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Chapter 5: Riddles in the Dark
Explanation and Analysis—Foil After Foil:
Throughout his adventure, Bilbo encounters a series of foils that help him build his own identity. One strong example of this motif occurs in Chapter 5, when Gollum correctly guesses Bilbo's riddle about "sun on daisies":
“Ss, ss, ss,” said Gollum. He had been underground a long long time, and was forgetting this sort of thing. But just as Bilbo was beginning to hope that the wretch would not be able to answer, Gollum brought up memories of ages and ages and ages before, when he lived with his grandmother in a hole in a bank by a river, “Sss, sss, my preciouss,” he said. “Sun on the daisies it means, it does.”
At first, Gollum couldn't seem more different from Bilbo. He lurks in the dark of the goblins' cave and subsists on raw fish and the meat of anyone he can catch. His life seems far from the cozy existence Bilbo is used to in his hobbit hole. Even in his house under the hill, Bilbo favors the rooms on the outside because they let in sunlight. Gollum hates light and would surely slink into the darker rooms. Nonetheless, this passage hints that Gollum was once far more like Bilbo. He too lived in a hole in the ground and had a family. He used to look out on the river and the flowers outside. Something drove him deep into the cave, where all he cares about is catching fish and protecting the ring. This existence has driven him practically out of his mind. The passage hints that such an existence could lie in Bilbo's future if he retreats too deep into his hole in the ground.
Smaug, too, is a foil for Bilbo. The dragon is so obsessed with treasure and the comfort it brings him that he turns into a dangerous monster. He isolates himself inside the mountain and attacks anyone who dares to enter. He also becomes a master manipulator, lying and twisting his words to wear down his enemies. Bilbo is far from a dragon, but he does nearly refuse to help the dwarves because he is so attached to his belongings and comfort at home. He is a reluctant host when they show up for tea in Chapter 1 and begin eating all his precious food. Bilbo also hones his own skill with language over the course of the novel and begins to lie and manipulate in some strategic ways. However, unlike Smaug, Bilbo chooses fellowship and the greater good over personal comfort. Smaug's greed and deception help Bilbo understand the levels he will never stoop to for personal gain, even if he has some traits in common with the dragon.
More than anyone, Bilbo seems to fashion himself after Beorn. When the adventurers seek shelter with Beorn, Gandalf insists that they show up on his doorstep two at a time—just like the wizard had the dwarves do at Bilbo's house. The reason is that Beorn values his solitude and can be dangerous when he wants to be. For different reasons, Gandalf knows that it is important not to spook either Bilbo or Beorn. However, when approached carefully and respectfully, Beorn is happy to host the travelers. He even provides them with food and lends them ponies to help them on the next leg of their journey. When the whole world seems to be in peril from goblins and Wargs, Beorn shows up to help. Bilbo may be smaller and less formidable than Beorn, but he nonetheless emulates the bear-man's principled balance between self-interest and community engagement.
Related Themes:
Chapter 19: The Last Stage
Explanation and Analysis—Bilbo and Thorin Go Home:
When Bilbo arrives back at home after a year away, he finds that he has been presumed dead and that his house is being looted. The situational irony—he is forced to buy many of his own belongings back—reinforces Bilbo and Thorin's status as foils:
The return of Mr. Bilbo Baggins created quite a disturbance, both under the Hill and over the Hill, and across the Water; it was a great deal more than a nine days’ wonder. The legal bother, indeed, lasted for years. It was quite a long time before Mr. Baggins was in fact admitted to be alive again. The people who had got specially good bargains at the Sale took a deal of convincing; and in the end to save time Bilbo had to buy back quite a lot of his own furniture.
Through Bilbo's many adventures, his longing to get back home has been a constant refrain. The thought has kept him going when despair threatens to take hold. By the time he actually arrives at his hobbit hole, he and the reader both expect him to find it unchanged and as comfortable as ever. Instead, he finds that his beloved things have been auctioned off to people like the Sackville-Bagginses, his cousins whose very name is emblematic of their greed and willingness to "sack" someone's house for personal gain. After all of Bilbo's heroism, it is a comical and ironic let-down to see him paying these cousins for the furniture they stole from him. He may be "home," but he can't relax into his bed or favorite chair just yet.
Bilbo's trouble getting his things back parallels Thorin's trouble once he and the rest of the adventurers arrive at the Lonely Mountain. Thorin has spent his whole life hoping to get back inside the mountain to reclaim his people's treasure from Smaug. What he doesn't bargain for is that the people living near the mountain will help defeat Smaug and claim that the treasure is rightfully theirs. He also doesn't expect all of the enemies he has faced on the way to the mountain to come back for another huge battle. Just when he thinks he has returned home and reclaimed his birthright, he finds, like Bilbo, that life has been going on without him while he has been gone.
Thorin, the "King under the Mountain," ultimately leads his people to victory over the goblins and Wargs and helps broker peace among the dwarves, men, and elves. However, his valor also gets him killed. Bilbo, the more humble and unsuspecting "burglar under the hill," lives to tell his own tale. Bilbo and Thorin's similarities suggest that Bilbo is more capable and heroic than he first seems. Meanwhile, their different outcomes suggest that it can be wise not to seek too much glory and grandeur. Bilbo has no ambition to be a king or to amass more wealth than he can ever use. Once the Took part of him is satisfied by his adventures, the Baggins part of him is ready to go back to a simple life where he is safe from dragons, goblins, Wargs, and trolls.
Related Themes:
