The Hobbit write up

The main character is Bilbo Baggins. Bilbo is a hobbit. Hobbits are half the size of a human, plump, with furry toes and they love food and drink. Most hobbits never leave their towns throughout their life, especially the Bagginses. Bilbo was very happy in his little hobbit hole in the neighborhood of The Hill and saw no need to ever leave. Until one day he met the great wizard Gandalf. Gandalf came searching for Bilbo and wanted him to join him in a great journey to find treasure that was stolen from an ill willed dragon named Smaug. 13 dwarves came to join Gandalf and Bilbo in the adventure. Dwalin, Balin, Kili, Fili, Dori, Nori, Ori, Oin, Gloin, Bifur, Bofur, Bombur. One dwarf who is slightly different from the others was Thorin Oakenshield. Thorin wanted to join them in getting the treasure to redeem his heritage. His relatives were very well known until Smaug came. Bilbo eventually but reluctantly joins them. The dwarves did not see why Bilbo was coming but Gandalf saw the purpose in Bilbo and that’s why he wanted him to join them. Through the 19 chapters of this book you begin to understand why Gandalf had Bilbo join and you will see the dwarves’ attitudes about Bilbo change.

            The central theme of The Hobbit is it’s a quest for Bilbo to realize in himself the plan that Gandalf has for him. The literary element that I believe is prominent in this story is allusion. The reason I believe that is all throughout the book they are connections to the bible. Also Gandalf is very much like God because he has a vision and a plan for Bilbo that Bilbo is unaware of and Bilbo does not see himself as a great adventurer; this is a lot like some Christian’s walk with God. A Christian does not know God’s plan for their life and most of the time they feel that they could never do something that pushes them out of their comfort zone and that may be difficult. This is exactly how Bilbo feels, he thinks the idea of him going on this great adventure is all a bunch of malarkey and he doesn’t feel he could do it, but with the help of Gandalf (viewed as God) he can does the most courageous things. Another reason I feel allusion is prominent is that Gollum is almost viewed as Satan. Gollum lives in this dark cave and he tries to lure people in like Satan. When Bilbo stumbles upon the ring it’s almost like he was being tempted by Gollum (Satan). Gollum also brings out the worst in people like Satan does. When Bilbo is down in Gollum’s cave he starts telling riddles and then lies to Gollum about having the ring. Another sort of reference to the bible is when they were all in the dark forest they could not see anything and they were hungry and just plain miserable. That I think is an allusion to hell, and they eventually find their way out which is like a Christian person experiencing trials in their life and then in the end God helps them through. Here is a quote that explains my point of view, “In the end he poked his head above the roof of leaves, and then he found spiders all right. But they were only small ones of ordinary size, and they were after the butterflies. Bilbo’s eyes were nearly blinded by the light. He could hear the dwarves shouting up at him from far below, but he could no answer, only hold on and blink. The sun was shining brilliantly, and it was a long while before he could bare it. When he could, he saw all around him a sea of dark green, ruffled here and there by the breeze; and there were everywhere hundreds of butterflies.” I think this quote somewhat explains the difference of  Hell and Heaven. The woods are very dark and miserable like Hell and once Bilbo climbs the tree and gets above the forest it’s bright and sunny and there are beautiful butterflies and a light breeze like someone might picture Heaven to be.

            My opinion on this story is I loved it! I really enjoy J.R.R Tolkien’s stories because he has such an awesome imagination and he can write with such imagery that you can picture everything he wrote in your mind. To me that is a great gift and I’m so glad that he kept writing and made The Lord of the Rings trilogy. I would absolutely recommend this book to other people to read because it’s so good! One thing I thought was a weakness was the ending of the book. The ending seemed too happy but then there are other books so it a double edged sword kind of thing.