The Hobbit Blog Post

        The book "The Hobbit", by J.R.R Tolkien, tells the tale of a hobbit named Bilbo Baggins who embarks on a long and dangerous journey with 13 dwarves and a wizard named Gandalf. Their goal is to kill a dragon, Smaug, who long ago destroyed the dwarves' kingdom and now lived inside a mountain with all of the kingdom's riches and treasure. Throughout the book, the crew encounters various creatures, some friends and many enemies. So far I’ve found that as the story moves on, Bilbo’s role in the team and confidence changes and rises, especially shown in a few key events.

            When the story first begins, Bilbo wants nothing of the adventure and simply wants to resume his quiet and peaceful life. The dwarves think he is useless and mock him by calling him a “little fellow” and saying he was “more like a grocer than a burglar”. Calling him these names sets a small fire in him that is enough to make him agree to the adventure, a move he regrets many times later in the journey. I think this event in the story showed that all Bilbo needed to give him some confidence and set his adventurous side free was some motivation and having something to prove.

            The second event that really showed Bilbo taking a further step with his bravery is when he gets separated from his friends in the underground tunnels of the Misty Mountains. Bilbo encounters an evil creature named Gollum, and happens to find Gollum’s invisibility ring, and escapes from him. Bilbo finally achieves something on his own, and this alone makes his bravery rise. He can finally show that he may only be a small hobbit, but he can still survive and do brave things. Also, when he returns to his companions, they congratulate him and praise him, and although he had the help of the ring of invisibility, this makes his confidence skyrocket, showing that all that Bilbo really needed was some recognition and appreciation to kick start his bravery.

            Finally, Bilbo’s bravery and warrior side comes on full display when he must save his companions from a horde of giant spiders in the Mirkwood forest. He fights off dozens of spiders and saves his companions from sure death. This act of bravery shows he can really be of use to the team. After this victory, Bilbo’s confidence skyrockets, as well as his leadership role in the group. This display of bravery boosts his confidence enormously and makes him a valuable asset.

            I think these events showed that sometimes it only takes a few things to completely change a person. Bilbo goes from being a small hobbit with a quiet life fearing adventure, to a giant-spider slaying hero, and mostly all it took was some recognition from his friends, having something to prove, and helping the team in small ways until he finally he really demonstrated bravery with his slaying of spiders. Not only did these things boost his confidence and bravery, they also greatly changed his role in the group. Gandalf the wizard leaves near midway in the journey, and once Bilbo becomes more confident, he slowly becomes the leader and decision maker of the group. This shows that it doesn’t take much to change someone to be a leader who can make their own decisions and change lives.

Revised Blog Post Literary Essay

          The young adult fiction novel "An Abundance of Katherines", by John Green, tells the story of a child prodigy named Colin who, after getting dumped by a girl named Katherine for the 19th time, decides to embark on a road trip with his friend Hassan. He ends up in a rural town in Tennessee named Gutshot, where he discovers new friends and a new life. It's a novel that teaches a lot about what life should be about. These morals defined the book and its storyline, as well as the characters. And although many of the morals were very clichéd, they were truthful and meaningful.
          One moral and theme was a large one, and it was that you don't have to be famous and remembered by thousands to be important. Throughout the book, Colin repeatedly states that he wants to leave his mark on the world and be remembered as important. Colin says "“What is the point of being alive if you don't at least try to do something remarkable?”  (page 106, line 8) and this is shown as one of Colin's flaws over and over again. This line shows how the characters change to mold to the morals through the book, as Colin's opinion on what it takes to have a meaningful life changes from start to finish. He thinks that solving an algorithm that would predict a relationship will help him to be remembered, and he spends his time trying to do this instead of actually living life. This starts to change once he develops a relationship with his new "family" he starts living with, mainly Lindsey and her mother, since he realizes that being who he is is important enough, and that he needs to start living life instead of trying to be a prodigy. Colin decides that he doesn't need to leave a permanent mark on the world to be important, and that's what this moral achieves with his character.
          Lindsey is a character who specifically displays changes in behavior constantly represented by the moral that you should only be yourself, instead of trying to pretend being someone else. Again, the character starts the story not fitting this concept, but ends the book by changing to fit this moral. Throughout most of the book, Lindsey constantly acts differently around different people, thinking this will help everybody like her. For example, she acts more Southern and puts on a thick accent around elderly people, acts bubbly and girly around her boyfriend, and tries to act like a "nerd" around Colin and Hassan. She thinks she can please everybody in her life by putting on fake personas for each group of people. She admits her identity issue when she says, "I'm never myself. [...] I'm nothing. The thing about chameleoning your way through life is that it gets to where nothing is real. (page 203, line 12)". She realizes she has lost her true identity by being so many things, but having a relationship with Colin helps her find who she really is. She becomes her own person and discovers that, while she can't please everybody in her life by being herself, it's their problem for not accepting her identity. In the end, she realizes that those who accept her for who she really is are those that are most important to her.
          These are just two examples of clichéd morals in the book, and there are many more. And though many morals of fiction stories are prosaic and dull, the ones in this novel are meaningful and really show how they can change a person's life. This book taught me many valuable lessons and altered the stereotype in my head that clichéd morals and lessons are only boring and repetitive, and that they can instead be important themes to the book that shape the plot and define the characters.
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