In the novel, we follow Bilbo and his new-dwarf friends on a journey in which they are trying to recover a great deal of stolen treasure which originally belonged to the dwarves. From this a growing friendship is made between the dwarves and Bilbo. Throughout the journey the author reveals across that people are not always what they seem though their appearances can be decieving. By the end of the novel, Bilbo and his closer dwarf friends eventually recover the treasure but this is not before a tiresome journey for them all and for each character, but in particualar Bilbo, they have all learned more about the value of friendship as well as the value of others despite them looking the opposite.
Set in a fantasy land Tolkien's brilliant imagination created such characters which are very peculiar as well as being fantastically interesting. An example for this could be goblin. A race which not neccessaraly hate dwarves and hobbits as much as they do everything. This is shown by their attitude to others from the author telling so. "Now goblins are cruel, wicked, and bad-hearted. They make no beutiful things but they make many clever ones" I believe this is a good example to show that although Goblins are not the nicest species to others, they make clever items. In this case the items are weapons which I thought made the novel more interesting as the author gives an in-depth description of the weapons and other things the Goblins make. They are not classed as a strong enemy as they have very little intelligence. However what they lose in intelligence they make up for in numbers which still makes them a strong force.
Because the novel is from the fantasy genre, Tolkein spares no expense in the use of descriptive language of the surroundings and characters. An example for this is when Bilbo and his friends are on the journey and encounter a mountain. "Dark and drear it looked, though there were patches of sunlight on its brown sides, and behind its shoulders the tips of snow-peaks gleamed" I think this fantastic example shows how deep the descrition is given from Tolkien.
My favourite particualar character was Gandalf. Gandalf, who although might be a human being, is an old, wise wizard who helps the others throughout the book. I believe that although he does not hold a great part in the story, it is made greatly more intricate in storyline as a result of him. Gandalf, who does not follow the company of Bilbo throughout all of the adventures he goes through, helps the Hobbit when in a great deal of stress or trouble. I believe that he is the main strength for the others to help them along their journey.
The other characters which in most cases are not human, effect the story more than you first think they might. An example of thisparticualar aspect is when Bilbo is being chased by a group of goblins after suddenly escaping from their home. Suddenly, Bilbo falls down a tunnel and is separated from the others he was running with. Waking up in a large underground lake, Bilbo is uncomfortabley met with Gollum. Gollum was a human who was mysteriously turned into a hideous monster. Again, this is a part of a fantasy novel which is to be expected. After having a riddle competition and loosing to Biblo, Gollum decides to make an excuse to go back to the lake before he helps Biblo, which was the part of the riddle competition. Unfortunatley for Bilbo, Gollum was planning on putting on a magic ring to make him invisible so he would be able to pounce onto Bilbo without knowing. As a stroke of luck, Biblo had already found the ring but had said nothing to Gollum about it. Thinking that Bilbo had the ring, Gollum angrily moved towards Bilbo and began to chase him when Biblo, who became frightened had turned and ran into the dark path of the tunnel. Biblo who was losing the race fast, suddenly caught himself over a rock in the tunnel, forcing him to trip over but also making the ring slide onto his finger. Bilbo then learns that the ring is magic as Gollum ran past him.
I think this is a good example, as once you find out the ring is magic, (which is to be expected in a fantasy novel) the story changes a great deal as Biblo manages to get out of many difficult situations and confuse not only his enimes, but manages to confuse his friends untill he confesses what had happened to him.
The other creatures which Biblo met on his journey included -elves, wargs(talking wolves),eagles,Beron(A man with the ability to change himself into a Bear) and dwarves of a different race. As a result of meeting the different races and either befreiending them or battling them, Biblbo gains more respect but also changes and becomes more wiser and braver. As a result, I felt the book was a great way this shows that people can change despite their first impression.
I greatly enjoyed the book generally, but an aspect I felt gave the novel a great boost was when Tolkein adds small parts of information onto the novel which make you want to read the rest of the book . An example for this is when he is describing the Goblins, tells that Goblins hate dwarves equally to others but in this case they seem to hate Thorin more. "Which does not come into this tale" I thought showed how the author entices us to read on and because we are told that they make clever items, i felt that I would like to know more about them and perhaps Tolkien gave description in "the hobbit" or even the following series "Lord of the Rings". I believe that Tolkein successfully fills the context of the fantasy genre by the extensive use of descriptive language, the setting, the use of magic, long journeys and the unusual creatures. I felt that as a result of Bilbo being the reluctant hero however, I felt gave the book the edge over other fantasy novels and is the reason to which any people enjoy or would enjoy the book. Although I am not a great fan of the fantasy genre, I felt that this was a great exception and would encourage people to read not only this but also more of the fantasy style. I would recommend this to most people even though the lack of suspense which may discourage people who enjoy the thriller genre, Tolkien makes up for in this fantastically written tale.
