The Use of Invisibility in the Hobbit, a Novel by J. R. R. Tolkien

Throughout Tolkien’s The Hobbit, there are many instances of liminality the secret entrance to the Mountain is a door made of rock that is a wall until the correct moment the key is inserted. The opening is also part of the outside and inside; it is both above ground and underground. The tunnel the company becomes trapped in is a liminal space because it is both a passage and a cave these instances of liminality are important because Tolkien uses them to highlight important areas or actions and bring them to the attention of the readers.

In particular, invisibility is an often-used state of liminality that precursors an important event in the novel invisibility itself is liminal because the invisible person is in a state of being and not being. This person can easily be seen as a coward but Tolkien portrays the invisible man as a hero.

Through his use of invisibility, Tolkien allows the characters to step back, observe, and choose the heroic course of action.

Early in the novel, Tolkien describes the ring and its effect on Bilbo: “It seemed that the ring he had was a magic ring: it made you invisible. Gollum with his bright eyes had passed him by, only a yard to one side” (94) The invisible state is an example of a person becoming liminaLBilbo is still in the physical world, the structure, but he cannot be seen and thus is part of anti-structure. This anti-structure is a world that only Bilbo inhabits where he can move about unseen inside of the real world, his anti-structure world has different rules, such as that he is invisible in the real world, and does not fit inside the structure of the real world Bilbo’s invisibility directly clashes with the real world’s law that to exist is to be seen; thus this invis’ ility is anti-structure, curiously, even though Bilbo cannot be seen, he still casts a shadow.

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This is unnatural and physically impossible The shadow seems to bridge the gap between the structure of the physical world (and its laws) and the anti-structure of his own little world, allowing Bilbo to know that he exists when he cannot determine it visually otherwise. He is almost nonexistent, as far as the other creatures of Middle Earth are concerned, yet he can move and interact with objects, thus obeying some of the physical laws of the world. Thus, Bilbo is part of structure since he can interact with the real world, but also anti—structure, since is invisibility, does not fit inside the laws of existence (to be exist is to seen) set in structure. Invisibility can be seen in many books going centuries back, yet Tolkien gives it a different spin in his novel. Logically, invisibility is the tool of the coward. When in between the state of being and not being, one cannot even see himself; the user cannot identify that he is really even there.

This tool denies the user of his individuality and allows his appearance to blend in with the rest of the world. This loss of self would traditionally lead to cowardice and fear. The invisible person would not know that he even exists and would then think that he must not have an influence over events in the world or his life. In such a case, running away from confrontation or choice would be the natural option, thus associating invisibility with cowards In The Hobbit, the invisible person gains a greater selfhood than he had previously when interacting in the real world, a trait of a hero. One might ask how he could accomplish this, why that would make any sense. As an invisible being, Bilbo has a greater understanding of his surroundings. He is able to View everyone and everything in their natural state of being and thus able to process how he should act.

On a different level, Bilbo can be seen as a disembodied soul when invisible since only his thoughts can confirm that he is still there (and if he touches anything). He has merged with the rest of the world, and absorbed the knowledge and wisdom of beings everywhere. If he moves any objects or interacts with them physically, will someone even know that he is there? Bilbo could cook dinner for a man at work, or save a woman from some wretch assaulting her, and the people would see it as a miracle In essence, Bilbo could act as a god-like figure in this state of being and not being; if not a god-like figure, then a heroic one. In fact, this occurs when Bilbo surprises the company after escaping the goblins: “‘And here’s the burglar!‘ said Bilbo stepping down into the middle of them”. When Bilbo appears suddenly, it seems a miracle to them, especially to the look»out, Balin (103).

