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Hobbes (Calvin and Hobbes)
Encyclopedia
Hobbes is a character in the comic strip
Calvin and Hobbes
by Bill Watterson
. He is Calvin
's stuffed
tiger, and is depicted with two distinct identities.
Hobbes is often shown to be smarter than Calvin when he is pictured as a real tiger. He is seen reading more often than his owner and tries to be the voice of reason when Calvin tries to perform a semi-risky stunt or one of his schemes. Hobbes' advice mostly has no effect on Calvin, who usually ignores Hobbes's reasoning and winds up getting in trouble for his actions. Because of this, some fans say that Hobbes represents Calvin's conscience.
Hobbes is named after Thomas Hobbes
, a philosopher who at times had a poor outlook on life and human nature. When Hobbes is shown to be alive, he is proud of his species and glad not to be a human, showing that when Hobbes comes to life, he too believes he is a real tiger.
Hobbes is shown to be an enthusiastic, if not particularly talented, artist, a trait which he shares with Calvin, though to a lesser degree, sometimes supplying the (often unnecessary) artwork for Calvin's school projects, such as a letterhead featuring a "Calvin shield" surrounded by "lance-toting tigers". Hobbes also appears to be more enthusiastic about knowledge than Calvin since Hobbes likes reading more than he and sometimes does Calvin's homework.
Hobbes is almost always willing to finish Calvin's homework when Calvin gets lazy, despite that Hobbes' motive for doing so is usually only to boast of the academic knowledge and skill of tigers while solving the problems (according to Hobbes tigers need to learn physics, biology and artistic expression to hunt). While he explains the homework to Calvin in a seemingly scientific and advanced method, the answer that he provides is usually completely incorrect, even though most times the problem only involves simple addition or subtraction
. When Hobbes is not trying to explain the homework to him, Calvin is usually reading comics or otherwise doing anything but work.
Calvin often yells, "I'M HOME!" when he gets home, making him an easy target for Hobbes. Sometimes, though, Calvin realizes that this is not a good idea, and manages to thwart his tiger, although this sometimes leads to more trouble. Calvin once managed to go through his back door to sneak up on Hobbes, yelled "I'M HOME!" before opening the door (causing Hobbes to leap into the door), and locked the door after Hobbes left the house (accidentally locking out his mother as well). Calvin also sometimes creates decoys wearing his clothes using pieces of wood, paper bags of leaves with the face on it, or makeshift snowmen, also in his clothes. Hobbes, however, usually sees through Calvin's decoy and either spots him or uses the decoy to his advantage.
Hobbes is also "President-and-First Tiger" of the G.R.O.S.S. (Get Rid Of Slimy girlS) club. The club headquarters are located in a treehouse (although in one strip an emergency meeting was held in a cardboard box called the "Box of Secrecy"), which Hobbes can get into without needing the rope ladder. Therefore, he is in charge of granting Calvin access, which involves Calvin reciting the password, which is eight verses of a poem extolling tigers. It can also be much more than this. In one strip Hobbes remarked "You're not doing the dance."
borders on addiction) and frequently makes wry or even disparaging comments about human nature, declaring his good fortune to lead a tiger's life. Reflecting upon his work in the introduction he wrote to The Complete Calvin and Hobbes, Watterson observed that his two protagonists revealed different facets of his own personality. Calvin generally voices what Watterson considered his immature side, often echoing the sentiments Watterson saw prevalent in modern America. ("The consumer is always right"; "There has to be a way to cram more violence into ninety minutes"; "Hold on, I need to inflate my basketball shoes.") By contrast, Hobbes offers a voice of ironic maturity — though he is himself far from immune to silliness.
Calvin captures Hobbes in a "tiger trap" during the first strip of the comic. Watterson initially believed that it was important to establish how his two main characters first met, but by the time he wrote the Tenth Anniversary Book, he had changed his opinion, saying it was unnecessary and even detrimental to the feel of the strip. Much later, it is apparent in several strips that Hobbes and Calvin have known each other their whole lives, including when Calvin was an infant. This contradicted the first two strips, which show Calvin and Hobbes' first meeting. One strip especially shows Calvin claiming that he didn't remember much of his infancy. While Calvin starts going on and on about how he suspects he was being brainwashed when he was very, very young, and asking nobody in particular what he remembered that someone wanted him to forget, Hobbes says "I seem to recall that you spent most of the time burping up." Also, in an earlier strip, Hobbes once mused about some advice his father gave him.
