KidLit Forum

The critic Randel Helms argues that the renunciation to power is among the key themes in "The Hobbit". Discuss if there are implications in this sense in the story. Give other examples of themes in the "The Hobbit".

"I go now to the halls of waiting to sit beside my fathers, until the world is renewed. Since I leave now all gold and silver, and go where it is of little worth, I wish to part in friendship from you, and I would take back my words and deeds at the Gate." (chapter 18)

Thorin's respect and love for his ancestors' treasure is like a love poem. I feel that all the glory and history is wiped away when the moment of death intervenes between Thorin and his crew. All this ado was actually about nothing, in the end you cannot take it (the wealth) with you. Very sad... but true.

Other themes that seem important to mention are:

- loyalty and friendship (up to a point),
- courage (from Bilbo's part and from Bard the Bowman who killed the dragon Smaug),
- exploration (from the deepest and darkest dongeons to the tallest spider trees), t
- he cunning and the clever (Smaug's persuasive dialogue, Bilbo and Gollum's riddles),
- away from home and back again as the title says (building up characters)...
- blinded by wealth (you can keep it all until you die)...

The hunger. There are two types of it: natural and accepted (food) and unnatural and hard to let go (treasure). The second turns all the loyalty into betrayal, all the ups into downs:

"The mere fleeting glimpses of treasure which [the dwarves] had caught as they went along had rekindled all the fire of their dwarvish hearts; and when the heart of a dwarf, even the most respectable, is wakened by gold and by jewels, he grows suddenly bold, and he may become fierce." (Chapter 13)