Calvin and Hobbes: An Ecocritical Look at a Fantastical Tiger

8/12/2019 Calvin and Hobbes: An Ecocritical Look at a Fantastical Tiger

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An Ecocritical Look at a Fantastical Tiger

Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson was a daily comic strip, that ran from

November 1985, to the end of 1995; it is considered by many to be one of the best

and most influential comic strips of its time (Dear Mr. Watterson, 2013). The comic

strip's main characters were the eponymous Calvin, a rambunctious, imaginative,

socially awkward 6-year-old; and Hobbes, a living, talking, anthropomorphic tiger (or

perhaps, a stuffed toy?).

If, according to Cheryll Glotfelty Ecocriticism is the study of the relationship between

literature and the physical environment. (as cited in Dobrin & Kidd, pg. 3), then

"Calvin and Hobbes" can be read as an ecocritical text, since the major focus of the

strip is the relationship between Calvin, which often represents the fabricated, pop-

culture, consumer-obsessed world, and Hobbes, which often represents a more

natural, healthy, and level-headed approach to life. By listening to their conversations

and observing their behavior, we can easily detect Watterson's opinions regarding the

ideal relationship between Boy (or Man) and Nature and Society.

Tuna Sandwich: first encounter

For Hobbes to be a powerful and constructive voice, the comic strip had to rest on

certain foundations, especially considering the cultural weight of the tiger as a wild

animal, and the relationship between Man and Beast, and between Child and Toy.

Hobbes is not created by Calvin, not even implicitly. Margaret Joan Blount sees the

animal-like toy character in a dismissive way, "mere animations of cute toys, added to

the tale as a means of easy access to the faerie realm" while the anthropomorphized

animal is still regarded as the extension of the human, "man's own thoughts, deed and

attributes given external form, projected onto another different creature." (Blount,

Margaret Joan.Animal Land: The Creatures of Children's Fiction.New York: Morrow,

1974, 1975. As quotes in Kuznets, pg. 210). As we will see, it is important for Watterson

to portray Hobbes as an independent character.


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From an ecocritical point of view, the choice of tiger as Hobbes' species is pregnant

with meaning: the tiger is a powerful, un-domesticated, man-eating animal; inherently

wild and dangerous. In "The Jungle Book" it is King, in the "Life of Pi" the epitome of

savagery.

Right from the start, Watterson dismantles our expectations of Hobbes as a tiger, and

of his relationship with Calvin as toy or animal. The tiger is caught by the trap, naked

in the woods, but the dainty bite on the sandwich makes him cute, not ferocious or

dangerous. Calvin is wearing a Safari Has, as if he is some British colonial about to step

into the Indian Jungle, yet he brings back not a stuffed trophy but a fabulous friend.

Watterson intentionally dismantles the "predator and prey" dichotomy and makes

sure their relationship is always "a boy and his friend". While the two friends fight and

wrestle, Calvin is never seen as "food", and Hobbes is never seen as "pet".

A Real Live Tiger: Imaginary or Fantastical?

Is Hobbes "imaginary", or merely hidden, like a fantastical creature? That question is

quickly dismissed by Watterson as both unresolved and not important. Others treat

Hobbes as a stuffed toy, yet Calvin never obfuscates his references to Hobbes as a

living, realtiger; they just treat it as another silly imaginary thing Calvin says.

For Watterson, Hobbes must be real so he could voice a distinct voice to Calvin, and

not some "inner", or "primitive" part of Calvin. He made an unusual choice to show

Hobbes with dual natures: when only Calvin and Hobbes are in the strip, Hobbes is

alive: he talks and moves on his own; eats, sleeps, dreams, fights with Calvin, etc.; but

with other characters in the strip, Hobbes is a stuffed toy. This never seems to phase

Calvin. Though other characters would insist that Hobbes is a toy and can't act on his

own, for Calvin, Hobbes is an independent agent, different from himself.


