Adventures and Heros

When I was in 5th grade my teacher read my class the book The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien. I really enjoyed the book then, and I am enjoying it even more reading it the second time around. Bilbo is my favorite character out of any book I have ever read. He is funny, in a non-obvious way, and he is just a genuinely nice person (hobbit). His innocence to the world around him plays well into his characterization of being frightened of the outside world at the beginning of the book. Bilbo grows through experience and understanding, just as normal people do. He is afraid of the unknown, but as soon as he gives things a chance he becomes unafraid. He is also heroic in subtle way. He does not do anything amazingly out of the ordinary; it is the little things he does that make him hero-like. He takes the challenge of going on the adventure with the dwarves as their burglar, even though he is terribly frightened. On the journey, thus far, he outwits Gollum, steals swords from the trolls and becomes an expert at burglary. Slowly, as time passes, Bilbo is forming more into a hero. At first he is a shy, timid little hobbit who stays in his hobbit hole, and now he is a brave, risk taking, hero like hobbit who enjoys the adventure he is on.