The Hobbit

This week we introduced the genre of Fantasy with J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit. Tolkien’s interest in linguistics, and his time in World War I were great contributors to his works of literature. Also, the clash between his calm rural childhood and the industrialization of the area he lived in gave him great inspiration.

The Hobbit, the precursor to the Lord of the Rings trilogy, is the story of an adventure that Bilbo Baggins, a hobbit, undertook. Set in “Middle-Earth”, The Hobbit includes creatures and environments made up by Tolkien, but heavily influenced by Norse mythology. Hobbits, a race of small people who enjoyed a simple lifestyle, and weren’t known for going on epic journeys. In the story, a wizard named Gandalf invites Bilbo to go with him on an adventure to take back an ancient treasure that was now in the possession of Smaug the dragon. Bilbo, Gandalf, and a group of dwarves go on this quest which takes them through mountains, forests, and caves. They faced rough landscapes, hunger, bad weather, and attacks by all sorts of creatures like huge spiders. After they were able to kill Smaug, a huge war over the treasure ensues between humans, elves, dwarves, goblins, and wargs. In the end Bilbo goes back to the hobbit lands, and kept on living the chill lifestyle of a hobbit.

Maybe, Tolkien gave the role of hero to a hobbit, because when he was a child and saw the fast pace industrialization of his country, he yearned to go back to relaxing in his country pasture home. The life-style of a hobbit is peaceful, ideal. Middle-Earth isn’t any more savage than our daily world. I think the world we live in now could be considered even more dangerous and evil, for that reason, even though Bilbo isn’t a great warrior he still has mental qualities and morality of an epic hero.