Duality In The Hobbit

“Just as we have two eyes and two feet, duality is part of life.” (Carlos Santana, 1947). Duality exists as a major element of the human experience, which manifests from our magnificent brain’s ability to cognitively think and our even more intricately woven lives as we interact with others. In “The Hobbit” by JRR Tolkien, a small hobbit named Bilbo embarks on an adventure that contradicts every part of his previously conceived nature. From this journey, he discovers parts of himself that had been there from birth, but were never granted the opportunity to blossom. Throughout the story, Bilbo frequently blames his Tookish and Baggineses sides of him for his irrational behavior and constant internal conflict. These two parts that make up Bilbo work to accurately depict human experience as we navigate the world according to current desires and past experiences. This …show more content…
From his mother, he received his Tookish side, which is considered unrespectable by other hobbits because of the family’s unusual behavior and adventurousness, and his Baggineses side from his father, which is highly respected due to their family’s predictability and laid back personalities. The story begins with an introduction to Bilbo’s lineage and then hints toward his future transgressions as a result of these mixed background. “Still it is probable that Bilbo, her only son, although he looked and behaved exactly like a second edition of his solid and comfortable father, got something a bit queer in his makeup from the Took side, something that only waited for a chance to come out.” The explanation of Bilbo as an entity with hidden behaviors that are rarely allowed to develop greatly matches Sigmund Freud’s proposal for the composition of our personalities: the id, the ego, and