Thapa、Bijaya
タパー・ビザーヤ
October 8, 2013
要旨
「ホビットの冒険」は1937年で書かれたJ・R・R・トールキンの小説である。ビルボ・バギンズはその小説の中心となる人物である。ビルボ・バギンズは幸運に多く恵まれている人物であるように見えるが、すべてがそうなのかどうかはこの研究で調べたいと思っています。
Bilbo Baggins is the hero of The Hobbit, a novel by J.R.R Tolkien, but, he is not a natural hero. He is not super intelligent. He just wants an ordinary life and must depend on his luck when something unusual happens, when something happens that he has never imagined before. However, everybody thinks that he does things because he knows what he is doing. Actually, he gives every appearance of having been a very lucky hobbit. But was he all that lucky? Was there an element of predestination at work, at least according to his way of thinking?
Good luck is normally defined as something a person neither plans for nor works for, which happens anyway and works to a person’s benefit. When it happens rarely, it is often attributed to the randomness of natural phenomena. When good luck seems to regularly happen to a person, it is often attributed to destiny or some other supernatural force such as God. In such cases, it is often seen as a sign of predestination, that one has been singled for great things.
Bilbo Baggins is a nice individual and loves peace and quiet. However, one day Gandalf comes to his home and offers him an adventure with a group of dwarves, who have survived a war on account of which they had to flee from their own country. He thought he was unlucky when he felt himself compelled by Gandalf to participate in the adventure. In fact, when Gandalf first asks him to join in, he says:
"Sorry! I don't want any adventures, thank you. Not today. Good morning! But please come to tea―anytime you like! Why not tomorrow? Come tomorrow! Goodbye!" (Chapter 1, paragraph 20, p.10).
In the book, it then goes onto have him say. "What on earth did I ask him to tea for!" and then mentioned that, “he thought a cake or two and a drink of something would do him good after his fright.” (Chapter 1, paragraph 22, p. 10).
Gandalf, however, organized a party at his house without his permission and, before he knew it, and the dwarves had crowded in and were eating too much of his food. He was not at all happy with them and,.again, he felt very unlucky. The relevant passage is:
"Thank you!" said Bilbo with a gasp. It was not the correct thing to say, but they have begun to arrive had flustered him badly. He liked visitors, but he liked to know them before they arrived, and he preferred to ask them himself. He had a horrible thought that the cakes might run short, and then he―as the host: he knew his duty and stuck to it however painful―he might have to go without. (Chapter 1, paragraph 33, p. 12)
Bilbo’s sense of discomfort is further increased during the course of the evening. He feels very unlucky when Thorin says:
And after. We shan't get through the business till late, and we must have some music first. Now to clear up! (Chapter 1, paragraph 60, page 16)
With this, the intensity of Bilbo’s unaccustomed internal turbulence increases even further as can be seen in the following passage regarding the dwarves:
Off they went, not waiting for trays, balancing columns of plates, each with a bottle on the top, with one hand, while the hobbit ran after them almost squeaking with fright: "please be careful!" and "please, don't trouble! I can manage." (Chapter 1, paragraph 63, page 17)
Bilbo’s luck holds, as it does throughout the story, in this case because every plate and cup remains safe and gets cleaned up as can be seen in the following:
So, carefully! carefully with the plates!
And of course they did none of these dreadful things, and everything was cleaned and put away safe as quick as lightning, while the hobbit was turning round and round in the middle of the kitchen trying to see what they were doing. (Chapter 1, paragraphs 67 & 68, pp. 17 & 18)
Of course, even when the dwarves talk with Bilbo about their plans or show him their map, Bilbo’s first reaction is not to join in with them. However, deep down, he really loves reading maps or doing things. Neither Bilbo nor the dwarves realize Bilbo’s hidden talents, but does Gandalf, either? One would like to think that Gandalf knows Bilbo`s skills better than Bilbo, himself, which is why he thinks Bilbo will be useful for their adventure..
Bilbo does eventually warm up to his new role and attempts to snatch something from the trolls to bring back to the dwarves, to show that he is a first class burglar. Unluckily, he gets caught. (Chapter 2, paragraph 46, page 46)
Bilbo often finds himself in need of being saved by other members of the group, as happens in the confrontation with the Trolls, where luckily Gandalf turns up to save him and the dwarves by keeping the dwarves occupied until dawn when they must be underground “or they go back to the stuff of the mountains they are made of, and never move again.” (Chapter 2, paragraph 102, page 53)
Bilbo’s luck continues. He gets a weapon, an elvish dagger, from the trolls' collection, which he would later name Sting. It will shine and help them to know a situation is dangerous (Chapter 2, paragraphs 110 & 111, page 56).
For Bilbo, however, his luck often comes in what seems to be a random happening, as when he finds a ring by chance that he later discovers can make him invisible.
...suddenly his hand met what felt like a tiny ring of cold metal lying on the floor of the tunnel. It was a turning point in his career, but he did not know it. He put the ring in his pocket almost without thinking; certainly it did not seem of any particular use at the moment. He did not go much further, but sat down on the cold floor and gave himself up to complete miserableness, for a long while. (Chapter 5, paragraph 2, page 87)
Bilbo, though, remains lucky because Gollum thinks Bilbo must know the way out and will be leaving, thus going ahead and allowing himself to be followed by Bilbo. As a result and because the ring makes him invisible at key moments, Bilbo is soon able to reunite with his friends. The good luck of Bilbo, though, represents bad luck of tragic proportions for Gollum. (Chapter 5, paragraphs 107, 108 & 109, page 108)
A bit later in the book, when the dwarves, who, together with Bilbo and Gandalf, climb up the trees to escape the goblins, are found, the goblins try to kill them. Luckily, the eagles eventually take them off and save them just in the nick of time (Chapter 6, paragraph 82, page 137). Again, Bilbo’s good luck represents bad luck for another, in this case Dori.
Bilbo never forgot that flight, clinging onto Dori's ankles. He moaned "my arms, my arms!"; but Dori groaned "my poor legs, my poor legs!" (Chapter 6, paragraph 83, page 138)
Later, in another adventure, spiders capture his companions but luckily he doesn't get captured with them. Moreover, when someone needs to find the keyhole of the misty mountain, Bilbo is unexpectedly able to alert the others to its appearance. (Chapter 11, paragraphs 33, 34, & 35, page 268.).
"The key!" shouted Bilbo. "The key that went with the map! Try it now while there is still time!" (Chapter 11, paragraph 36, page 268.)
Another great piece of luck for Bilbo is to find the arkenstone, the treasure the dwarves want the most. It is through this that Bilbo is able to bring peace between the dwarves and the elves and, eventually, return in peace to his home in the shire.
A short examination of various instances where Bilbo is helped by his luck would indicate that it is largely accidental, but that his ability to make use of it is not. One gets a sense of destiny at play, rather than free will, but free will, too, would not appear to be totally absent from the story, in that Bilbo, himself, was not obliged to take advantage of the abundance of good luck that came his way.
