The Hobbit Response
Bilbo Baggins before his adventure
very much represented what Tolkien saw in the rural living of Englishmen around
the time when the book was published: Comfortably living, preference for the
simple things in life and not much of a concern for what was going on around
the time of the nineteen thirties. In Bilbo’s story his life is turned upside
down when he is invited by a wizard named Gandalf to undertake a quest to
reclaim the dwarfs treasure in the Lonely Mountain guarded by a large dragon
named Smaug.
Although reluctant to partake, the
arrival of the dwarfs convinces him otherwise. His journey to the Lonely
Mountain along with his growth as a person is tested throughout the number of
trials that he faces along the way: such as his encounters with spiders, trolls,
goblins and eventually Smaug himself. One of the key moments in the story is
the “Riddles In The Dark“ chapter where he has to solve a bunch of riddles,
which Gollum has set. Though successfully, Bilbo has also unknowingly stolen a
prized ring of the creature. When he asks Gollum what he has in his pocket, he
inadvertently causes the creature to go mad at the revelation causing him to
hate anyone with the name Baggins.
The apex of Bilbo’s growth is when
all the events culminate in the battle of the five armies. He witnesses death
and destruction but at the same time he gains new found knowledge from his
trials and tribulations and is able to go home never forgetting who he was.
Though he loses the respect of some of the hobbits, he is a changed person who
in contrast to his has more of a zest for life than he did at the start.
