Dwarves and Greed

Having dicussed Thorin Oakenshield as a character and his development across the story, I want to discuss the theme of the greed and selfishness that came upon the dwarves as they had a tiny hobbit emerge to be their hero. As the story progressed and Bilbo earned more respect from them, it seems that they were letting go of much care and outlook on the dangers of the journey. They became more comfortable having a leader who continuously proved himself worthy and rescued them time after time. And so Thorin's dynamic journey throughout the novel reflected upon the dwarves. 

All of them are at first unvconvinced that that Bilbo is the right burglar to attend them on their journey. The first vital sign by the dwarves that Bilbo is not worth the struggle or care comes when Dori leaves him behind in the caverns of the goblins while they are attemping pursuit. Even afterwards, in the woods, they dwarves are climbing the trees to escape from the Wargs, and when the hobbit can't climb any and Dori is sent for the hobbit once again he complains,

"I can't be always carrying burglars on my back."

This begins to fade the image of the dwarves as kind creatues who care deeply for one another. In the forest of Mirkwood, while continuing to send the hobbit to do their bidding, Mr Baggins remains loyal to them. But the fail to show Mr Baggins kindness for his help.

"The forest goes on for ever and ever and ever in all direction! Whatever shall we do?And what is the use of sending a hobbit!"

Of course they were all later captured by spiders and rescued by Bilbo. This helped Bilbo immensely by flushing out all doubt from the dwarves about him and proving he is more than worthy to bring along the quest. 

They all trusted Bilbo. Just what Gandalf said would happen, you see. Perhaps that was part of his reason for going off and leaving them.

They remain however, selfish, greedy, and begin complaining at the conditions out of which they must escape the Elvenking. The shows the element of Bilbo and Thorin alternating leaderhsips and traits, since at first, it was the hobbit that endlessly complained about his conditions and wishing to be back home, and now, it was the dwarves whining at the barrels in which they must travel through the Long River.

"We shall be bruised and battered to pieces, and drowned too, for certain! We thought you had got some sensible notion, when  you managed to get a hold of the keys! This is a mad idea!"

Before Bilbo is sent to enter the Lonely Mountain's inner tunnels in seach of the dragon, Tolkien includes in a passage a description about the race of dwarves.

"Dwarves are not heroes, but calculating folk with a great idea of the value of money; some are tricky and treacherous and pretty bad lots; some are not, but are decent enough people like Thorin and Company, if you don't expect too much."

In his cavern, Smaug warns Bilbo that the dwarves don't really intend to share any treasure with him, and that they are not to be trusted. This alarms Bilbo a little, because upon looking back on the events and attitudes of the dwarves towards him, he realizes that even if they respect him, they haven't shown true care or concern for the hobbit.

Now a nasty suspicion began in his mind - had the dwarves forgotten this important point too, or were they laughing in their sleeves at him all the time? 

Tolkien also includes in his text that "the dwarves could not, of course, compare with the hobbit in real stealth." The final farewell between Mr Baggins and the dwarves however is a rather peaceful and sentimental one. In the end, the dwarves had been his companion for many months, and Bilbo developed a friendship between them.