J. R. Tolkien's 'Common Themes In The Hobbit'

THE BEST THEMES IN “THE HOBBIT”

In this quarter, I’ve been reading J.R.R Tolkien’s book. The book named The Hobbit. Throughout this book, there are three main themes that the author has been talking about in his story. They are luck, magic, and greed. He also gives very good examples for every given theme, so the reader can be able to imagine what’s he trying to describe.

First, he mentions about luck. To Tolkien, luck is the chance happening of good or bad events, or fortunes. Luck also is good fortunes or success. As I have read, there are many examples of luck during their adventure. For example, in Chapter Eight, Bilbo was trying to fight against the giant spiders to help the dwarves. When the situation seemed to be getting worse,

Bilbo suddenly slips on the invisible ring. That makes the reader think about if Bilbo wasn’t lucky; he could have lost his fellows. Maybe, he could have been killed by the spiders. Therefore, we can say after reading this story; lucky things happen and help the characters lots. Think about if the author didn’t put this theme in this story, there will be many things that will turn out differently and might lead the story to a different ending.
Secondly, the author talks about the magic theme in his story. Magic has been mentioned as the art that purports to control or forecast natural events, effects, or forces to be invoking the supernatural through the use of charms, spells, or rituals. When the author talks about magic, the reader will all quickly think about Gandalf. But beside him, there is one more good example of this theme. It’s the invisible ring, named “One Ring”. The ring helped Bilbo to escape from Gollum when he tried to catch and eat Bilbo. The ring also helped Bilbo to run away from the Goblins, and fought back the giant spiders.
“I am the friend of bears and the guest of eagles.
I’m Ringwinner and Luck wearer, and I am Barrel-rider.”
That is what Bilbo tells Smaug about himself when Smaug asked him, which shows to the reader that how brave and confidence he was when he had that ring. This also proves that the ring is somewhat special and powerful, that make the Hobbit not afraid of the dragon. Thanks to the ring, Bilbo could be able to do many things to keep him away from the dangers. Without the ring, Bilbo might have been eaten by Gollum or killed by the spiders. Also, without the magic theme, the story could have been led to another ending. Because the main characters might have been killing from other bad creatures.
One more important theme in this story is greed.

“Greed” in the story has been explained as an excessive desire for more than needs or deserves. The best example of it is the dwarves. Although they said that the journey was to regain their heritage, however, their real motivation was greed. They weren’t interested in that adventure until Gandalf confronted them with the map and the key lead to the treasure. To them, the journey was for gold and treasure. When the dwarves heard that the men and the elves coming over to the mountain, their first insight was to look for a way to protect their treasure. Those examples explain what is greed and how does the author gives out the imagines of greedy in his story. This theme makes his story more interesting by giving the reader not only the greedy side of the bad character, but also the greedy side of the good character in the story. Which the reader doesn’t expect that character will have that side of personality.For example, Bilbo took the Arkenstone, the stone that Thorin valued more than all of his treasures. He used that stone as a weapon to make Thorin gave more of his treasure to him. Bilbo was being greedy over the treasure, which he even threatened his friend. Another example of this theme is the dragon-Smaug. The dragon was always trying to keep the treasure for himself. He would even kill all the people who try to get his gold and treasure from his Lonely Mountain. This example shows to the reader that when it comes to

greed, people will do whatever that possible to keep their benefits or properties.
Altogether, the three themes make Tolkien’s story more entertaining and floating.

Each of the supports different sides of the story. Luck makes the adventure more interesting and surprising. Magic leads the story to the different mood and view. Magic is also has seemed as the main theme of The Hobbit, that everybody thinks of when they first see the book’s cover. It makes the story becomes fancier and creates the illusion of the reader, and leads them to their own world when reading the book. Lastly, greed makes the story more impressive. The author borrows the imagine of the characters to teach and show the reader about what is greed and that everyone all has the greedy side which we don’t expect that they will be like that. Three of the themes mixes together and make the story more surprising and more entertaining. Therefore, there is no possible way to remove any of these themes out of the story. My response throughout this story, especially for those three themes, is each of them makes the story more catchy. Each theme leads me in a different mood when reading it. Luck gives me happy, satisfy, and even surprising mood. Magic gives me the feel of mystery and fantasy. Sometimes, magic even gives me a creepy feeling. Greed gives me the most surprising feeling, because the characters that I think of them as the good characters all the times it turns out to be the character gives me the feel of greedy the most. A good example is

Bilbo.
All in all, the three themes give me a lot of feelings, which make me even more interested in the book. Therefore, I love them three and I don’t think one of them could be able to remove from this book. Because they impress and give me entertaining as a reader of the book. So, I think it will give the same feel or somewhat the same to other readers just like how it's given me.