A Commentary on “10 reasons we still love that 'Hobbit'”

After reading an article published by USA Today and written by Deirdre Donahue. I found it very relatable to my interests and feelings about my passion, “The Hobbit”.  This source tells the top ten reasons why people still have a great fascination for this little half-ling (Bilbo), which are exactly the things I want to discover. I found Donahue’s article when I was looking up ‘Hobbit’ newspaper articles in my school’s library search system. I like this article because the author made some ready valid points about the story and I glad someone finally pointed them all out in this modern day society. For example: her sixth reason is called “friends with no benefits”. Here Donahue points out that, “For modern readers living in a sex-saturated society, The Hobbit is the asexual pause that refreshes.”  I can completely agree with that statement because “The Hobbit” is just a simple coming of age story without any means of relationship beyond friends. Today everyone’s attitude is that you must be romantically involved with someone (or something) or there’s something wrong with you. Yet, here is Bilbo Baggins, a lifetime bachelor who lives a full and complete single life in Tolkien’s stories.

In Donahue’s third reason she adds the morality side of the book. I like how she mentions that Tolkien doesn’t point fingers, but instead shows moral messages by example. She even gives an important quote from the book.  Thorin says to Bilbo, "If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world." Bilbo has the heart of a child, which makes him a good example of what should really be cherished in this world and it’s at the end of his life that Thorin realizes this. The only thing I would say that I don’t like about this article is that at one point Donahue compared the story to J.K. Rolling’s Harry Potter. If it has anything in common with “The Hobbit” (which I don’t believe it does) it would have been ideas taken, or inspired, by J.R.R. Tolkien.  Besides that I think that this is a great article, and suggest that ‘Hobbit’ fans everywhere should read it.