I have been thinking about the Thesis/Antithesis Synthesis(?) we discussed a while back in regards to The Hobbit and how many aspects move toward queerness (especially Bilbo). I find it fascinating when I reflect more on this, because I do not believe that Bilbo truly changes or transforms into something queer. In fact, I believe he possessed his queerness all along. This is first seen after the dwarves sing 'Misty Mountains' in Bilbo's hobbit-hole. It says, "something Tookish woke up inside him, and he wished to go and see the great mountains, and hear the pine-trees and the waterfalls, and explore the caves, and wear a sword instead of a walking-stick" (15). "Tookish" seems to be the hobbit-equivalent to "foolish." These thoughts that Bilbo holds in this moment are amplified as queer because of Bilbo's words just a few scenes before, "We are plain quiet folk and have no use for adventures. Nasty disturbing uncomfortable things!" (6). All of the heroic deeds that Bilbo performs on his journey thereafter fail to alter who he is. They do, however, reveal remarkable capabilities that were previously unknown to him (revealed only through circumstance). Despite these newfound abilities, he does not become egotistic or relinquish his values. Bilbo's decision to return to Hobbiton at the end of the novel shows us that he never lost his 'self' and he never changed who he was.
This novel is not about Bilbo's obtainment of queerness, but a discovery of his possession of it.
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