Hobbes' appearance changed over the strip's run; in the beginning he was slightly shorter, and his tufts of fur less defined and shorter. His eyes also had more of a round shape, as opposed to the oval shape of later years. The most notable change, however, were the pads on Hobbes's hands. In earlier years, Watterson drew the pads on Hobbes' hands as a reminder that they were really paws, but later removed them on the grounds that he found them to be visually distracting. However, in one strip after Waterson stopped drawing the pads, Hobbes remarks in response to a complaint by Calvin, "my fuzzy mittens have pads!"
Hobbes' name was revealed in the third strip when Calvin claims that Hobbes was making a lot of noise by jumping on the bed.
Hobbes has claimed that he actually had a family when, in fact, he is a stuffed animal. In one strip, Calvin asks Hobbes what he should do if Moe tries to attack him. Hobbes claims that Calvin should scramble for a tree and sit in it all day. Calvin is outraged by the advice and Hobbes states "It doesn't impress the girls, of course, but there's no sense in impressing them and getting killed, my dad used to say."
, and Watterson explains it as thus:
Many readers assume that Hobbes is either a product of Calvin's imagination
, or a stuffed animal
that comes to life when Calvin is the only one around, or when nobody else but him is looking. However, Watterson rejects both of these interpretations, saying, "Hobbes is more about the subjective
nature of reality
than dolls coming to life"; thus, there is no concrete definition of Hobbes' reality. Watterson explained: "Calvin sees Hobbes one way, and everyone else sees Hobbes another way." Hobbes' reality is in the eye of the beholder. The so-called 'gimmick
' of Hobbes is the juxtaposition of Calvin and Hobbes' reality and everyone else's, with the two rarely agreeing.
Despite this, in the world of the comic the other characters often speak of Hobbes as Calvin's "imaginary friend." As well, it is sometimes difficult to imagine how the "stuffed toy" interpretation of Hobbes is consistent with what the characters see. For example, when Hobbes pounces on Calvin, the next panel shows Calvin lying on the ground, covered with dirt, with Hobbes lying on top of him, and then when Calvin walks in, his mother can clearly see him beaten up, and she is left completely baffled. Also, Hobbes "cuts" Calvin's hair (rather unsuccessfully), leading his parents to think that he cut his own hair badly. In another example, Hobbes "assists" Calvin's attempt to become a Houdini-style escape artist by tying Calvin to a chair. Calvin, however, cannot escape, and his irritated father must undo the knots, all the while asking Calvin how he could do this to himself. In a rare interview, Watterson explained his approach to this situation:
Additionally, aspects of Hobbes' existence as a "real" tiger and a stuffed animal converge with little dispute from Calvin. An example is Hobbes's frequent washings or "baths" in the laundry machine which Calvin accepts. Likewise, in one strip, Calvin states that Hobbes becomes "a little loopy" when he comes out of the dryer. Another example is when Calvin's mom signed Calvin up for swimming lessons, Calvin asks why Hobbes can't come, so she responds (eyes rolling) "it's not good to get tigers wet," to which Calvin asks Hobbes why this is true, and Hobbes replies "it takes us all day to dry out, and until we do, we smell funny." Another example is that although the debut strip showed Calvin capturing Hobbes with a snare in such a way that seems like it's the first time they've ever met, another strip implies that Hobbes is older than Calvin and has been around his entire life. This strip has Calvin quoting that he can't recall anything from when he was under the age of three. Hobbes responds to this by saying Calvin spent most of the time burping up. Though other characters often refer to Hobbes as a "stuffed tiger" to Calvin, he avoids or ignores those comments (for example, when Hobbes is believed to have been stolen during a burglary, Calvin's mom reassures him that a robber would not want a stuffed tiger, to which Calvin responds "But Hobbes is so trusting...").
