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.
