The Hobbit - Essay

The Hobbit - Essay

Compare and contrast the strengths and weaknesses of Thorin Oakenshield and Bilbo Baggins.   As readers, which of them are we meant to respect the most and why?

The Hobbit, by J.R.R Tolkien, shows the strengths and weaknesses of Bilbo Baggins and Thorin Oakenshield in the novel.   The novel starts off as Thorin seen as the more respected one between the two, while Bilbo gains his respect throughout the story, starting with none.   He grows more confident as the dwarves venture further into their quest, the further they get; the more Bilbo becomes a hero.   Thorin on the other hand proves to be resourceful and cunning from the start.   However, the respect for Thorin sways as the reader progresses further into the novel as he reveals what is truly inside.

Bilbo Baggins is a ordinary being becoming more of a hero as the story passes.   He believes that he should not go on the journey as he thinks he is more higher classed than the dwarves.   He had been pushed into coming with the dwarves out of panic and not having enough time to make his decision of weather to go or not, this is shown on page 45, “…and shall await your respected person at the Green Dragon Inn, Bywater, at 11 a.m. shap…” by the time he read this, it was 10:50.   After he read the letter Gandalf was waiting there, “That leaves you just 10 minutes”, “But---“ replied Bilbo, this shows the sign of rush in which Bilbo had no time to consider any other options and had to venture off to the Green Dragon Inn.   Bilbo has good general knowledge and what is right from wrong.

At the beginning of the story Bilbo is useless and causes a burden for the dwarves.   His lack of coordination gets in the way rather than helping the questers.   An example of this is when the dwarves are hiding from the Wargs. They are required to climb the trees to be out of reach of their pursuers and Bilbo is unable to climb the branches of the trees. One of the dwarves, Dori, climbed out of the tree to save Bilbo...