Life is riddled with choices, when is it okay to take advantage of another? Or, when is it okay to cheat to get out of sticky situation? “The Hobbit” by J.R.R. Tolkin is a tale about two creatures that cross paths in the most unexpected way possible, after Bilbo falls into a dark cave he tries to find a way out but comes to the lake where Gollum, the creature eater, lives. As Gollum paddles across his lake he watches Bilbo and starts to talk to him, he offers to play the riddle game, after all Gollum is lonely and wants to talk to someone. If Gollum can stump Bilbo he gets to eat Bilbo, but if Bilbo wins the riddle game Gollum has to show him the way out of the cave. The game starts and both players are strong, they can solve the riddles, however, after a couple of riddles both players start to become anxious. In hopes that he will survive, Bilbo cheats and asks a question that is not a riddle. When Gollum realizes that Bilbo cheats he becomes furious and seeks revenge. Bilbo had asked …show more content…
The ring helps him to hunt for food and he thinks that it is his birthday present. Ethically the big questions are, should Bilbo have showed mercy on Gollum and left him his ring after he was out of danger? Or, did Bilbo do the right thing and keep the ring to save others lives? Some readers will insist that Bilbo did the right thing by keeping the ring on account that Gollum uses the ring for evil and only hurts others when he uses it. It was just that Bilbo kept the ring. What goes around, comes around. Justice is “fairness in protection of rights and punishment of wrongs” (businessdictionary.com), and that was exactly what Bilbo was doing when he took the ring, he was not only protecting the rights of all of the other little creatures that Gollum eats, but he was punishing Gollum for eating them and using unfair hunting techniques to catch