Bilbo’s Journey: Discovering the Hidden Meaning of The Hobbit by Joseph Pearce (review)

Joseph Pearce. Bilbo’s Journey: Discovering the Hidden Meaning of The Hobbit. Charlotte, NC: Saint Benedict Press, 2012. Pp. 143. ISBN 9781618900586 . $12.95. The vitality that usually characterizes Joseph Pearce’s speaking and writing is undoubtedly present in Bilbo’s Journey. Pearce argues that ‘‘at its deepest level of meaning . . . The Hobbit is a pilgrimage of grace, in which its protagonist, Bilbo Baggins, becomes grown-up in the most important sense, which is growth in wisdom and virtue’’ (3). Pearce elaborates this ‘‘deepest level of meaning’’ by characterizing The Hobbit as ‘‘a Christian bildungsroman’’ which not only treats a progress ‘‘from ignorance to wisdom’’ but does so in the form of a ‘‘rite of passage’’ which moves Bilbo ‘‘from bourgeois vice to heroic virtue.’’ Furthermore, Pearce claims, the story ‘‘parallels The Lord of the Rings in the mystical suggestiveness of its treatment of Divine Providence’’ and provides ‘‘moral commentary on the words of Christ that ‘where your treasure is, there your heart will be also’ (Matt. 6:21).’’ Pearce intersperses discussion of these two minor themes among chapters following the plot of The Hobbit as he develops his reading of Bilbo’s progress. Pearce is most successful in developing his principal theme, that of Bilbo’s maturation . By the end of Bilbo’s Journey, the reader is likely to agree that ‘‘when Gandalf proclaims that Bilbo is no longer the hobbit that he was, we know that he is changed for the better’’ (119). Pearce is on firm ground in his depiction of Bilbo’s progress as a ‘‘pilgrimage’’: as he says, ‘‘every pilgrimage is an adventure’’ (3). Though Pearce oddly centers his discussion of Bilbo’s journey as peregrinatio on Belloc’s adaptation of the tale of St. Dunstan, rather than Tolkien’s own proven command of the sources (23), Pearce consistently and fruitfully builds on this idea of a specially graced pilgrimage throughout the book. In chapter 11, titled ‘‘Bilbo the Peacemaker,’’ Pearce makes what is arguably the most important critical argument in the book, persuasively asserting that the long, relatively uneventful unfolding of the conflicts among men, dwarves, and elves after Smaug’s downfall is an essential feature of The Hobbit. Although the defeat of the dragon is the long-awaited climax of the main action of the story, Pearce notes that ‘‘the dragon’s removal seems to accentuate the evil’’ in all of the other characters, especially the dwarves (99). The evil which affects them, most notably corrupting the dwarves’ chieftain Thorin Oakenshield, is the ‘‘Dragon Sickness’’ referred to by the title of chapter 9, which Pearce briefly defines as ‘‘the obsessive possessiveness of dragons’’ (83). The recurring discussion of ‘‘dragon sickness’’ is also the touchstone for Pearce’s reading of The Hobbit as commentary on Matt. 6:21; curing this sickness is, as he sees it, the principal object of the pilgrimage. A true pilgrimage, after all, does not end at its ostensible destination, but when the wanderer is absolved, healed, blessed, and ready to return home. This understanding helps make sense of The Hobbit’s unusual narrative structure and Gandalf’s absence during the climax of the story. Pearce traces the confrontation between Thorin and Bard, especially the raven Roäc’s warnings to Thorin, which should help his readers understand Bilbo’s apparent betrayal of his companions in 122 Christianity & Literature 64(1) smuggling the Arkenstone to Bard (100–103). Although the thematic significance is obscured among the welter of Pearce’s other observations, Bilbo’s reconciliation with Thorin stands out as the actual end of the pilgrimage. After he recounts Bilbo’s words that ‘‘This is a bitter adventure, if it must end so,’’ Pearce consistently refers to the adventure as a fait accompli (106–107), implicitly contrasting this actual ending with the putative ending when Smaug is defeated. Gandalf’s reappearance just in time to express his approbation of Bilbo’s apparent betrayal, like his unexpected appearance at the beginning of the story and his presence at the story’s end, seem reason enough to concur with Pearce’s representation of the narrative structure in The Hobbit. It is impossible to praise these strengths of...