The Hobbit

The Hobbit or There and Back Again
By: J.R.R Tolkien
Terri Thampan 804

   I have recently read the book "The Hobbit" by J.R.R Tolkien and I have to say it's amazing. It was really descriptive, and had an amazing plot. 
   The story is about Bilbo Baggins. He is a hobbit, and hobbits are creatures that like to be normal. Well to really explain normal, you are going to hear some personal bias here, it's actually very boring; it entails staying home, and doing normal things, never doing such ridiculous things like having adventures or other things so rambunctious. It actually reminds me of the Dursley family in Harry Potter. I guess J.K Rowling got her inspiration from Mr. Tolkien.
   Then, when Gandalf ( a wizard) comes, he sort of forces Bilbo to go on an adventure with Dwarves. These Dwarves are out trying to reclaim the treasure that belonged to "The King Under The Mountain" Thror, who also is Thrain's grandfather (Thrain being the leader of this little adventure). But, they must steal it from a dragon, and who better to steal than a "burglar" (what Gandalf told the dwarves what Bilbo's occupation was)? As they travel, they face many dangers, and learn as they go on.
    While I was reading, I felt like I was travelling along with the dwarves and Bilbo (And sometimes Gandalf). It's crazy, but what a good book does.
    What really amazed me was how subtly Bilbo changed. It was like you were Bilbo, as you never realize how you're changing in real life, and the same thing happened in the book. Usually in books that I read, I can pretty much "see" where the character starts to change. But this time, it was so subtle it was amazing. When you look back at the book you realize how much Bilbo has grown.
    The major change in this book, started off as a normal hobbit, that liked to be normal. The most noticeable change in him, is that at the end of the book he started to like being different and didn't care about that the other hobbits thought of him being "queer" or weird, or about fitting in and being normal. Going back to the whole Harry Potter story I was talking about, you don't see the Dursleys gain that change; and it's really sad because I only think that happens because Petunia was so jealous and hurt, she wanted to be something entirely different from her sister, normal.
    ANYWAYS, back to the Hobbit (sorry I'm a complete Harry Potter lover, which is why I always like to compare to HP when I can) , like I said before, Bilbo changed in more subtle ways. When I first thought of the book, and what to write for this blogpost I was like "uh, It's a really good book and I loved it," but I had no idea what to say. And then I started to think more about it, and started discovering the more subtle things involved in this book (Or maybe I'm just slow to not realize it before), like how Bilbo was actually pretty prideful at the beginning of the book. In the beginning of the book, he was blowing smoke rings in the air, and was very proud of how he blew a smoke ring and it flew over a mountain without breaking. You could also see his pride as he wore very nice clothing, and just the way he acted, you thought of a high class noble. By the end of the book, through many trials, he became a very humble creature, perhaps the most humble character in the book!
   He also becomes braver. In the beginning of the book he would be scared of such things like dragons and goblins. And though he is wary of those creatures, at the end of the book, he is a lot braver; so brave in fact, that he even gives up riches to do what is right, even though his friends would get angry with him.
   I think this book is amazing for anyone! I really can't wait to find the first book in the Lord of The Ring series (which sadly wasn't in the library)! But it also teaches us an important lesson; sometimes being normal, isn't the most fun or best thing, try to be different ad you can have many experiences you would have never had before.