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John Collins
Mrs. Egan
Language Arts 7
May 2, 2014
Amazing Similarities
Would you ever have thought that Bilbo Baggins, from the highly esteemed
book The Hobbit, would have anything in common with our beloved Lord Jesus
Christ? Amazing similarities are found throughout the story. Although he wrote a
book of fantasy, Christianity influenced J. R. R. Tolkien, who is the author of the
book. Being born on January 3, 1892 in Bloemfontein, England, J. R. R. Tolkien would
become one of Englands finest modern-day writers. This was due to his skill and
expertise at storytelling. J. R. R. Tolkien died on September 2, 1973 at the age of 81
in Bournemouth, England. In a 1955 letter to W. H. Auden, J. R. R. Tolkien recollects
That he first started writing the book while he was grading school certificate
papers, (The Hobbit). Filled with mythological creatures with complex
personalities, The Hobbit is overflowing with excitement and adventure. The main
characters of the story are Bilbo Baggins of the Shire, Gandalf the Grey, Thorin
Oakenshield, and the twelve dwarves. Expertly written, The Hobbit is a story about a
hobbit that was accompanied by twelve dwarves and goes on an adventure to kill a
dragon and get The Lonely Mountain returned to the dwarves. Bilbo will be changed
forever! The fictional tale of The Hobbit is symbolic of Jesus Christs life and his
triumph over Satan.

