Many of us read books for pure enjoyment, and try to reap more meaning than was sowed by the author. But there are those few books, those cherished throughout time, that have stuck in our brains and in our hearts, but we don't know why. Here is an analysis of one such book that we all love, written by our favorite friend who went There and Back Again, Mr. Bilbo Baggins.
Summary
We begin where we end with the hobbit hole belonging to Bilbo Baggins who lives in the Shire. Nothing unexpected ever happens, unless you have Tookish blood running through your veins. The Tooks are the only hobbits to go on adventures because there is a part of them, no matter how small, that isn't entirely hobbit like. But this isn't about a Took, no not at all, but of Bilbo Baggins, a half-Took.
On an ordinary day, Mr. Baggins meets Gandalf, a relatively infamous wizard, who not-so-politely asks him to go on an adventure. Bilbo, says no, and continues on his way, but again; he's half-Took. Gandalf comes again, bringing twelve dwarves along with him. The Tookish side wins, and he joins these dwarves on their adventure. The company, led by Thorin Oakenshield, has but one goal: to take back Erebor, the kingdom under the mountain. Time and time again, these dwarves are waylaid; each time it starts to look brighter, something else happens.
When the dwarves, Bilbo, and Gandalf stop to take shelter from the pouring rain, they are outfitted with the swords they discovered on the front porch of the goblin nation which proceeds to chase the company who drops poor Bilbo, knocking him out. He wakes up not knowing where he is or which way his companions went. In trying to find the company, he stumbles across a magic ring, and a creature named Gollum, a strange being that talks to itself. Bilbo outwits the creature and runs into the company as they run away from the Goblins. They are chased up trees and nearly killed, only saved by the Lord of the Eagles and his birds.
Later, Gandalf leads them to the house of Beorn. Beorn is an interesting fellow who is a bear-shifter, who intrigued by their tale, allows them provisions and a few days rest before sending them off into the forest of Mirkwood. At this point, Gandalf has left the group several times by now, and does so again at the edge of Mirkwood where he warns them yet again not to stray from the path set before them. Of course, the company strays from the path when they are caught by the enormous spiders that live in the forest. Bilbo, whom by now has become quite adept at using his magic ring, manages to free all the dwarves, minus Thorin.
Thorin has been captured and interrogated by the Elvenking of Mirkwood, and after refusing to speak about their journey, is thrown into prison along with the rest of the dwarves. Bilbo, having gained a lot of respect from his friends, manages to free them by relying on his ring and ingenuity. Pushing them into empty barrels, he rolls them into the river which takes them to Laketown, a city upon the water not that far from Erebor. Climbing out of the barrels the company of Bilbo and the dwarves heads into Laketown, where Thorin declares himself King Under the Mountain. The people gladly give them help and supplies, sending them on their way to Erebor. They reach the mountain and the ruins of the city of Dale, and are discouraged at not finding a door. Bilbo, finds a way inside and steals a cup proving his worth to the dwarves.
After Smaug's discovery of Bilbo's theft, the young hobbit engaged in a battle of wits and riddles with the dragon, enabling him to make a narrow escape. In his rage Smaug destroyed Laketown at a great cost to the himself, and now lays dead from an arrow to the chest. The Elvenking heard of Erebor's freedom and sent an army to secure the gold.
When Thorin was asked for peace, his lust for gold had him shouting a no in fruitless anger, denying the elves' request. Thorin's greed, especially his lust for the Arkenstone made up Bilbo's mind and he gave away the stone, which led to him being strangled by Thorin. Dain and his people arrive, along with the Goblins, Bolg, bats, and wargs, which began the Battle of Five Armies. Thorin returns to his senses and helps in the battle, while Bilbo is knocked out.
Bilbo awoke alone and is taken to see a dying Thorin. Wishing to die as friends, Thorin asks for Bilbo's forgiveness. Bilbo, being the modest and humble hobbit he is, declares that simply sharing in Thorin's perils was more than he himself as a Baggins deserved. Thorin's parting words were of the virtues of this brave little hobbit. And as Bilbo left Thorin to die, he wept without restraint, calling it a mercy that he was able to speak with Thorin one last time. The battle was won by Beorn and the Eagles, Thorin buried, and Dain crowned King, who gave a fourteenth of the gold to Laketown. And as Bilbo, the blessed elf-friend, went home, all he would take was a chest of gold and a chest of silver.
A year after the start of the journey, Bilbo and Gandalf were back in Rivendell in the Homely House of Elrond. It was late June in which Bilbo found himself looking over his Hill, and Gandalf remarked that he was not the same hobbit he was when he had left. And indeed he was not, for isn't that the point of a quest, especially one that is written about by said quester, to go out and never come back exactly the same.