This is the first time that the dwarves show any kind of respect for Bilbo and lose any doubt of his abilities, all thanks to invisibility Tolkien forms a correlation between this state and heroism through the use of courage. This courage is the result of the better perspective that invisibility gives the user; once the user steps back and assesses the situation, he is able to make the best decision possible; since it is the best decision, he is confident in it. This confidence becomes the courage to actually perform the actions required to enact the conclusion made when invisible. One might argue that perhaps invisibility does not give the person courage since Bilbo was visible when he attempted to steal from the trolls. I disagree; while he was physically there, Bilbo was invisible in another sense. Going back to Hobbiton and the beginning of the book, we know that Bilbo’s life was one of luxury and ease.

He wakes up, eats, smokes, and repeats To the rest of the world, does Bilbo even exist? Sure, Bilbo goes shopping and gets mail from his mailbox, but there was no mention of Bilbo actually interacting with another hobbit. Since he does not interact with members of the world, Bilbo is invisible to that world; he is not there, he is in a state of not being. In Hobbiton, this didn’t help him at all because there was no knowledge to absorb from the people around him Hobbit society sees adventure as a horrible thing, thus they never go too far from their own homes and do not interact with anyone outside of Hobbiton. In a sense, they are all invisible to the outside world making Bilbo’s social invisibility insignificant; it does not allow him to acquire any knowledge besides the mundane hobbit knowledge.

When they sing of their lost treasure, Bilbo realizes that he might want to go and do courageous things as well: “Then something Tookish woke up inside of him, and he wished to go see the great mountains,.,and explore the caves, and wear a sword instead of a walkingestick”. Thus, when he sees the trolls he thinks he should do somethingz‘fiuand yet somehow he could not go back to Thorin and Company empty-handed” As when he leaped over Gollum, Bilbo pulls out some inner strength when facing his inner struggle in the tunnel to Smaug’s lair. With the choice of facing Smaug or going back to his friends, he obtains a surge of courage and ventures on. In his invisible state, Bilbo draws on his previous experiences and comes to the conclusion that he must see Smaug in order to bolster the dwarven confidence since they are frightened of the dragon. Surely the Bilbo Baggins from the beginning of the story, the Bilbo who was afraid of and disliked adventure would not have gone to face the dragon Smaugi.

In fact, this invisibility supports him enough to even allow him to talk to Smaug and evade the dragon»spell: “Whenever Smaug’s roving eyes “flashed across him, he trembled and an unaccountable desire seized hold of him to rush out and reveal himself. But plucking up courage, he spoke again” some might say that since Smaug could smell him, he was in fact more there than not If we follow that logic, then Bilbo was barely invisible at all, yet Smaug still did not attempt to kill him as he would have if Bilbo was visible Bilbo was thus also in a state of not being and was able to take himself out of the situation, observe objectively, and continue the conversation in a way that would give him the upper hand, Bilbo stays and faces this beast, contradicting the logical cowardly use of such a tool in which he would just run away since Smaug could not see him.

The dwarves, hidden up the tunnel and much safer than Bilbo, shiver and hide in fear of Smaug. Coincidentally, they can all see each other and are physically in the real world then it can be seen that this invisibility allows Bilbo to obtain courage that others could not because he is able to see that this is the best course of action.  The tunnel into the mountain transfers the state of invisibility to individuals as well: “…the darkness was complete, and they were all invisible, ring or no ring” (254). Sure, the darkness chokes the company and depresses them for a time, but eventually, it allows the dwarves to step back from the situation and think about the events that brought them to this tunnel Bilbo eventually convinces the group to explore the cave, but they realize that this isn’t the first time that Bilbo has led them.

Balin, in fact, recognizes that Bilbo has taken many of the risks in this venture when it isn’t even his treasure that is sought after. Thus, invisibility gives the characters a different perspective and allows them to arrive at the best conclusion for their dilemmas of all the characters, Bilbo is the one who benefits most from invisibility. His liminal state allows him to grow up and out of his former self, becoming the courageous hero of the novels. The invisibility does not have to be literal, of course, the Hobbit shows that just by stepping back and seeing the world objectively and unbiasedly, we can find that inner strenth, the inner hero that can resolve any of our problems.