The Hobbit

This book is the epitome of a heroes' journey. You go out and journey through the wilderness and triumph over your greatest fears in order to obtain something, an elixir or grail of sorts. The elixir would be either knowledge or power that changes the point of view of the character in question. In the beginning Bilbo Baggins is called away, leaving his humble existence.  Gandalf plays the mentors role in this journey. He is someone that helps Bilbo but isn’t always there for him or his companions.  Towards the middle-end of the story Bilbo gets the ring, which is essentially the elixir. Elixir is the symbolic thing you get in a heroes journey and is the very basis for the rest of the series. Although, there is a theme of growing maturity in this book as Bilbo develops, there is a clear difference between this heroes’ journey and some others. In that Bilbo is not an adolescent growing up and facing life for the first time. He is set in his ways as a peaceful almost middle age hobbit at home in the Shire. Yet he ends up facing whole new experiences that he wouldn’t have been part of if it weren’t for the push from Gandalf. Bilbo was reluctantly persuaded to join, and the hero is often persuaded to join against their better judgment or against what they would typically elect to do.  To embark on this journey with this group of strangers is completely against what Bilbo knows.  There is a series of battles, missteps, arguments and discovery along the way that set up the various obstacles along any heroes’ quest for adventure.  This story sets up an entire world and leads us through the most relatable character’s eyes in this wonderful escape of a tale.