Themes
1. Life is tough, but those who persevere come out stronger.
Throughout, The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien puts the company of Thorin Oakenshield through trial after trial, ranging from pouring rain to running away from dragon-fire. Why though? What is the point of putting an invisible hobbit in front of blazing hot dragon fire? Perseverance.
As we are in a limited third person point of view, we are given insight into the mind of our beloved Bilbo Baggins, and his struggle with the challenges faced by him and the company. Lost in the Goblin nation, alone in a forest of spiders, alone in the elven kingdom, facing the dragon Smaug alone. He doubts his abilities, his friends in the company, and his own reasons for doing what he's doing.
But through all of this, Bilbo keeps moving forward. He walks along the goblin halls, frees his friends from the elves and the spiders, and holds his own against Smaug, even though the dragon is shoving doubts down Bilbo's throat. He even continues on without his beloved second breakfast. He holds out against the dragon sickness and the enchantment of the hoard of riches that is the bed of the 'Chiefest of Calamites'. He never gives in, never gives up. Even when he arrives back in the Shire, he's still the Tookish Bilbo we've seen throughout his quest and it's calamities. After all; it's not Thorin's quest, not at all, but rather it is Bilbo's, for in it, he finds his inner strength, courage, and perseverance.
2. There are those who persevere through it all, but there are those that fail; there are those who give in. But even for them, mercy has the final word.
Thorin Oakenshield is the leader of the dwarven people of Erebor. Initially annoyed with our hobbit-friend Bilbo, he comes to these challenges head on, with an attitude. After the Goblin nation, spiders, and elves, however, as well as after he is lead into Erebor by this tiny hobbit, he holds this tiny creature in such high esteem he has gone from reluctant companion and burglar to close friend and ally.
Now Thorin is as stubborn as dwarves come, and like his predecessors, and even Bilbo for a minuscule amount of time, comes under the influence of the dragon-sickness and hoard enchantment. Threatening war, almost killing Bilbo, the dragon-sickness has taken it's hold. But in the thick of the battle, out jumps the Thorin Oakenshield from the travels, brave and cutting through hoards of the enemy. It isn't until after the thick of the battle, however, that Thorin and Bilbo are reunited. And in it, Thorin apologizes and praises Bilbo. But all Bilbo says is that it was an honor to partake in Thorin's troubles, and that this last meeting of forgiveness and friends was a mercy, and that he was glad they parted in kindness.
Opening Sequence
The first scene of the first chapter starts with the hobbit-hole of Bilbo Baggins, talking about how comfortable life is there. Nothing unexpected ever happens and Bagginses are the epitome of no adventures. But from the beginning, we are shown that Bilbo is different, as he is also a Took, and Tooks have adventures. Bilbo is almost completely comfortable with his life, but not quite, and Gandalf, the wise mentor figure, not-so-politely forces him into an adventure by forcing him to host twelve dwarves. These twelve dwarves are rowdy and obnoxious, everything Bilbo Baggins hates, but it is stressed to us that he is a Took as well, and therefore not completely satisfied with the comfort of his beautiful hobbit-home. But the dwarves' attitudes and doubts about Bilbo made him fierce and courageous, enough to sign a contract, even though he may never return.
Closing Sequence
At the end of it all we return to Mr. Baggins' hobbit-hole which has now been sold by relatives wishing to have his nice things or live in his nice hobbit-hole, and Bilbo must buy back his own things, and he can never quite get them all. But he is a different Bilbo than when he first came; he has been on an adventure, and the other hobbits know that. His reputation has been ruined, and his hobbit-hole being sold. Only his Took relatives even came to him as he was queer. Elf-friend, honored by dwarves, wizards, and any others who has passed that way, that was Bilbo Baggins, but that didn't matter to the hobbits of the Shire; he was no longer respectable for he had done something unexpected, and he was different. Years later, Balin and Gandalf came as Bilbo was writing his memoirs, as they talked as the old friends they were, though each could tell the other was different, and that they were; they were no longer comfortable with the ordinary or unexpected. After all, they had been there and back again.