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The Hobbit has become a classic book and has been honored with a number
of awards. In 2000, The Hobbit was awarded with the incredible Keith Barker
Millennium Book award by the Youth Libraries Group, the School Library
Association, and the Library Association Schools Library Group for the most
significant childrens book published between 1920 and 1939 (F.A.Q.). Awarded
by the New York Herald Tribune in 1938, The Hobbit won the prize for the best
juvenile story of the season (F.A.Q.). These awards are a testament to Tolkiens
genius in writing. The book is extraordinary! Because of its eloquent language and
extremely well crafted storyline, The Hobbit was also named Most Important 20
th
-
Century Novel (for Older Readers) (F.A.Q.). Humbly, J. R. R. Tolkien accepted
these awards with honor. Being the son of a faithful Catholic woman, J.R.R. Tolkien
used his knowledge of the faith to make an extraordinary series of novels, which in
turn aided him in meriting these awards. When Tolkien first began created the tales
as bedtime stories for his children, I would guess that he never imagined that his
books would be so well received.
While on their quest for the Arkenstone, which was an extremely valuable
gem that came to the dwarves when Thorin was young, the courageous dwarves
traveled in a group. The Arkenstone, which is also called the Heart of the Mountain,
was cut from deep within The Lonely Mountain. In the story, there were twelve
dwarves, just like Jesus Christ had twelve apostles. The dwarves, who fought
willingly by Bilbo, were named: Kili, Fili, Dori, Nori, Ori, Bombur, Bifur, Bofur,
Dwalin, Balin, Oin, and Gloin. Humbly, the twelve apostles served Jesus Christ
because they were faithful to him. The apostles names were: Peter, Andrew, James
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the son of Zebedee, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Thomas, Matthew, James the son of
Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon, and Judas. Although the fact that both groups had
twelve members is a similarity, there is also a difference between the groups. The
difference is that Jesus chose the twelve apostles, but it was Gandalf and the dwarves
that were the ones that chose Bilbo. Arriving at the house of Bilbo Baggins, Gandalf
the Wizard introduced the twelve dwarves and Thorin Oakenshield to Bilbo. He was
quite surprised! On page 20, in the 4
th
paragraph, first sentence, Gandalf introduces
the dwarves. Clearly, this helps to prove my thesis and demonstrate there were
twelve dwarves. It also shows that Gandalf chose Bilbo, and not the other way
around. Compared to Jesus and his apostles, Bilbo and the dwarves are a similar
group, at least in this way.
There are other similarities as well. One is that Jesus was sent by God to
obtain saving grace back for humanity, which was cruelly taken by the devil, while
Bilbo was assigned to get the Arkenstone back, which was stolen by the vicious
dragon Smaug. Bilbo Baggins and Jesus Christ are more similar because of this fact.
Although both Bilbo and Jesus seemed unsuited for the job that they had been
assigned to, they still accomplished their tasks. Jesus appeared unsuitable because
He was the son of a mere carpenter. Bilbo seemed unsuitable because hobbits were
not accustomed to adventures or excitement because they were small, simple folk.
Both Jesus and Bilbo had many difficult and challenging obstacles that they had to
overcome in order to complete the difficult tasks that they had been assigned.
Being the son of a carpenter was difficult because when the Jews first saw Jesus they
did not think that he was the divine savior that they had been promised.
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Surprisingly, Gandalf the Grey chose a small hobbit to be the dwarves burglar, who
would get the Arkenstone back for them, and because of this, the twelve dwarves
were quite confused and astonished. In the story, Bilbo was sent to be a burglar to
steal the jewel and return it to the dwarves. On page 27, 3
rd
paragraph, the fourth
sentence, Bilbo is assigned the burglar. This helps prove my thesis because it shows
that Bilbo was chosen to be the burgular.. At first, Bilbo refused to join the merry
band of dwarves, but in the morning, Bilbo came to his senses and went after the
dwarves to go with them on their adventure. This helps prove my thesis because it
shows how Jesus Christ and Bilbo Baggins had a duty in life. Accompanied by his
apostles and accompanied by the twelve dwarves respectively, Jesus and Bilbo
completed the tasks that they were given.
Jesus was winning grace for mankind and not for Himself; Bilbo was winning
the dwarves magnificent kingdom for the dwarves and not for himself. This shows
that Jesus and Bilbo had more in common than one might think. They both were
generous. However, there was a difference between the generosity of Bilbo Baggins
and that of Jesus Christ. Kindly, Jesus was always there when the apostles needed
Him, but Bilbo initially declined helping the dwarves, who desperately needed him
to help them on their mission. Being the Son of God, Jesus was always there to help.
In the story on page 303, paragraph 2, sentence one, Bilbo says that he has a home
but that the dwarves do not. This proves my thesis because it shows that Bilbo was
not just doing this for himself, but that he was doing this to help the dwarves and
not for the endless wealth of riches. By telling the dwarves that he was doing this
task for them and not for himself, the dwarves respected him and trusted him more.
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Accomplished by trust and companionship, the dwarves and Bilbo became an
amazing team.
J. R. R. Tolkien, the author of The Hobbit, grew up in England as a Catholic.
In 1903, he made his First Communion at the age of eleven. It was a joyous
occasion. However, the joy that J. R. R. Tolkien experienced was soon lost when his
mother died less than 12 months later. Designated by his mother, Fr. Morgan, who
was Tolkiens mothers dear friend, became guardian to Tolkien and his brother.
Later, Fr. Morgan sent the two boys to live with their Aunt Beatrice. J. R. R. Tolkien
often served beside Fr. Morgan at Sunday Mass. J. R. R. Tolkien loved Fr. Morgan
dearly. Tolkien stated one time that, I first learned charity from him, (Pearce
2005). Keeping to his mothers legacy, J. R. R. Tolkien kept to the Catholic faith for
the rest of his life. In fact, as an adult, Tolkien would become an instrumental part of
C. S. Lewis conversion to Christianity. J. R. R. Tolkien had an extraordinary gift for
storytelling and language. He saw the faith in such a way that he was able to
transform it and Jesuss life into a mystical and exciting tale. But what he wrote was
not lies. What he wrote was the best way of saying and showing the things that
would otherwise remain inexpressible. Growing up Catholic in England at that time
meant that many of the Catholic adults in your life were probably converts, and this
was true for Fr. Morgan, since shortly before this time Catholicism was greatly
looked down upon in England (Pearce 2005). Because of this, J. R. R. Tolkiens
Catholic upbringing was very important to him and greatly influenced his writing, as
we have seen in The Hobbit.
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A number of years ago, I went to the Tolkien Special Collection at the library
of Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. As a family, we went to
Milwaukee and the University and witnessed something incredibly inspiring. It was
J. R. R. Tolkiens notes! In the room where the collection was kept, all of J. R. R.
Tolkiens notes were on display, which in my opinion was very interesting to see.
All of the hand-written notes that J. R. R. Tolkien had made while he was writing his
books were there. They were very specific. For example, the timelines were there
that Tolkien had made to show where all of his different characters were at every
point in his books. Stretched all around the room, these timelines were very
detailed and were like a time-map of the story. One interesting point that shows
that Tolkien really was thinking about Christianity as he wrote is that many of the
important dates in The Lord of the Rings were connected to Catholic feast days. So,
for instance, Frodo was healed on October 24, which used to be the feast of St.
Raphael, the Healer of God. Also, there were notes about the new language that
Tolkien had created for the stories Elvish! It was a real language that he had made
up for the elves to speak in Middle Earth, with its own letters, pronunciation, words,
and grammar (F.A.Q.). Having been one of the people that have seen this
marvelous collection, reading The Hobbit was a special experience for me.
In conclusion, my argument is that Jesus Christ, who is the Son of God, and
Bilbo Baggins, the hobbit, have stories that are similar in several ways. Jesus
traveled with twelve apostles and Bilbo traveled with twelve extremely brave and
courageous dwarves. Lovingly, Jesus came to our aid when we needed Him, and
Bilbo was there when the dwarves needed his help. Avoiding selfishness, Jesus and
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Bilbo were doing all of this for other people and not for themselves. With that stated,
what I mean is that Jesus was winning salvation for us and Bilbo was winning the
dwarves kingdom for the dwarves. Both were always at the sides of others to help
them. Both of them were generous. When I say that Jesus and Bilbo are similar in
more than one way, I mean that Jesus dedicated his life toward the human races
salvation and winning their lost grace back for them, and Bilbo Baggins risked dying
so that the dwarves could win their once glorious kingdom back. This is why this
text is important. This story is important because it shows similarities between
things that some people may not have considered. For example, few people might
have thought about how Bilbo and Jesus were similar, but they both were willing to
die for others while helping them. Created by a Christian man, The Hobbit is a
thrilling and exciting tale that reminds us of another important thrilling, exciting,
and religious tale that of Jesus Christ.

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Works Cited
"The Hobbit." Wikipedia. n.d., 1 Apr. 2014. Web. 15 Apr. 2014.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hobbit#cite_note-14>.
"F.A.Q." The Tolkien Society. The Tolkien Society, n.d. Web. 15 Apr. 2014.
<http://www.tolkiensociety.org/author/faq/#awards>.
Pearce, Joseph. "J. R. R. Tolkien." CatholicAuthors.com. Catholic Authors, 2005. Web.
15 Apr. 2014. <http://www.catholicauthors.com/tolkien.html>.

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