In response to the journalist's assumption that Hobbes was a figment of Calvin's imagination, Watterson responded,
Hobbes is often the voice of reason
, contrasting Calvin's manic
impulsiveness
. It is ambiguous if this rationality is in Hobbes as a distinct personality, or in Calvin as a kind of conscience
. In the end, the question becomes less about absolute truth and more about different versions of reality: the nature of Hobbes' existence is never a puzzle to be solved, but rather a subtle comment on the power of imagination, and on the similar power of a lack thereof.
Susie Derkins also comments on Hobbes. When Calvin refuses to play house with her because she brings home a rabbit from the "Hospital", she calls after him, "I don't see why you'll play with your dumb ol' tiger
but not Mr. Bun!" Afterward, Hobbes comments that "Mr. Bun seems coma
tose, did you notice?" contrasting Hobbes' "reality" to that of another stuffed animal. Hobbes has a very large crush on Susie as well, much more than Calvin.
Calvin sometimes threatens to wound Hobbes, like when Hobbes declares that Calvin and Susie are going to be married and asks whether he should wear spats. Calvin replies "In a minute you'll be wearing a body cast
!"
Comic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....
Calvin and Hobbes
Calvin and Hobbes
Calvin and Hobbes is a syndicated daily comic strip that was written and illustrated by American cartoonist Bill Watterson, and syndicated from November 18, 1985, to December 31, 1995. It follows the humorous antics of Calvin, a precocious and adventurous six-year-old boy, and Hobbes, his...
by Bill Watterson
Bill Watterson
William Boyd Watterson II , known as Bill Watterson, is an American cartoonist and the author of the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes...
. He is Calvin
Calvin (Calvin and Hobbes)
Calvin ' is a fictional character, and one of the two principal characters in the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson. Calvin demonstrates a level of wisdom, vocabulary and humor unusual for a six year-old boy...
's stuffed
Stuffed animal
A stuffed toy is a toy sewn from cloth, plush, or other textiles, and stuffed with straw, beans, plastic pellets, cotton, synthetic fibres, or other similar materials. Stuffed toys are also known as plush toys A stuffed toy is a toy sewn from cloth, plush, or other textiles, and stuffed with straw,...
tiger, and is depicted with two distinct identities.
Hobbes Personality
Hobbes is seen in two differentiating perspectives. The creator, Bill Watterson, clearly states it's not Calvin's imagination that makes him come to life when he's around. Calvin views him as a live tiger; as best friend. To everybody else he's a stuffed tiger.Hobbes is often shown to be smarter than Calvin when he is pictured as a real tiger. He is seen reading more often than his owner and tries to be the voice of reason when Calvin tries to perform a semi-risky stunt or one of his schemes. Hobbes' advice mostly has no effect on Calvin, who usually ignores Hobbes's reasoning and winds up getting in trouble for his actions. Because of this, some fans say that Hobbes represents Calvin's conscience.
Hobbes is named after Thomas Hobbes
Thomas Hobbes
Thomas Hobbes of Malmesbury , in some older texts Thomas Hobbs of Malmsbury, was an English philosopher, best known today for his work on political philosophy...
, a philosopher who at times had a poor outlook on life and human nature. When Hobbes is shown to be alive, he is proud of his species and glad not to be a human, showing that when Hobbes comes to life, he too believes he is a real tiger.
Relationship with Calvin
For the most part, Calvin and Hobbes converse and play together, reveling in what is ultimately a deep friendship. They also frequently argue or even fight with each other, though their disagreements are generally short-lived. Hobbes often beats up Calvin with an energetic pounce-and-tackle attack, which leaves Calvin bruised and scraped up but not seriously harmed. Hobbes takes great pleasure in his demonstrations of feline prowess, while Calvin expresses keen frustration at his inability to stop the attacks or explain his injuries to his skeptical parents. Hobbes is proud to be an animal and seems to have a low opinion of humans in general (when Calvin is wondering why people exist, Hobbes simply responds "tiger food"), and Calvin claims that he once ate a kid in his school, named "Tommy Chesnutt."Hobbes is shown to be an enthusiastic, if not particularly talented, artist, a trait which he shares with Calvin, though to a lesser degree, sometimes supplying the (often unnecessary) artwork for Calvin's school projects, such as a letterhead featuring a "Calvin shield" surrounded by "lance-toting tigers". Hobbes also appears to be more enthusiastic about knowledge than Calvin since Hobbes likes reading more than he and sometimes does Calvin's homework.
