Megan Smith
Period 2
February 6, 2013
Bilbo the Hero In The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien, you take quite an adventurous journey through a lot of different forests and rivers and mountains. It is quite an intriguing novel, although it did not really interest me much. You take this journey with a young hobbit named Bilbo Baggins and a group of 13 dwarves that are all trying to reach one goal, the treasure hidden in the lonely mountain. The dwarves need Bilbo in order to reach their treasure, without him, they would be helpless. This is a very mystical and fulfilling journey that take a long amount of time along the way, you will be on a wild ride. This novel is a sci-fi fantasy type story with a lot of creatures and characters you would not expect popping up at every corner. If you like mythical journeys and fictional characters with lots of action and adventure this story just might be for you. I, however, did not really like the story for my own reasons. I tried to get interested in this novel and I tried to read it and keep up, but it eventually just lost me. I did not quite like it because it was too long for me, and each chapter had too many little details that I felt was just unnecessary. There were too many different situations and ideas all happening at once and it was difficult for me to keep up with it all. I felt as though, the novel was jumping around a lot in each chapter and there were too many different creatures that were all different. While reading, I would find myself gradually losing interest in the story and start thinking about other ideas that came to my mind that had nothing to do with the story at all. In my opinion, I think it compares to other stories such as Harry Potter, or The Chronicles or Narnia. A pretty major character in this novel was Bilbo Baggins, the only hobbit. Bilbo was a dynamic character, he was well described and I had a good idea about his character traits throughout the novel. As the novel progressed he changed from a shy character that was afraid of leaving the comfort of his own home and he did not even like to associate with anyone. He changed into a hobbit that was adventurous and that enjoyed helping his friends and trying new things and enjoying life outside of the comfort of his home. What motivates Bilbo is getting through this journey and finding the treasure so he can just get back to his home and his life again. He was a memorable character because he was the only hobbit in the entire story and because he was the one that always protected the dwarves and kept saving them from whatever predicament they got themselves into this time. Without Bilbo, the dwarves never would have gotten to the mountain and saved their precious treasure. A minor character in the story however, would be Gollum, the creature that had the riddle battle with Bilbo in order to save his life. He battled with Bilbo in order to see if he was going to be able to eat him or not. Gollum was a flat character, he was very minor and had no personality that really pertained to the novel. He was not very memorable, he was remembered because he is where Bilbo first found his invisible ring, helping him escape from Gollum. Another minor character was Bard, but he is considered a heroic character, he was round. We did not hear about Bard until the very end of the story, but when we did hear about him he became an important character instantly. He is motivated by his ability to kill Smaug, the dragon and being the only one brave enough to do it. He was memorable because he was very heroic and courageous, he was the only human willing to stand up to the dragon when everyone else ran away in fear or was killed, he risked his life for the lives of his people. He is similar to Bilbo in that way, they both risked their lives to save their friends or family. The setting of the novel took place in this mystical land filled with creatures in each forest. it was similar to a fairy tale. At the beginning the