Like Gandalf, Bilbo relies upon his intelligence and stealth and as the story continues, expect to see Bilbo stealing all sorts of things from strangers and from his enemies. The characterization of Bert, Tom and William is poignant because these trolls are rather like humans at their worst. One does have to wonder how trolls get named William in a story that has dwarves named Bomfur.. A recurring motif that is certainly connected to the key and map is that of the cave/lair of the villain. Bilbo and the group do some very good work here, enjoying the spoliation of their defeated enemy. Several of the novel's scenes, involving caves and lairs, are allusions to one of two classical scenes. Here, we find references to the Homeric epic, The Odyssey. Bilbo, like Ulysses becomes known for his excessive craft and trickery. Here, the deaf trolls are like the blinded Cyclops in the classic. The "mutton" image is also a bit of poignant residue from the Homeric tale and in archetypal fashion, the "dawn" is a symbol of victory over the night, survival and hope for a new day. The "Cyclops" allusion is not intense but should be identified, as it recurs in alternation with references to the Anglo-Saxon epic, Beowulf. Finally, the stone trolls are symbols of the ignorance of the trolls who were alive but stone-deaf. In regards to the central themes: heroism, wisdom and nobility we can add the complexities of a noble thief: is this an oxymoron? And in terms of heroes it is ironic that the dwarves were sacked after rather timidly relegating the dirty-work to Bilbo. Do not expect this to change. As far as character-development goes, Bilbo is the central focus. He is growing into Gandalf's glowing pronouncement and the dwarves are‹for now, at least‹being themselves. Even as he sheds respectability, Bilbo seems so hyper-civilized, proto-human and (dare we say) British. "Tea" and the forgotten "handkerchief" might make Bilbo seem like a reference to Lewis Carroll's White Rabbit, jumping in and out of hiding holes. Both fantasy writers (Carroll and Tolkien) were drawing upon well-established traditions of British domesticity and this adds a little weight and a bit of a real-world perspective to Bilbo's reveries of the hearth and forgotten articles. From this point until the end of Chapter 17, one of the most important words that we can associate with Bilbo is "nostalgia;" thematically, this is all-important. It is part of Tolkien's personal life and a necessary component of stories that are in this genre, literary epic quests.