The Hobbit tells the story of a comfortable, peaceable creature named Bilbo Baggins. Bilbo, like most hobbits, is similar to a human but about half the size and not nearly as loud. Bilbo gets caught up in affairs much greater than his own hobbit-life when, at the recommendation of a mysterious old wizard named Gandalf, he is hired as a "burglar" by a group of dwarves. These dwarves, led by Thorin Oakenshield, are going to …showed first 75 words of 487 total…

…showed last 75 words of 487 total…do great things for the common good? The truth that emerges from The Hobbit is that, if one is called on to play a part in great affairs--as we all are, at least according to Tolkien's Christian perspective--then one should not shirk one's duty. To perform that duty well, however, one must never lose sight of one's own insignificance in the larger scheme of things nor lose respect for the value of the simple life.