Hobbes is almost always willing to finish Calvin's homework when Calvin gets lazy, despite that Hobbes' motive for doing so is usually only to boast of the academic knowledge and skill of tigers while solving the problems (according to Hobbes tigers need to learn physics, biology and artistic expression to hunt). While he explains the homework to Calvin in a seemingly scientific and advanced method, the answer that he provides is usually completely incorrect, even though most times the problem only involves simple addition or subtraction
Arithmetic
Arithmetic or arithmetics is the oldest and most elementary branch of mathematics, used by almost everyone, for tasks ranging from simple day-to-day counting to advanced science and business calculations. It involves the study of quantity, especially as the result of combining numbers...
. When Hobbes is not trying to explain the homework to him, Calvin is usually reading comics or otherwise doing anything but work.
Calvin often yells, "I'M HOME!" when he gets home, making him an easy target for Hobbes. Sometimes, though, Calvin realizes that this is not a good idea, and manages to thwart his tiger, although this sometimes leads to more trouble. Calvin once managed to go through his back door to sneak up on Hobbes, yelled "I'M HOME!" before opening the door (causing Hobbes to leap into the door), and locked the door after Hobbes left the house (accidentally locking out his mother as well). Calvin also sometimes creates decoys wearing his clothes using pieces of wood, paper bags of leaves with the face on it, or makeshift snowmen, also in his clothes. Hobbes, however, usually sees through Calvin's decoy and either spots him or uses the decoy to his advantage.
Hobbes is also "President-and-First Tiger" of the G.R.O.S.S. (Get Rid Of Slimy girlS) club. The club headquarters are located in a treehouse (although in one strip an emergency meeting was held in a cardboard box called the "Box of Secrecy"), which Hobbes can get into without needing the rope ladder. Therefore, he is in charge of granting Calvin access, which involves Calvin reciting the password, which is eight verses of a poem extolling tigers. It can also be much more than this. In one strip Hobbes remarked "You're not doing the dance."
Origins and development
Watterson based some of Hobbes's characteristics, especially his playfulness and attack instinct, on his own pet cat, Sprite, who is known to unexpectedly jump out of nowhere. Hobbes takes great pride in being a feline (his love affair with tunaTuna
Tuna is a salt water fish from the family Scombridae, mostly in the genus Thunnus. Tuna are fast swimmers, and some species are capable of speeds of . Unlike most fish, which have white flesh, the muscle tissue of tuna ranges from pink to dark red. The red coloration derives from myoglobin, an...
borders on addiction) and frequently makes wry or even disparaging comments about human nature, declaring his good fortune to lead a tiger's life. Reflecting upon his work in the introduction he wrote to The Complete Calvin and Hobbes, Watterson observed that his two protagonists revealed different facets of his own personality. Calvin generally voices what Watterson considered his immature side, often echoing the sentiments Watterson saw prevalent in modern America. ("The consumer is always right"; "There has to be a way to cram more violence into ninety minutes"; "Hold on, I need to inflate my basketball shoes.") By contrast, Hobbes offers a voice of ironic maturity — though he is himself far from immune to silliness.
Calvin captures Hobbes in a "tiger trap" during the first strip of the comic. Watterson initially believed that it was important to establish how his two main characters first met, but by the time he wrote the Tenth Anniversary Book, he had changed his opinion, saying it was unnecessary and even detrimental to the feel of the strip. Much later, it is apparent in several strips that Hobbes and Calvin have known each other their whole lives, including when Calvin was an infant. This contradicted the first two strips, which show Calvin and Hobbes' first meeting. One strip especially shows Calvin claiming that he didn't remember much of his infancy. While Calvin starts going on and on about how he suspects he was being brainwashed when he was very, very young, and asking nobody in particular what he remembered that someone wanted him to forget, Hobbes says "I seem to recall that you spent most of the time burping up." Also, in an earlier strip, Hobbes once mused about some advice his father gave him.
