Characterization

Characterization

Bilbo

 Bilbo is the most important and most likable character. Even as the other characters become corrupted by greed, Bilbo keeps his common sense, courage, and need to please.

In the beginning, Bilbo is comfortable he loves food, drink, and security. But there is more to Bilbo than meets the eye. Bilbo is a Baggins but his mother was a Took, an eccentric clan of hobbits known for their love of adventure.

"They are a little people, about half our height, and smaller then the bearded dwarves. Hobbits have no beards. There is little or no magic about them, except the ordinary everyday sort which helps them to disappear quietly and quickly when large stupid folk like you and me come blundering along, making a noise like elephants which they can hear a mile off." (The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien, pg 2)

Gandalf 
 A wise  wizard who seems know more than he reveals. Gandalf has  magic and tends to show up at just the when he is needed most

Thorin Oakenshield  -  
Thorin is a proud warrior who can be stubborn sometimes. Although his greed and inability to come up with successful plans make him an unappealing character, his strength and honor redeems him. 

Theme and Authors Purpose

Theme

The theme found in The Hobbit would be over Bilbos heroism and that nobody believed that he was worth anything. Throughout the entire book the dwarfs continuously mention that Bilbo is no burglar and he isn't fit to be with them. They say that Bilbo only slows them down and causes more problems then he solves. But in the end Bilbo proves himself worthy when he steals the golden cup and also makes peace among the humans, elves, and dwarfs. At the end of the story Biblo found himself and who he was and didn't care what the other Hobbits thought of him. 

Ex:

"He has been more trouble than use so far" said one. (The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien, pg 92)
"He was in fact held by all the hobbits of the nieghborhood to be "queer"- except by his nephews and nieces on the Took side, but even they were not encouraged in their friendship by their elders.I am sorry to say he did not mind. He was quite content;" (The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien, pg 304)

Authors Purpose

Tolkien wrote "The Hobbit" in order to encourage readers to be who they want to be and do what they want to to do instead of base their actions on what other people will think of you. In Tolkiens youth he had began creating his own language, which would later be a language used in middle earth. Tolkien wrote "The Hobbit" in order to make use of a collection of stories called "The Silmarillion" .

Literary Devices

Literary Devices

The author does a great job of incorporating many literary devices and figurative language. These devices add to the excitement and entertainment of the story. 

ex: 

The description of Bilbo’s Took blood lets the readers know that Biblos' ancestors were also adventurous people, this is use of foreshadowing.  "That was, of course, absurd, but certainly there was still something not entirely hobbitlike about them, and once in a while members of the Took-clan would go and have adventures." (The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien, pg 3)

Tolkien allows the readers to fully visualize what is being imagined by Bilbo when Thorin was speaking for what seemed like forever for Bilbo, by using a simile it was very obvious Bilbo was annoyed. "Poor Bilbo couldn't bear it any longer. At may never return he began to feel to feel a shriek coming up inside, and very soon it burst out like a whistle of an engine coming out of a tunnel. " (The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien, pg 17) 

Tolkien takes the reader past a human experience when reading  by incorporating a dream of Bilbos in which  a spider was read to be tying him up, this is an example of anthropomorphism. "Then the great spider, who hadbeen busy tying him up while he dozed, came from behind him and came at him" (The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien, pg 155)

Tolkien makes the story come to life my personifying a mountain and making the reader feel as if they were in fact in front of the mountain. "Its bank was bare and rocky, tall and steep above the stream' and gazing out from it over the narrow water, foaming and splashing among many boulders, they could see in the wide valley shadowed by the mountain's arms the grey ruins of ancient houses, towers, and walls. (The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien, pg 204)

Structure and Point of View

 Structure

 The narrator is anonymous, he tends to speak in a comic voice with  asides and humorous descriptions of the characters.

Ex:

"And Bilbo? He could not get into any tree, and was scuttling about from trunk to trunk, like a rabbit that has lost his hole and has a dog after it." (The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien, pg 100)

Point Of View

 · The novel is narrated in the third person, mostly from Bilbo’s point of view. The narrator not only relates Bilbo’s thoughts and feelings but also comments on them.

Ex:

"Up slope and down dale they plodded. It grew very hot. Sometimes they rested under the trees, and then Bilbo felt so hungry that he would have eaten acorns, if any had been ripe enough yet to have fallen to the ground" (The Hobbit, J.R.R Tolkien, pg 177)

Tone and Diction

Tone
 The narrator’s tone is light and casual, he encourages his readers not to take his story too seriously by making  jokes. The narrator’s tone becomes darker when great danger is faced , but for the most part, the story is brightly and warmly narrated.
Ex: 

"Lumme, if i knows! What are yer?"
"Bilbo Baggins, a bur-a hobbit," said poor Bilbo, shaking all over, and wondering how to make owl-noises before they throttled him.
"A burrahobbit?" said they a bit startled. Trolls are slows in the uptake, and mighty suspicious about anything new to them. 
"Whats a burrahobbit got to do with my pocket anyways?" said William.  (The Hobbit, J.R.R Tolkien, pg 36)

Diction
The narrator's diction is casual and slightly advanced, he uses words that keep his readers attention but not careful not to use too much advanced diction that would confuse the reader.
Ex: 

"Why, O why did I ever leave my hobbit-hole!" said poor Mr Baggins bumping up and down on Bombur's back.  "Why, O why did I ever bring a wretched little hobbit on a treasure hunt!" said poor Bombur, who was fat, and staggered along with sweat dripping down his nose in his heat and terror." (The Hobbit, J.R.R Tolklein, pg 66)