Bilbo's Journey In The Hobbit

The fantasy genre is mixed with adventure stories to create compelling children’s books that deal with magic and exciting creatures to keep young readers intrigued and on the edge of their seats. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone is the first novel written by J.K. Rowling in the late 1990s and is a story is about the adventure of an average eleven-year old boy who discovers that he is actually a well-known wizard. In comparison, J. R. R. Tolkien’s late 1930s novel, The Hobbit, is about a “well-to-do” hobbit that is asked to join in an adventure to reclaim the dwarves’ treasure from the Lonely Mountain (Tolkien 4). Both main characters, Harry Potter and Bilbo Baggins, are asked to leave their homes to participate in adventures that result in gaining a new identity. Their experiences and adventures

Bilbo’s transition stage occurs when he steps outside his safety zone to engage in the risky adventure of becoming a burglar. This ends in failure when he tries to steal the money purse from the trolls but ends up getting caught. Luckily, however, he proves his worth when he finds a key that unlocks the Trolls’ secret cave that contains swords to use on their adventure (Tolkien 51). Harry’s transition stage focuses on his internal conflict as he learns more about the wizard world and about his parents. In this stage Harry does not feel accepted into either the Muggle world or the wizard world because he is concerned that all the other students at Hogwarts will be more educated in magic, he is also concerned that he will not be chosen for any house or the wrong house at the hat sorting ceremony (Rowling 128). Both characters in the transition stage are unsure about the value of their skills, as Bilbo and Harry do not see themselves as a burglar or a wizard and they are still unsure if they are fit for the title they are