The Hobbit Essay

The Hobbit Research Paper

What hero compromises the intense struggle between good and evil? J.R.R. Tolkien’s book involves a hobbit who reaches out of his comfort zone to show that hobbits succeed at beginning adventures. Tolkien uses symbolism and epithets to show the rigorous processes of how an ordinary creature becomes a mythic hero.

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was born on January 3, 1892 in Bloemfontein, South Africa. He studied at Oxford pursuing a degree in English language and literature. This later gave him the thought of creating his own imagined world known as Middle-Earth. He then later married Edith Bratt, had four children, and became a professor at Oxford. The Hobbit, first published in 1937, had some of Tolkien’s invented language and mythology. The plot and character’s of The Hobbit combined the ancient heroic Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian epics, which he studied at Oxford. The Hobbit “is immersed in folk tradition” (Matthews). The character Bilbo Baggins was inspired by the rural Englishman of the 1930s. Tolkien was inspired by ancient European myths leading him to write Lord of the Rings, a prequel to The Hobbit. On September 2,1973, J.R.R. Tolkien died at the age of eighty-one.

Bilbo Baggins is the main character in The Hobbit, who has the characteristics of an epic hero. His heroism is “in his wit, not his might” (Glenn). Bilbo undertakes a long journey outside of his comfort zone. He was approached by Gandalf, the wizard, to go on an adventure to help the dwarves find treasure. When Bilbo agrees to join Thorin and company, he took on the job of becoming a burglar. Bilbo shows his burglary skills when he steals the sword from the trolls. Bilbo shows his bravery when he encounters the goblins, wargs, troll...

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...when he calls him “the burglar.” When Thorin Oakensheild comes into the story, he is described as “son of Thrain son of Thror King under the Mountain” (Tolkien 180). Smaug the “Golden” and the “Magnificent” is a dragon that is hard to kill unless he is killed on his breast. Bilbo is known as the “Barrel Rider.” Gandalf the wizard is given the epithet Gandalf the Grey and Gandalf the White. Bard, the man who killed Smaug is also known as “Bard the Bowman” (Tolkien 230). Beorn’s use in The

Hobbit as an epithet is the “skin changer” (Tolkien 108).

The Hobbit shows J.R.R. Tolkien’s belief in the ancient heroic tales of the Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian epics. He asserts that a being goes through many adventures with the help of friends who believe that anything can happen. Tolkien reveals how bravery and courage make ordinary individuals succeed at ordinary tasks.