Hobbes' appearance changed over the strip's run; in the beginning he was slightly shorter, and his tufts of fur less defined and shorter. His eyes also had more of a round shape, as opposed to the oval shape of later years. The most notable change, however, were the pads on Hobbes's hands. In earlier years, Watterson drew the pads on Hobbes' hands as a reminder that they were really paws, but later removed them on the grounds that he found them to be visually distracting. However, in one strip after Waterson stopped drawing the pads, Hobbes remarks in response to a complaint by Calvin, "my fuzzy mittens have pads!"
Hobbes' name was revealed in the third strip when Calvin claims that Hobbes was making a lot of noise by jumping on the bed.
Hobbes has claimed that he actually had a family when, in fact, he is a stuffed animal. In one strip, Calvin asks Hobbes what he should do if Moe tries to attack him. Hobbes claims that Calvin should scramble for a tree and sit in it all day. Calvin is outraged by the advice and Hobbes states "It doesn't impress the girls, of course, but there's no sense in impressing them and getting killed, my dad used to say."
Hobbes' reality
From Calvin's point of view, Hobbes is a walking, talking, usually bipedal tiger, larger than Calvin and full of his own attitudes and ideas. But when the perspective shifts to any other character, readers see merely a stuffed tiger (there are some occasions in which Calvin's perspective of Hobbes is visible in the same panel as a parent, but the parent was not looking at the time). This is, of course, an odd dichotomyDichotomy
A dichotomy is any splitting of a whole into exactly two non-overlapping parts, meaning it is a procedure in which a whole is divided into two parts...
, and Watterson explains it as thus:
Many readers assume that Hobbes is either a product of Calvin's imagination
Imagination
Imagination, also called the faculty of imagining, is the ability of forming mental images, sensations and concepts, in a moment when they are not perceived through sight, hearing or other senses...
, or a stuffed animal
Stuffed animal
A stuffed toy is a toy sewn from cloth, plush, or other textiles, and stuffed with straw, beans, plastic pellets, cotton, synthetic fibres, or other similar materials. Stuffed toys are also known as plush toys A stuffed toy is a toy sewn from cloth, plush, or other textiles, and stuffed with straw,...
that comes to life when Calvin is the only one around, or when nobody else but him is looking. However, Watterson rejects both of these interpretations, saying, "Hobbes is more about the subjective
Subjectivity
Subjectivity refers to the subject and his or her perspective, feelings, beliefs, and desires. In philosophy, the term is usually contrasted with objectivity.-Qualia:...
nature of reality
Reality
In philosophy, reality is the state of things as they actually exist, rather than as they may appear or might be imagined. In a wider definition, reality includes everything that is and has been, whether or not it is observable or comprehensible...
than dolls coming to life"; thus, there is no concrete definition of Hobbes' reality. Watterson explained: "Calvin sees Hobbes one way, and everyone else sees Hobbes another way." Hobbes' reality is in the eye of the beholder. The so-called 'gimmick
Gimmick
In marketing language, a gimmick is a unique or quirky special feature that makes something "stand out" from its contemporaries. However, the special feature is typically thought to be of little relevance or use. Thus, a gimmick is a special feature for the sake of having a special feature...
' of Hobbes is the juxtaposition of Calvin and Hobbes' reality and everyone else's, with the two rarely agreeing.
