Editing Bilbo Baggins (section)

===Quest===
{{further|Quests in Middle-earth|Character pairing in The Lord of the Rings#Jungian archetypes}}

The Christian writer [[Joseph Pearce]] describes ''The Hobbit'' as "a [[pilgrimage]] of [[Divine grace|grace]], in which its protagonist, Bilbo Baggins, becomes grown up ... in wisdom and virtue".<ref>{{cite journal |last=Epps |first=Peter G. |title=Review of ''Bilbo's Journey: Discovering the Hidden Meaning of The Hobbit'' |journal=Christianity and Literature |date=December 2014 |volume=64 |pages=122–126 |doi=10.1177/0148333114556596c |jstor=26194807|doi-access=free }}</ref> Dorothy Matthews sees the story rather as a psychological journey, the anti-heroic Bilbo being willing to face challenges while firmly continuing to love home and discovering himself. Along the way, Matthews sees [[Jungian archetype]]s, talismans, and symbols at every turn: the [[Wise old man|Jungian wise old man]] Gandalf; the devouring mother of the giant spider, not to mention Gollum's "long grasping fingers";<ref name="Matthews 2003"/> the Jungian circle of the self, the ring; the escape from the dark underground imprisoning chambers of the wood-elves and Bilbo's symbolic rebirth into the sunlight and the waters of the woodland river; and the dragon guarding the contested treasure, itself "an archetype of the self, of psychic wholeness".<ref name="Matthews 2003">{{cite book |last=Matthews |first=Dorothy |editor-last=Lobdell |editor-first=Jared |editor-link=Jared Lobdell |title=[[A Tolkien Compass]] |date=2003 |publisher=[[Open Court Publishing Company|Open Court]] |pages=27–39 |edition=2nd |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TqJ7gHrwjUEC&pg=PA27 |chapter=The Psychological Journey of Bilbo Baggins|isbn=9780875483030 }}</ref> Later research has extended Matthews' analysis using alternative psychological frameworks such as [[Erik Erikson]]'s theory of development.<ref name="Collins 2020">{{cite journal |last=Collins |first=Rory W. |date=2020 |title=Wombs, wizards, and wisdom: Bilbo's journey from childhood in ''The Hobbit'' |journal=Crossing Borders |volume=4 |doi=10.4148/2373-0978.1073 |doi-access=free |at=Article 1}}</ref>