Week 6: Heroic Journey

"The Hobbit"

J. R. R. Tolkien

Many stories do include a hero as their main protagonist who goes on journey and develops in their own ways. The novel, The Hobbit, written by J. R. R. Tolkien tells a story of a heroic adventure of a character named Bilbo. I have both watched the movie and later on read the novel, however the novel did include more detailed on each character including Bilbo himself. Although his father was a normal hobbit from a well-to-do family, his mother was from the Tooks, a family where they were infamous for their un-hobbit-like tendency to go on adventures. Bilbo started off as an ordinary hobbit who enjoyed being comfortable at his own house rather than going out into an adventure until het met Gandalf, the great wizard, and twelve dwarves. They offered him to join them to go on an adventure to find the mountain of gold, in which he refused. However, inside of him surely flowed the blood of the Tooks since he did later join in for the journey. 

As you read through the book or watch through the movie, Bilbo’s character develops very smoothly. It is definitely hard for him to overcome his uncomfortable feelings toward the dangers they were encountered, but he gradually began to notice he was going toward the right direction. Bilbo doesn’t change drastically by the end of the story, however he was not ended with the same cowardly self he began with. He may have not overcome his fear of dangers in adventures, however he did matures throughout the story. There are tons of stories with a hero where they are always featured as a golden figure within the tale, a strong and powerful individual. Bilbo isn’t that type of hero that people points fingers at, however how his mind matured throughout the journey simply makes him a hero of his own kind.