Point of View

The Hobbit is written in the third person omniscient point of view. The reader witnesses the story through the eyes of Bilbo Baggins, the hobbit. The novel follows Bilbo and his companions as they travel from Hobbiton in the West where he lives all the way to the Lonely Mountain in the East and back again. There is one point where the narration changes to other characters briefly to inform readers of events that Bilbo did not personally witness, which allows for a fuller account of the tale.

The third person point of view is not as intimate as the first person point of view, but it does allow the reader to learn things about Bilbo, such as his feelings of fear, that he may not have admitted were he telling the tale through first person. It also gives the author the opportunity to show...