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Violence in The Hobbit
The Hobbit, written by JRR Tolkien is one of the greatest works of literary fantasy ever. The main character, Bilbo Baggins, leaves his home where violence is nonexistent. Throughout his adventure Bilbo experiences levels of violence unknown to hobbits. By overcoming his timid nature in response to violence, Bilbo becomes a hero. Violence is used in The Hobbit to develop the characters, the plot, and the theme, as well as evoke personal feelings towards the characters.
Violent conflicts are used to develop and contrast the characters in The Hobbit. The hobbits are small passive people who avoid violence at all cost, but Bilbo did carry a dagger which shows that if forced he will use violence. The dwarves will always fight if threatened. They usually don’t provoke the conflicts; they would rather sit in their caves with their gold then fight. The goblins and orcs are always fighting. They even fight amongst themselves. It’s their nature to fight. The dragon can perform the greatest acts of violence by just deciding to burn down a town. Tolkien uses many different types of characters with different levels of violence to show diversity among the different types of people.
All great literary works contain an intricate weave of events that create the plot. In the exposition there is not much violence, but Gandalf does volunteer Bilbo for the work without asking, which to hobbits, would have been rude. The Rising action is filled with violence. This is where you see the true nature of hobbits. Whenever there is trouble Bilbo puts on his ring and hides, but he still experiences the scenes of violence. The climax happens in the most violent scene, when Smaug is burning down the town. Bard killing the dragon is an act of violence as well as the climax. The falling action is full of violence as well with the battle that was fought. Bilbo was not awake for the whole battle though. The resolution is Bilbo deciding that a little adventure in life is a good thing but you must risk violence to have adventures.
The common theme of heroic literature in that the hero is bigger, stronger, smarter, and braver than his enemy and uses acts of violence to defeat them. Bilbo Baggins is an anti-hero. He is short, timid, and plump, but by using his craftiness he resolves many problems he faces. He tells a riddle that beats Gollum, and afterwards when he has a chance to kill Gollum he chooses not to. He also steals the Arkenstone and gives it to the elves and humans as a bargaining chip.
The violent incidents used in The Hobbit are reflections of violence possible in our lives. In the book they fight over possessions such as gold and jewels, just like today when we fight over oil and weapons of mass destruction. Or Smaug deciding to burn a whole town; like 50 years [next page]