The Hobbit

1. The Hobbit Chapter 5: Riddles in the Dark

2. Shadow • (n.) a darkfigureor image cast on the ground or some surface by a bodyinterceptinglight.

3. Interpretations of the word “Shadow” • Dark reflection • Distorted version of the original • The “dark side” of an individual • What is left behind…what remains of the original • An individual’s hidden wants, desires, dreams • In Jung’s theories, “the shadow…[is] particularly important in the quest for maturity.”

4. Carl Jung • Psychology expert with theories in archetypes, persona, shadow, personality, and individualization. • “… people feel they are living the symbolic life, that they are actors in the divine drama. That gives the only meaning to human life; everything else in banal and you can dismiss it. A career, producing of children are all maya (illusion) compared to that one thing, that your life is meaningful.” • In Jung’s theories, “the shadow…[is] particularly important in the question for maturity.” • The “shadow represent[s] traits rejected by the ego” including aspects of the personality that might be dangerous. • “The shadow is the “personal unconscious” and among archetypes, is the easiest to experience. It represents the elements which a person represses as incompatible with his chosen ideal—”for instance, inferior traits of a character and other incompatible tendencies.

5. Gollum (Smeagol) “Gollum is the same race and sex as Frodo, which, for a shadow figure, is appropriate. He is a hobbit, fallen into the power of the ring and debased to a froglike, emaciated underground creature of primitive cunning and instinct. He is certainly a threat, one which Bilbo learn to acknowledge as representing a certain potentiality in his own being.”

6. Shadow Paragraph • Your shadow description should be roughly 1-2 paragraphs in length and should include specifics that clearly illustrate the changes in personality that would occur had you been corrupted by evil (or in this case, the ring). Also note, that the description should not be so different that your personality is not recognizable, just altered by “darkness.” Use the following suggestions to help you when you write: • Name Habits Morals • Appearance Relationships with others Beliefs (religious or otherwise) • Attitude Secrets (?) Place in society

7. The “turning point of Bilbo’s career…” Chapter 5 exhibits the first of many “turning points” that lead to his maturity as a character as well his fulfillment of the “unlikely hero” archetype established in the first chapter of the novel. Trace the events, specifically from this chapter that lead to the beginning of this transformation:

8. Turning points: • 1) Independence – this is the first time Bilbo is left to fend for himself without the assistance of Gandalf or the dwarves. • 2) Utilization of his strength – Wit; although Bilbo doesn’t exhibit the traits of a brave and brawny warrior, his strength lies in his ability to think through problems. Here, he openly deceives Gollum (in multiple ways) in order to secure his own freedom. • 3) Discovery of the ring – Bilbo discovers “the ring,” which in his next trilogy Tolkien describes as the “one ring to rule them all.” This eventually empowers Bilbo toward change, much like it did Gollum; however, it highlight Bilbo’s heroic qualities rather than the greedy and selfish traits as it did in his counterpart. • 4) Confidence – Despite his fears (of both Gollum and the goblins who guard his path to freedom, with the ring, Bilbo summons the courage to face his fear (recall the modified heroic cycle) and escape to tell the tale, with much embellishment, to the dwarves later.