How to Read Literature Like a Professor Analysis
The Hobbit is a fictional quest narrative, but also it's also an allegory for an allegory, as no work is truly original. The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan is an allegory for the spiritual journey for a Christian, and The Hobbit is an allegory for both. Both The Pilgrim's Progress and The Hobbit are quest narratives, starting with a place and people who are completely comfortable with where they are in life, and who don't want change. Instead of Bilbo living in Destruction however, he lives in a town called the Shire which gives you respect if you do nothing out of the ordinary. Both protagonists are called away, either by the idea of total destruction or by Gandalf, but nevertheless both are called away. Bilbo's lateness and routine try to keep him from leaving while friends of Christian try to stop him from leaving Destruction.
For each obstacle in The Hobbit, there is an obstacle in Pilgrim's Progress. But what in The Hobbit relates to a spiritual journey? Why, the very last sentence of the very first paragraph of course! "[...] it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort" (Tolkien 1). For a Christian, the world is a place of comfort and temptation, a place that is constantly trying to make itself more important in one's life than God. And a Christian is shown the world through the eyes of God, whether at a high point in their life, or a low point in their lives, and Bilbo is shown the world by Gandalf.
This may not be the conventional Christian spiritual story, but since when does the ordinary grasp our attention? Instead it is the wizard marking up our door and forcing a company of dwarves into our homes that make us interested, that brings out one's Tookish side. Both Bunyan and Tolkien tell of a spiritual journey in rather unconventional ways, ranging from the Shire, to Destruction, to Mirkwood, and to the wide road.
Moving along through our hobbit's journey, Tolkien gives the company their own Slough of Despond, appropriately named Mirkwood, in which they stray off the path, trying to find their way out of the woods. They are righted by mere happenstance, as Laketown is on the pathway to Erebor. After they reach Erebor, Thorin falls under the dragon-sickness and becomes greedy, falling off the path quite far, and resulting in his death, much like Christian's friend who follow's Judas Iscariot's pathway to heaven (in actuality, it's a pathway to hell). But Thorin is redeemed by what Bilbo calls a mercy.
At the end of it all, both Christian and Bilbo arrive back where they started, Destruction and the Shire, but they aren't the same as they were. They're enlightened about the world around them, and others can tell. Even Tolkien and Bunyan agree, there is no original story.
Dialectical Journals
"[...] people considered them very respectable [...] because they never had any adventures or did anything unexpected [...]" (Tolkien 2).
Why is Bilbo portrayed as acting like a Baggins at the beginning and a Took at the end? Why is Bilbo hiding his Tookishness?
The Shire is an allegory for the people of the world, because they are all comfortable with doing the same things, and we like those who stay within the social and class boundary lines that we set, and we all can tell if someone is different; it grasps our attention and it can be viewed in a negative or positive light depending on our worldview.
In the beginning, Bilbo is acting normal because he lives in the Shire and therefore must act normally. But by the end, he has become different; he's still Bilbo, but a bolder, unexpected, Tookish Bilbo who isn't afraid of what the neighbors will think anymore, and Tolkien is showing us the end result of a Christian after a spiritual journey. Bilbo hides his Tookishness because it is frowned upon by the hobbits of the Shire; that is the way he has been conditioned to act his whole life; that's all he knows how to do.
" 'My dear Bilbo' [...] You are not the hobbit that you were'" (Tolkien 302).
What does Bilbo discover about himself?
How has Bilbo changed? What was the true purpose of Bilbo's quest?
The novel is now near completion, Bilbo is standing atop a hill, looking At and Over the Hill, and Gandalf remarks just how much Bilbo has changed. As with almost every quest, the hidden meaning is self-discovery, and yes while Bilbo discovers his courage, wit, integrity, humility, and grace, he has changed. For it is one thing to discover things about oneself, but it is an entirely other matter to use this new knowledge.
Bilbo is not as uptight. His world is larger than the Shire, no matter how small he may be, and he was instrumental in keeping the world intact. Bilbo doesn't need Belladonna Took-Baggins' fine silverware or his neighbors respect and approval. He's fine with his Tookish side; it's who he is.
Bilbo's quest wasn't so much of self discovery as it was acceptance. He accepted his Tookish side, he accepted that the didn't belong in the Shire. He no longer needs to be ordinary or approved by the other hobbits. He's a Took, an Elf-friend, he's blessed, and he's honored by dwarves and wizards. Bilbo discovers that he's not completely from the Shire; and that's okay.
Conclusion
J. R. R. Tolkien was very much a writer who added depth and value to his stories. Unlike his contemporary and close friend C.S. Lewis who wrote with many of his messages laid out quite plainly, Tolkien preferred to subtly weave his values into his writing. Things such as mercy, perseverance, and leaving the worldliness and comfort of an ungodly life behind. This little book is so much more than a tale; it is a lesson in living a godly life, because who else, if not this little Hobbit, went there and back again?
