Thursday, November 21, 2013

power of greed

As the end of The Hobbit neared the dwarves became more and more greedy.  In particular Thorin got very greedy and refused to make any compromise with the humans and the elves.  In my opinion if anyone deserved the gold from the dragon’s lair it was Bard the human of Lake Town.  After all he was the one who slayed the Smaug, and if it weren’t for Bilbo sending the message Bard would not have known where to hit Smaug in order to actually kill him.  Thorin and the other dwarves on the other hand I do not feel have done anything to deserve the gold.  Throughout the adventure they have put themselves and others in danger.  They are careless and only think of themselves especially when they are in the moment.  This flaw in my eyes is not the dwarves doing it purposefully however this seems to be a flaw in the species of the dwarves because they all carry this characteristic.  Tolkien seemed to make them this way in order to show the stubborn side of them.  Also as a whole it is used to make known the downfalls of greed.  At the end of the story the one character who showed the most greed, Thorin, ended with an awful demise.  I feel this symbolizes that with greed comes sorrow and regret.  When Thorin was dying he realized how wrong it was of him to act the way he had and he says to Bilbo, “If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.”  This was Tolkien’s attempt to prove the fact that there are more things to life than riches and power.  Much like modern day this has always been an issue with society.
What will become of the rest of the dwarves after the adventure?

Will there ever be another adventure of the group that has not been killed?

1 comment:

  1. I dont think that there will be another adventure, unless there is indeed a reason for that to happen. I think Bilbo is satisfied with the time he spent on his adventure, and wont want to rise up to the occasion. I think that the dwarves will go back to having a normal life, just with more wealth.

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