The Hobbit: Tests, Enemies and Allies

Question: How did facing the tests, enemies and allies change Bilbo's perspective on his life?

Answer: The tests, enemies and allies changed Bilbo's perspective on his life in many ways. Firstly, facing some of the tests and enemies made Bilbo realize how dangerous the world could really be. He was born and raised in the Shire; a very sheltered area of the world, and until he started his adventure he was completely unaware of the perils of the outside world.
Another way Bilbo's perspective on life changed was that he realized how much in his life he had taken for granted. He was well off, he had a comfortable, safe and relatively normal life, and he didn't realize how fortunate he was to have all of that until it was gone.
Another thing that Bilbo learned from the tests, enemies and allies was that there was a lot more to the world than the Shire. There were so many opportunities for adventure, all he had to do was take them.

The Hobbit: Refusal of the Call

In The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien, the main character Bilbo refuses his call to adventure because he doesn't want to leave his home, the Shire, or the comfortable life he's been living. Another reason he doesn't want to leave is because hobbits don't go on adventures, and he doesn't want people to think he's different.
I think that the significance of the refusal of the call is mainly to introduce the reader to the main character by revealing some of his character traits. It shows that Bilbo is a shy hobbit with both an adventerous side and a cautious side, and the cautious side usually wins, untill now.
The author also seems to enjoy bringing up the refusal of the call by saying.
" 'I wish I was at home in my nice hole by the fire, with the kettle just beginning to sing!' It was not the last time he wished that!" (Tolkien, The Hobbit 31)

Old Magic: Crossing the Threshold

In the book Old Magic by Marianne Curley there are two main characters; Jarred Thornton and Kate Warren. From a flood that washed away their house, to a fire that destroyed an entire wing of Jarrod's school, the Thorntons have been plagued by bad luck. When Jarrod's father injured his leg the family decided to move to Ashpeak to start a new life. In Ashpeak, Jarrod meets Kate - a witch in training who is certain that Jarrod's family is cursed, but she has a hard time convincing him.

Jarrod's call to adventure happens fairly late in the book when his father tries to kill himself. Jarrod realizes that Kate might not be entirely crazy, and there might be something to her theory about the curse. Kate's grandmother creates a spell that takes the pair back in time to when the curse was placed on Jarrod's family. When Kate crosses the threshold, she is excited, and can't believe she actually went back in time, but Jarrod is more interested in finding the sorcerer who put the curse on his family, and stopping him.

"I yank open the door, my heart thudding somewhere in the vicinity of my tonsils When I see him . . . I can't help but scream a kind of strangled gasp . . . He can hardly speak, his eyes sunken half into his skull, vicious dark circles surrounding them, his skin ashen grey. He doesn't say much except, 'Dad tried to kill himself.' . . . I wait silently while he attempts to pull himself together. When he does, he looks at me, his head tilted, and says, 'I want a shot at Jillian's plan.' " (Marianne Curley, Old Magic 148, 149)

The Handmaid's Tale: Limiting Beliefs

In The Handmaid's Tale by Margret Atwood the main character is definitely held back by limiting beliefs. Growing up, she had a fairly normal life. She went to school, made friends, got married and had a little girl, but when the war started, everything changed. Now, she is living as a handmaid; women who are considered to only be useful for breeding. The things that are keeping her from breaking out of her new ordinary world are others beleifs that they have brainwashed her into thinking are true. She reminisces about her life with her husband and daughter, but she is too afraid to look for them.

If I could talk to her, I would tell her something that she already knows deep in her heart; that her life doesn't have to be the way it is, and she has the power to change it.

Darklight: The Hero Archetype

Darklight by Lesley Livingston is the sequel to the book Wondrous Strange. In Darklight, Kelley is forced to make an alliance with Mabh, her mother and the fairy queen of the autumn court, when an angry leprechaun comes seeking revenge.

In Wondrous Strange, Kelley left her ordinary world, discovered a new identity, and sacrificed half of her royal faerie inheritance in order to save the man she loved. In Darklight Kelley continues to play the part of the hero. She still acts like a seventeen-year-old girl, but she spends her free time rushing off to save her faerie friends from danger.

"Her clover charm clenched tight in one hand, Kelley called up a fistful of magick in the other and turned back to face the next attack . . . she whipped a ball of crackling purple sparks at the exposed flank of a glaistig. Then she parried a running strike from Jenii Greenteeth, spinning back around in time to see Sonny dispatch another of the horrific Green Maidens with deadly grace and efficiency." (Lesley Livingston Darklight 280, 281)

Wondrous Strange: Character Archetype

Kelley Winslow is the hero of the novel Wondrous Strange by Lesley Livingston. Like the typical hero, she undertakes a journey through the course of the novel, and discovers a new identity. At first she thinks that she is a normal, 17-year-old girl living in New York city, until she learns that she is the daughter of King Auberon, and queen Mabh, and the princess of both the autumn and the winter faerie courts.

In a way, Kelley is also unlike the typical hero, firstly because she is a girl, and secondly because near the end of the book, she decides to take her destiny into her own hands instead of doing what everyone expects her to do.

"Kelley's eyes snapped open, and she gasped at the revelation. The Faerie king could take away his power from her blood . . . but Kelley was willing to bet that he couldn't take away Mabh's. . . fight fire with fire. That was what they had been trying to tell her . . . Kelley closed her eyes again and searched even deeper inside of herself . . . She touched something with her mind: twisting, serpentine energy . . . The power of Mabh's shadowy throne wrapped around her, suffocating, overwhelming . . . Until suddenly, like a key turning in a lock, something clicked and Kelley was flooded with strength and fury. Mabh's power coursed through her veins like acid. She was deathly cold and on fire at the same time." (Lesley Livingston Wondrous Strange 309, 310)

Sister Wife: Connection

"There is such a routine here, such a structured lifestyle, that I suppose a person doesn't need to think much at all. Conformity is what they strive for, not individuality. Everything is laid out... even your husband or wife is chosen for you." (Shelley Hrdlitschka, Sister Wife pg. 11)

Both this quote and this novel, remind me of a section of another book that I'm reading for geography. In the book Bitter Roots, Tender Shoots (by Sally Armstrong) the author mentions Bountiful, a town in British Columbia where the citizens believe that the only way into heaven is through polygamy. In both of these towns, the girls and young women seem to have resigned themselves to their fate. The men of both of these towns are protected by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which states that everyone can follow their own religion. Regardless of some of the disturbing content, I really like both of these books.