The Hobbit Essay, Research Paper
“The Hobbit” J.R.R. Tolkien
Bilbo Baggins was a hobbit. Now, what is a hobbit, you ask? Well, “Hobbits
are little people, smaller than” dwarves. They love peace and quiet and
good tilled earth.” A respectable race, hobbits lived for serenity. Bilbo
himself enjoyed sitting outside, smoking his wooden pipe. Now if a dilemma
hadn’t reared its ugly hear, Baggins would probably still be at his house,
his worst fear only dealing with messy housekeeping. Such, however is not
the case. Gandalf, the Great Wizard himself, and thirteen dwarves (their
names were Dwalin, Balin, Kili, Fili, Dori, Nori, Ori, Oin, Gloin, Bifur,
Bofur, Bombur, and Thorin, for those of you who are adept in remembering
names) burst into his life, pulling the hobbit out of his quiet home, and
sending him in an adventure filled with dangers, dragons, gold, and most
certainly unpeaceful realms. As hobbits will do, Bilbo found himself on
enchanted paths, wishing he had never gone. He hoped to indeed live up to
Gandalf’s standard of him, since he was the one who chose him to journey
into the desolate lands of Smaug, a golden-red dragon who had stolen
hoards of gold and silver wrought by the dwarves/ But. what was the use of
a Hobbit in the journey Bilb had answered his own question, when he
summoned the courage to save the dwarves from perils along the way, such as
goblins, giant spiders, and elven dugeons. He did this all with the help
of a Ring, enchanted to make the wearer invisible. “Bless my soul, a hobbit
CAN be useful!” But usefulness in itself does not a task complete. There
was still the fact that the dwarf’s gold had not been claimed, and Smaug
still lay in the heart of the mountain. The band of travelers had crossed
much terrain, hills, mountains, swamps, and gloomy forests, including the
dark Mirkwood itself. Within these settings, conflicts with the other races
were allowed, and the travels caused hardships of famine, lost direction,
and plain uneasiness. Along the way, Bilbo had encountered a magic ring,
which he stole from a monster known as “Gullom,” who had no better thought
than to”eat up poor Baggins. Escaping, however, and catching up with the
adventurous party, the dwarves finally made it to the Lonely Mountain. “We
shall claim all the wealth for the dwarves!” Thorin stated. When the party,
however met up and disturbed Smaug himself, the dragon rose up from the
mountain and laid waste to the City on the Lake, a settlement near by.
Bard, of the Esgaroth (also known as the City on the Lake) was the one to
slay the dragon with his Black Arrow. Bilbo and his comrades, knew nothing
of this, that only the dragon was gone, and that wealth beyond imagining
lie in wait. The news that Smaug was dead spread throughout the land, and
all races tried to claim the treasure by force. Elves, Humans, and Dwarves
advanced towards the mountain, each finding it their right to have the
treasures. “It was originally the Dwarves!” “We humans killed Smaug! We
need it to rebuild our town!” “The Elves claim the Gold!” Thesewere the
cries of the armies, each advancing on the other. However, more disaster
was on the way. Raiding Goblins and evil wolves known as Wargs also
attacked. In the end, the races teamed up to fight the menace, and drive
off the goblins. Bilbo himself lived throughout the battle along with ten
of the dwarves, and Gandalf. Returning home, after the wealth was split
evenly, Bilbo had reflected on his journey, and considered that greed of
wealth was a terrible thing, and the understanding and acceptance of others
different that you can only strengthen. As adventures will go, this one had
a happy ending.
Small anecdotes and humorous happenings give small sidelines to the main
story, making the story appear more life-like. Its entertainment value is
that of an A.Tolkien’s dry humor and relations of imaginary characters to
emotions in real life give the reader a good sense of clarity. In the area
of writing style I give this book an A, due to the smooth writing of the
story, which ties all the smaller adventures together.
The theme of this book expressed the age old moral of greediness, and how
it gets you nothing in the end. Though this theme is encountered in many
books, this story talk about it in a new way. The value of the theme is
also rated high, with a B.
The ending of this book was fairly predictable, with the exception that one
of the main characters, Thorin, King of the Dwarves, was killed in the
final battle. In this Area, I give B-, because it seemed that Tolkien
wanted to end the book quickly, sending Bilbo home with no danger, though
on the trip to the Mountain, all he received was danger. Bilbo is now at
his home, thinking thoughtfully about his adventure.