The Hero's Journey In The Hobbit, By J. R.

“The Hobbit,” a timeless classic containing dragons, dwarves, elves and more, is a great tale to read again and again. But “The Hobbit” is not only impressive because of all the daring adventures, it is impressive because of how the story develops. From the beginning, middle to the end, the story flows, and adapts to each conflict Bilbo Baggins faces. By captivating the reader, J. R. R. Tolkien takes his audience along with Bilbo Baggins through each step of the hero’s journey developing greatly along the way. Each part of the story plays a crucial role to piece together the masterpiece that is “The Hobbit.” In the novel “The Hobbit,” by J. R. R. Tolkien, the steps through the hero’s journey are well developed and thought out, from the refusal

R. R. Tolkien takes Bilbo Baggins, and the reader, on a path through the story using the archetypal steps of the hero’s journey. At the beginning, one of the steps the author develops clearly is the refusal of the call. After the dwarves have come over to Bilbo’s house and told him about their planned journey, the hobbit becomes quite flustered and skeptical, and Tolkien shows this on page 31 by stating, “The Tookishness was wearing off, and he was not now quite sure that he was going on any journey in the morning” (Hobbit, page 31). This shows how he was skeptical, and did not really want to go on the journey. Another example of how the author used Bilbo to develop this step of the hero’s journey can be found on page 32, “‘Don’t be a fool, Bilbo Baggins,’ he said to himself, ‘thinking of dragons and all that outlandishness at your age!’” (Hobbit, page 32). The quote explains how he believes he could not be fit for the journey, therefore he convinces himself that he shouldn’t have gone anyway. One last piece of evidence to support the claim that the author uses Bilbo Baggins to develop the archetypal step of refusing the call in “The Hobbit” is this, “‘That leaves you just ten minutes. You will have to run,’ said Gandalf. ‘But,’ said Bilbo. ‘No time for it,’ said the wizard. ‘But,’ said Bilbo again. ‘No time for that either! Off you go!’” (Hobbit, page 34). This quote shows how Bilbo did not want to go, he was hesitant, and he rejected the

R. R. Tolkien clearly defines using Bilbo Baggins, is the resurrection. According to “The Hobbit,” the author uses Bilbo Baggins to demonstrate how everyone, especially Bilbo himself, has changed because of the journey. “The Hobbit” clearly establishes this on page 32, “‘My dear Bilbo!’ he said ‘Something is the matter with you! You are not the hobbit that you were’” (Hobbit, page 326). Bilbo had returned different from his adventure and people could tell, he wasn’t the same hobbit he used to be. Following the journey, Bilbo has longed for home, in spite of being resurrected, he was still like his old self, this can be seen on page 324, “‘But our back is to the legends and we are coming home. I suppose this is the first taste of it’” (Hobbit, page 324). Mr. Baggins may have changed, but he didn’t change too drastically, he still wanted to go back to his beloved hobbit-hole. To conclude, one last piece of evidence that validates the fact that the author uses Bilbo to show clearly the resurrection step of the hero’s journey occurs on page 319, “‘So comes snow after fire, and even dragons have their ending!’” (Hobbit, page 319). Proving this, the author shows how his journey ended, Bilbo has become a different hobbit, and this is all clearly expressed by the author. Having used Bilbo’s resurrection to a new character, J. R. R. Tolkien plainly establishes the steps of the hero’s journey in the novel “The