandering wizard, but not before he had given the wizard an invitation for tea the next day. This of coarse, was the polite thing to do. But Gandalf saw something more in Bilbo and would not be discouraged.
Within J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit, Tolkien uses the character of Bilbo Baggins to reveal to the reader the constant struggle between heroic and anti-heroic qualities within Bilbo and ourselves.
Bilbo is happy to visit the elves and have tea with Gandalf, but he is also just as happy to relax in his hobbit-hole and enjoy the comforts of home that he longed for so much on his journey. Bilbo Baggins undergoes a hero’s journey in The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien. He departs from his home, is initiated into a more mature mindset, undergoes a road of trials, goes through his innermost cave, and is returned home and reintegrated into society. Bilbo’s journey is also a quest for self identity, because he realizes his place as “quite a little fellow in a wide world” and learns to balance out his respectable Baggins heritage with his adventurous Took background (Tolkien 363).
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 beginning he is flat, static, main, and he is the protagonist.
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.
Bilbo Baggins is a very soft and quiet hobbit. He loves to eat, and is pampered by his own self. So when Gandalf arrives to take him on an adventure, Bilbo is a little hesitant –scared to death- to risk his life with Thorin and Company. “At may never return he began to feel a shriek coming up inside, and very soon it burst out like the whistle of an engine coming out of a tunnel. […] The...
...to his own possessions and how his journey made him open his eyes up to a deeper meaning of life. The evil in the story were just test, trying to get Bilbo to give up and go back to his life of comfort, but he didn't he went on to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Tolkien wanted to show the reader how we can overcome our flaws in life such as greed, and temptation by stepping out of our comfort zone.
Bilbo cleverly eluded Smaug’s temptation, spared the life of foul creature Gollum, and demonstrate courage more and more throughout his journey. These exquisite traits made Bilbo into the revered character that was loved and respected for generations of readers. Throughout the book, Bilbo’s character had changed. At first, he was the ordinary hobbit who described adventures as “Nasty disturbing uncomfortable things” (4) but by the end of his journeys stated to Thorin, “I am glad that I have shared in your perils” (290). Bilbo’s ability to fight evil, make new friends, and to look beyond his maps and books enable him to become a hero. As Gandalf once said at the very beginning, “There is a lot more in him than you guess, and a deal more than he has any idea of himself” (19). Gandalf was right. What appeared to be an uneasy hobbit who fainted at the thought of adventures, turned out to be a brave leader, a compassionate friend, and an inspiring
Bilbo begins his long journey with the dwarves, who at the time were still skeptical of Bilbo’s abilities. The dwarves didn’t see why they needed such a small incompetent hobbit with them along their journey. Gandalf tells them to stop complaining and to trust that there is more to Bilbo than meets the eye (Tolkien 6). Bilbo soon shows his courage and heroism for the first time in the story when they run into their first obstacle, three large trolls huddled around a campfire. Bilbo, who was once a shy, non-adventurous type, begins to develop into a hero as he tries to steal one of the trolls’ money purses. This is a dramatic scene in the novel because it was Bilbo’s very first act outside his comfort zone. It was this...
He starts off as a hobbit scared of the world and never wanting change in his life to ever become a great hero and adventurer. As he starts off his great journey he showed change for the first time and that he is willing to risk his life. As Bilbo embarks on this journey and continues helping the dwarves many traits form from this experience such as bravely as he stood up to the trolls. Shows the heroism that everyone has inside them even if they don't know
In J.R.R. Tolkien 's novel, The Hobbit, Bilbo Baggins goes through a classic representation of the Hero’s Journey. Throughout the story, Bilbo transitions from being a complacent, sheltered hobbit, to a more adventurous hobbit. The Hobbit has all three parts of the hero’s journey; The Departure, Initiation and The Return, all of which is interpreted throughout the quest.
At the beginning of the novel, Mr. Baggins starts out at his comfy little hobbit home, but suddenly a grand, wise wizard shows up. Not long after, 12 dwarves began to appear, one by one at Bilbo’s door, and they have come to carry him off on a life-changing adventure, full of greed. That was the beginning of our hairy hobbit’s transformation from a shy, quiet hobbit, to a strong and bold life-saving hero, who enchants any who come in contact with him. For example of his strength and boldness, would be in chapter 5, when Bilbo rhymes riddles for an unknown creature, who calls itself Gollum. Bilbo would’ve been eaten if he were to have lost, but took his chances, and risked it anyway. After all, it did get him out of that goblin-infested cave.
Bilbo doesn’t realize it at first, with the help of Gandalf he sees he has changed. He has become brave and fearless. He has also learned the value of friendship and kindness through his new friends and their journey together which has now forever
He remains good hearted throughout the story. At the beginning of the novel Bilbo is neither an adventurous nor brave hobbit. He prefers to stay in his hobbit hole and keep to himself, he is scared of the outside world. When Gandalf comes and says “he is looking for someone to share in an adventure that I am arranging, and it 's very difficult to find anyone.” he immediately shoots the offer down saying “I should think so — in these parts! We are plain quiet folk and have no use for adventures. Nasty disturbing uncomfortable things!”(9). Gandalf though saw Bilbo and knew that there was something special inside of him. So, he pushed him out the door where Bilbo would be able to grow. Although Bilbo refuses at first he builds up the courage. Thorin Oakenshield saw Bilbo as small and worthless. Bilbo, at the time, agreed with him. Eventually Bilbo saved his life and Thorin became family to him. Throughout Bilbo 's adventure he goes from being unheroic to courageous and heroic. One example is when he fight off the Great Spider to save the dwarves with the sword he names sting and says that he feels more confident and fierce, from there on he progresses to become stronger and at the end Gandalf says to Bilbo,"Something is the matter with you! You are not the hobbit that you were."(203). From that you can tell that Gandalf has seen the changes, most of the changes come from the ways he saves
He develops a lot during the book and turns into the hero that Tolkien created. Two examples from the book that support the theme are when he defeats the spiders of Mirkwood his character develops more like being fierce and aggressive also when he saved his friends from the spiders he changed from just worrying about himself into caring about the dwarves and Thorin. Some symbolism is Bilbo naming his short sword Sting after killing the spider it symbolizes his