A Comparison of Worlds

Who has the better life: the traveler or the homebody? I have always loved traveling. It was something I did together with my family. Now that I travel on my own, I view it as another chance to experience the world at large. I always felt bad for the people I know who never left the country, state, or even county (they exist). How could they be okay with missing out on all of the beauty and variety of the world? I viewed these “homebody” people as back-wooded, in-experienced, uneducated, and boring. Prior to the quest, Bilbo would have certainly fit into this category. I mean, come on, he LITERALLY lived in a hole in the hill. 

However, as I did a little more research on Tolkein, I found that maybe I was approaching the question wrong. Tolkien achieved this secondary world through his prior scholarly knowledge of ancient languages at Oxford. Inspired by ancient epics, Tolkien fashioned elements of The Hobbit from the classic literature, including the heroic quest, the dragon’s treasure hoard, named swords, the mystery of elven magic, and the forbidding emphasis on inheritance and family lineage. The Hobbit incorporates many of these ancient elements to forge a playful, comic tone that is somehow modern. The character of Bilbo with his common sense, peace-loving, and warmhearted self-doubting humanity (although definitely hobbit), is a very accurate characterization of a rural Englishman of the 1930s. Just like many countrymen were unexpectedly abducted from their cozy hobbit holes to fight in World War II, Bilbo was also transplanted into a medieval quest.

By creating this distinct juxtaposing setting, Tolkien is able to explore the differences between the primary and secondary world. This contrast is the major source of the novel’s comedy. If Bilbo embodies reality, his encounters with the fantastic are usually laughable to him. Yet, it is important to note Thorin’s last words to Bilbo. Although Thorin is Bilbo’s opposite and possibly antithesis who is the embodiment of grandiose epic heroism, he realizes that Bilbo’s simple way of life is perhaps more important in Middle Earth.

This brings me back to the question of the homebody and the traveler. I would say that Thorin came to realize the traveler life was not all what it was cracked up to be and he was envious of Bilbo having a home like the Shire. However, in history and in The Hobbit, you need both traveler and homebody to be a complete person. If Bilbo never left the Shire, he would have never known how blessed he was. You need to leave the Shire sometimes to gain perspective. Yet, you also need a Shire to fight for, which is what motivated Bilbo to succeed in his quest and how we won World War II. We traveled and found that home (The Shire or England/America) was worth fighting for.