The Hobbit

Tolkien's characters in "The Hobbit" are not strictly just "good" or just "bad." There are shades of gray when examining the characters. They are very complex. The elves are on the "good" side, but they are not very nice to other races. Elves beleived themselves to be the superior race and acted like it. Beorn fights on the side of "good," but he is a cruel, dangerous shapeshifter. He shifts between the forms of a man and a bear. The eagles are not kind creatures, but they are on the "good" side also.

One thing we discussed in class was that members of the different races either seemed to be all good or all bad. The Battle of the Five Armies was the five races all fighting against each other. How could a whole race side on the same side of either good or evil? An early member or a few early members of a race made the choice of which side to defend. They chose what they wanted to be and all the future members were raised in that way of life. Members of the races didn't know any different. They were raised one way and the majority of them stick with that pre-made choice for the rest of their lives.