The Hobbit: Part 2

Jamie Beckman
October 12, 1998
English p-2

After finishing, The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien, I still hold the same impressions that I had after reading the first half of the book. I enjoyed reading it very much because it was creative and fun. It felt more like I was reading a book for pleasure than for school.

I think Beorn, the skin changer, proved to be a very wise and intelligent character. The knowledge that he passed on to the dwarves during the first half of the book turned out to be foreshadowing later points in the novel. He told them to stay on the path and not to wander, yet curiosity got the best of the dwarves and when they wandered off the path they were met by difficult challenges. In the woods when they strayed from the path, the dwarves and Bilbo encountered spiders and Wood-elves. Beorn also warned them to make the most of their food because they would soon wish that their bags were heavier with food. This happened to the dwarves and Bilbo while they were in Mirkwood. The food and water ran out and they were forced to go without nourishment for a few days until they were taken as the Wood-elves' prisoners.

There was one thing that I thought was unrealistic even for an adventure/fantasy novel. When the dwarves were separated from Bilbo in the forest, twelve of them were captured by the spiders and Thorin was taken captive by the Wood-elves. After Bilbo rescued the dwarves from the spider webs, it took the group a long while to remember that there was still one more dwarf that was missing. After spending so much time with the same group, I think they would have begun to look for him immediately or at least recognize that he was missing sooner than they did.

Bilbo seems to change and grow tremendously during the course of their adventure. After he killed the first spider, the author said that Mr. Baggins "felt a different person, and much fiercer." He demonstrated extreme bravery when he chose to fight numerous spiders all alone in order to allow his friends to escape. Bilbo also matured into very courageous hobbit when sneaking down the hallway to the dragon's liar. Despite these emotional changes, Bilbo returned very much the same hobbit that left his hole at the start of the adventure. I think the author mentioned the handkerchief to display this idea. I think it also shows that Bilbo has made a full circle from the beginning of the journey. He started off timid and afraid. During the journey he was forced to be brave and adventurous, but now that he's back home he's going to turn back to his nonadventurous ways of life.

A very interesting idea came up during our book discussion on Friday. It was proposed that Gandalf never really went to the wizards' convention and left the dwarves. We determined that Gandalf could have been the thrush on the rock that always seemed to convey messages to the dwarves and Bilbo. I think it makes sense, because in the early parts of the book, Gandalf would rescue the group when they were in a crunch. The dwarves interpreted that the thrush was trying to tell them the right thing to do, and when it couldn't, it got the raven that could communicate with them.

I enjoyed reading this book more than any other recent book that I've read for school. It's definitely the type of book that I might consider reading again when I get older.