Week 06 The Heroic Journey

The Hobbit is a classic journey of the hero. An epic quest. Crossing a threshold. What I especially liked about it is Bilbo and his position as the unlikely hero. In the typical hero’s journey, the protagonist, although he might desire to grow, at first declines to call to action. Bilbo fits this especially well because he is very comfortable at the Shire. As a small, untrained character he is very unlikely to be effective on his mission. Even though this a common aspect of the hero’s journey formula, I think Tolkien really pushes it to an extreme. He uses the genre of high fantasy to explain his idea. Bilbo doesn’t just feel ill-equipped for his quest, his very species is ill-equipped for quests. This makes his journey especially compelling. In the end, he overcomes his nature and becomes a hero. By using High fantasy and the hero’s journey Tolkien skillfully describes how we can overcome and be more than we thought possible. After all, If Bilbo can rival a Dragon, then maybe I can get through my day too.