Despite this, in the world of the comic the other characters often speak of Hobbes as Calvin's "imaginary friend." As well, it is sometimes difficult to imagine how the "stuffed toy" interpretation of Hobbes is consistent with what the characters see. For example, when Hobbes pounces on Calvin, the next panel shows Calvin lying on the ground, covered with dirt, with Hobbes lying on top of him, and then when Calvin walks in, his mother can clearly see him beaten up, and she is left completely baffled. Also, Hobbes "cuts" Calvin's hair (rather unsuccessfully), leading his parents to think that he cut his own hair badly. In another example, Hobbes "assists" Calvin's attempt to become a Houdini-style escape artist by tying Calvin to a chair. Calvin, however, cannot escape, and his irritated father must undo the knots, all the while asking Calvin how he could do this to himself. In a rare interview, Watterson explained his approach to this situation:
Additionally, aspects of Hobbes' existence as a "real" tiger and a stuffed animal converge with little dispute from Calvin. An example is Hobbes's frequent washings or "baths" in the laundry machine which Calvin accepts. Likewise, in one strip, Calvin states that Hobbes becomes "a little loopy" when he comes out of the dryer. Another example is when Calvin's mom signed Calvin up for swimming lessons, Calvin asks why Hobbes can't come, so she responds (eyes rolling) "it's not good to get tigers wet," to which Calvin asks Hobbes why this is true, and Hobbes replies "it takes us all day to dry out, and until we do, we smell funny." Another example is that although the debut strip showed Calvin capturing Hobbes with a snare in such a way that seems like it's the first time they've ever met, another strip implies that Hobbes is older than Calvin and has been around his entire life. This strip has Calvin quoting that he can't recall anything from when he was under the age of three. Hobbes responds to this by saying Calvin spent most of the time burping up. Though other characters often refer to Hobbes as a "stuffed tiger" to Calvin, he avoids or ignores those comments (for example, when Hobbes is believed to have been stolen during a burglary, Calvin's mom reassures him that a robber would not want a stuffed tiger, to which Calvin responds "But Hobbes is so trusting...").
In response to the journalist's assumption that Hobbes was a figment of Calvin's imagination, Watterson responded,
Hobbes is often the voice of reason
Reason
Reason is a term that refers to the capacity human beings have to make sense of things, to establish and verify facts, and to change or justify practices, institutions, and beliefs. It is closely associated with such characteristically human activities as philosophy, science, language, ...
, contrasting Calvin's manic
Mania
Mania, the presence of which is a criterion for certain psychiatric diagnoses, is a state of abnormally elevated or irritable mood, arousal, and/ or energy levels. In a sense, it is the opposite of depression...
impulsiveness
Impulse (psychology)
An impulse is a wish or urge, particularly a sudden one. It can be considered as a normal and fundamental part of human thought processes, but also one that can become problematic, as in a condition like obsessive-compulsive disorder....
. It is ambiguous if this rationality is in Hobbes as a distinct personality, or in Calvin as a kind of conscience
Conscience
Conscience is an aptitude, faculty, intuition or judgment of the intellect that distinguishes right from wrong. Moral judgement may derive from values or norms...
. In the end, the question becomes less about absolute truth and more about different versions of reality: the nature of Hobbes' existence is never a puzzle to be solved, but rather a subtle comment on the power of imagination, and on the similar power of a lack thereof.
Susie Derkins also comments on Hobbes. When Calvin refuses to play house with her because she brings home a rabbit from the "Hospital", she calls after him, "I don't see why you'll play with your dumb ol' tiger
Tiger
The tiger is the largest cat species, reaching a total body length of up to and weighing up to . Their most recognizable feature is a pattern of dark vertical stripes on reddish-orange fur with lighter underparts...
but not Mr. Bun!" Afterward, Hobbes comments that "Mr. Bun seems coma
Coma
In medicine, a coma is a state of unconsciousness, lasting more than 6 hours in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to respond normally to painful stimuli, light or sound, lacks a normal sleep-wake cycle and does not initiate voluntary actions. A person in a state of coma is described as...
tose, did you notice?" contrasting Hobbes' "reality" to that of another stuffed animal. Hobbes has a very large crush on Susie as well, much more than Calvin.
Calvin sometimes threatens to wound Hobbes, like when Hobbes declares that Calvin and Susie are going to be married and asks whether he should wear spats. Calvin replies "In a minute you'll be wearing a body cast
Orthopedic cast
An orthopedic cast, body cast or surgical cast, is a shell, frequently made from plaster, encasing a limb to hold a broken bone in place until healing is confirmed...
!"
External links
- The Official site of Calvin and Hobbes
- Official Calvin and Hobbes Publicity site at Andrews McMeel PublishingAndrews McMeel PublishingAndrews McMeel Publishing, LLC is a company which publishes books, calendars, and related toys...