Hey guys, Storm here. Today I tackle a theory about Calvin & Hobbes. and here it is. Is Hobbes a living thing or a stuffed toy? Well, we can start the analysis with the fact that most people see Hobbes as a stuffed toy and Calvin sees him as a living tiger. But why? Here's the answer: Calvin is a 6 year old, making his brain much different from the rest of society. Also we must remember that Calvin has no other friends, making Hobbes more valuable to him than he is to every other person. First, we should see how Calvin and Hobbes met in the first place, this may help us later on in this analysis.
One day Calvin wanted to do something fun, and he decided that he would make a tiger trap with tuna sammiches as the bait. Hobbes, with tuna as his favorite sammich, got caught in the trap. Calvin took him home and asked his dad, "SO DAD, WHAT DO I DO WHEN I CATCH A TIGER?" (Yes it's in all caps, most comics are written like that.) His father then replied with "BRING IT HOME AND STUFF IT, CALVIN! CAN'T YOU SEE I'M BUSY?" Then Calvin brings Hobbes to the kitchen and feeds him all he can. Hobbes likes food, (You should know this by now) so he befriend Calvin, hoping he would get more food. Since Hobbes can eat, this proves that he is a living animal. But then how do other people see him as a toy? Well you kind of have to read the rest to understand. First, I think it would be less confusing to see all the evidence as to why he was real then jumbling it all together, so let's keep going. In the first 5 years of the comic (1985-1990) we see a storyline about how Calvin doesn't like the way his hair pops up when he combs it, so Hobbes agrees to fix it by cutting his hair for $8. But Hobbes accidentally cut it too short, so Calvin forces himself to wear a hat everywhere. When his mother orders he takes it off, she sees that his hair is short, and she goes crazy. This further proves that Hobbes is a living thing, because how else would she see his hair cut? If Hobbes wasn't real, Calvin would be the only person that sees his cut hair, because it would be all his imagination, but this statement proves further that he is real. Also, in about 1986, a comic strip comes out where his parents ask Calvin if kids make fun of him for bringing a supposedly stuffed tiger to school, and Calvin notes "TOMMY CHESNUTT DID ONCE, AND NOW NOBODY DOES." His parents ask what happened to Tommy Chesnutt, and it turns out that Hobbes ate him. If Hobbes wasn't a real living thing, he wouldn't have eaten Tommy Chesnutt, meaning Tommy would still insult Calvin about his tiger, but since Calvin doesn't notice insults anymore, the only explanation is that Hobbes really did eat Tommy, further proving his existence as a living soul.
In one story, Calvin goes on a fishing trip with his parents to the lake. Calvin is bored with just sitting there waiting for something to happen, so Hobbes comes up with an idea. He ties Calvin up to a strong fishing pole and swings him over the water so he can hit the fish with a baseball bat, probably a 27", but that's not important. What is important is the fact that the bat is hitting the water. Calvin can feel and see the splashes of the bat, meaning that Hobbes must be alive, for if he wasn't alive and only in Calvin's mind, Calvin would just be hitting the ground, which he clearly is not.
Now I feel we should move on to the evidence as to why Hobbes ISN'T real. In the story "Transmogrifier", Calvin goes into a transmogrifier (a machine that changes your form into another animal) and asks Hobbes to set the dial for "Tiger" and press the button. Calvin sees himself as a tiger, along with Hobbes, but his parents cannot see Calvin as a tiger. If Hobbes was alive, his parents would see Calvin as a tiger along with him and Hobbes, but they don't, proving Hobbes to be a stuffed toy. BUT WAIT, read the rest of this analysis before you come to conclusions. (I'm talking to you, Tweety)
There is a reason Calvin's parents see him as what he normally looks like is this: their brains cannot process that much. Everyone sees Hobbes as fake because their minds are not imaginative enough to see Hobbes as a living person, so their eyes make up a story about how he is just a stuffed toy so they don't lose hours of sleep wondering. Then you might think of this: "How can Calvin see him if nobody else can?" Well remember that you must be imaginative to see him, which is why nobody else sees him. Calvin is very imaginative and smart. He goes on adventures as different characters like Spaceman Spiff, an octopus, a werewolf, an explorer, dinosaurs, the series is too long to name them all. Calvin can see Hobbes as a living pet tiger because he is smart and imaginative, unlike everybody else. Nobody else believes that tigers can live in the city, but maybe is an escapee from the zoo. But the thing is: this is a cartoon strip. We have no way of being sure. This is up to Bill Watterson. This is where we conclude.
Hobbes is a living tiger, but every other person in the neighborhood/school see him as a toy because their brains can't process it.
This concludes another analysis. If are a fan of Club Penguin, I prefer you read my way shorter analysis on the Penguin Secret Agency by clicking these last four words. If you are not a fan of Club Penguin, don't worry. I have a post every week, sometimes twice or thrice a week, so new analysises are on the way. don't worry! I would also prefer you share this analysis on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, tumblr, and more! Until next time, this is Storm signing off.
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