Known as the classic in children’s literature, J. R. R. Tolkien’s fantasy novel The Hobbit reveals the treacherous quest to retrieve the home of the dwarves and the treasures stolen by the dragon Smaug. Bilbo Baggins, a hobbit living peacefully in his comfortable home, gets involved in the quest after an unexpected visit of Gandalf, the itinerant wizard. Reluctantly, he follows the thirteen dwarves and Gandalf to more sinister territories and encounters many difficulties during the quest, such as getting caught by goblins and trolls. Ultimately, the dragon Smaug is killed and the dwarves reclaim their treasures. Other neighbors, wishing to obtain some valuables, surround the hill and fight with avarice. The dwarves, the humans and the elves, badly wounded, finally win the battle, and Bilbo, accepting only a small portion of the treasure, returns home wealthy. As Bilbo travels and grows during the journey, Tolkien gives insights to the forming of conflicts, explores the inevitable greediness, and reveals both the evil and equity of human nature.
Before taking an action, the value of the adventure to each person is different. As The Hobbit illustrates, adventures have different significance for each individual, which forms different values and necessities, thus revealing conflicts. After the loss of their homeland, the dwarves have been traveling in the wilderness, so they have to reclaim their homeland and treasures. On the other hand, Bilbo Baggins, the hobbit who lives comfortably in his home, doesn’t find the quest necessary for him. Living in his wealthy house and being respected by other hobbits, he is reluctant to help the dwarves and gets himself in great danger. The unbalanced significance of the adventure causes further conflicts between Bilbo and the dwarves, making the dwarves doubt his loyalty to them and the effort Bilbo makes during the quest. When Bilbo gets lost from the group, the dwarves will easily conclude that he flees away and returns to his peaceful home. Bilbo’s longing for his home is in reality a metaphor for one’s comfort zone. For a long time, Bilbo stays in his safety zone, not bothered to risk anything or change anything. The unexpected quest he participates in is his chance to jump out of his comfort zone, explore the greater world and find the reality he sometimes avoids to know. When he defeats his fear, Bilbo can discover the new and brave side of himself, later on gaining trust and respect from the dwarves.
Greed happens everywhere—when people find opportunities to gain money or goods, they will seize any opportunity to obtain the precious valuables. As the author portrays, characters in the Hobbit, when facing treasures and valuables, will change their personalities and gather what they can get even though the goods might be useless to themselves. In the novel, the dwarves try to reclaim their homeland and their treasures taken by the antagonist Smaug, a rapacious dragon who destroys lands, kills dwarves, and plunder treasures. By pillaging other’s fortunes, the dragon’s treasure is already high as mountains, but he does nothing to the treasures except for sleeping on them. His avidity provokes ruination of other’s homeland, yet the money Smaug gains is useless to him. When Bilbo accidentally gets hold of the ring that belonged to a creature Gollum, he discovers that Gollum is deeply obsessed with it even though it showed no use to Gollum. The creature keeps on referring to the ring as “my precious”, making him plagued by the ring and controlled by it. Even the dwarves, —brave, stubborn and loyal creatures—once seeing their treasure, change their personalities. The dwarves, turning obsessive about the treasures, don’t agree to share any money to repair the town the dragon Smaug destroys. The leader of the thirteen dwarves, Thorin Oakenshield, turns greedy when he sees the treasures and even doubts his own friends on betraying him when he can’t find the most precious stone he wants. As the main protagonist of the story, Bilbo Baggins even shows rapacity when he finds the ring. He keeps the secret to himself and has some moments when he can’t control his greed, such as killing some beasts and spiders to get back the ring. Everyone is in search of treasures even if it’s not useful because of their greed, and by greed, the characters of the novel turn against each other, becoming callous, selfish and isolated from others.
Human nature is complicated—although many devils have done evil to others, the good side of human nature still exists in the novel. As Tolkien illustrates, while many creatures kill innocents and fight for greed, there are others who show mercy and act morally. Although Bilbo Baggins is sometimes greedy, he still shows his good side of human nature. When he has a chance to kill Gollum after he steals the ring, he ceases his action of killing Gollum for it was unjust to kill anyone that might be harmful, especially when Gollum does nothing wrong. Even when Bilbo gets the Arkenstone, the most treasured heirloom the dwarves are in search of, he firstly keeps it to himself for he is attracted to the beauty, yet later on gives it freely to Bard and the elves as a bargaining chip to stop the battle between the dwarves and the others. Bilbo’s pity to Gollum and his rightful handlement of the Arkenstone shows justice and mercy, and is a key reason for the defeat of evil. As Gandalf says to Bilbo, true courage is about knowing not when to take a life, but when to spare one. Nobody can be truly good or bad, yet people can choose to be good or bad by controlling one’s evil thoughts and showing mercy to others. As The Hobbit insights, Bilbo’s mercy is a power to overcome evil, and his grace is an important protector against the harm of the ring, which dominates one’s thoughts and corrupts the one wearing it both physically and mentally.
The Hobbit, presenting itself as an adventurous story, comprises complex human nature where greed reveals in characters and perverts the characters’ personalities. Yet, on the other hand, mercy is also powerful to overcome evil. The satisfaction of his life allows Bilbo to resist cupidity, remain positive and maintain righteousness. The journey is not only a quest to recover the dwarves’ homeland, but also an extended metaphor for the life ahead for people. The comfort zone to step out of, the exploration of a greater world, the difficulties to encounter, the choices of doing evil or good, and the attraction of unnecessary valuables are all a part of our life. As the author presents, the mercy, selflessness, and courage Bilbo and other characters possess are important attributes in our real world, and living a simple life, resisting the greediness and addiction to valuables, just as Thorin says to Bilbo before his death: “If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.”
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