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In Children's Literature, when the child interacts with the fantastical, we are always

aware of the mediator, the adult writer, standing between us and the child's

experience; but when we see Calvin runs and plays and schemes with Hobbes, we are

seduces to embrace Calvin's point of view. This allows Watterson to hide his

involvement better, to make Hobbes more immediate to us. In this. Calvin's

experience (and ours) of Hobbes becomes private and special, and allows Watterson

more freedom in expressing his views concerning the indifferent world that ignores

Hobbes as real.

The Wild Boy and the Tame Tiger

The American Bad Boy and the rebellious tomboy are admirable, thanks to time spent

in the great outdoors, away from the civilizing influences of home (Dobrin & Kidd, pg.

6)

Calvin is hyperactive, wildly imaginative; runs around the house, breaking lamps and

making a mess. Outside, he rolls in the dirt, picks up rocks, splashes in pools, and starts

water-baloon fights. He skips school and runs away from the babysitter. He is, we

might say, "wild". Therefore, it is noteworthy that Hobbes is not the instigator or the

motivator of any of this, though he is a willing accomplice to much of it. Hobbes is not

Calvin's "wildness" exemplified or externalized, but as an "other" that readily joins

these behaviors, giving them positive reinforcement by accepting them, and making

them more enjoyable.

His "tigerness", the positive aspect of this tigerhood comes into play when we note

whichbehaviors Hobbes reinforces in Calvin, and which he doesn't. Calvin breaks the

rules, while Hobbes acknowledges them and chooses which to accept, and which to

rejects. He does not participate when Calvin skips school, nor does he help him pick

on Susie Derkins; he dislikes the unhealthy "sugar bombs" or the Saturday morning

cartoons Calvin binges on. Conversely, he is always happy to participate in make-

believe, in roleplaying, running and playing outside, getting dirty, climbing trees, and

even the dangerous and sometimes polemic sled rides.

In this Watterson is using Hobbes' "otherness" to define an alternative childhood

space, one that is not categorized by being "Bad", meaning assimilating society's rules


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by breaking all of them, but categorizing some habits and behaviors as better,

healthier, and perhaps "internal" to Boyhood, while rejecting others as fabricated, and

"external".

The Woods outside the Home

Watterson insisted unlike other artists before him on larger and unbroken space

(Watterson, 2001) that allowed him to create lush, colorful vistas of woods and snowy

hills. He loved the outdoors (Dear Mr. Watterson, 2013) and brings that love to the

comic strip.

Children are still presumed to have a privileged relationship to nature, thanks largely

to the legacy of romantic and Victorian literature, which emphasized often to thepoint of absurditythe childs proximity to the natural world and consequent purity.

(Dobrin & Kidd, pg. 6)

Calvin's playing often takes the events of the comic strip "outside". Outside is where

we put Nature, when we decided "Inside" is our homes, our cities, and in that, erected

borders between our society and nature. When Calvin and Hobbes travel outside it

allows Watterson to comment on the beauty of the natural world, and on our impact

on it.

While Calvin loves watching TV and playing inside, and also frequently plays the

"naturalist", exploring the woods, observing bugs in their habitat. We see the force of

the choice to make Calvin's friend a tiger when we note his role in Calvin's

explorations. Outside, Hobbes is more at home, and he often plays the role of "guide"

to Calvin's "explorer", answering questions and taking a more active role.

To some extent, "Calvin and Hobbes" can be seen as what Kamala Platt calls

"environmental justice poetics," texts that are created to promote both

environmental well-bring and social justice" (Dobrin & Kidd, pg. 184) since Hobbes, as

an animal, "carries the responsibility of gently and brilliantly reminding human beings

to respect biological and cultural diversity." (Dobrin & Kidd, 190).

It is indicative of the comic strip's dual-natured depiction of Hobbes that he never

becomes completely animalistic during these forays outside. He runs on two legs, he


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plays with Calvin but not with other animals; as we mentioned, he is not a predator

and never hunts, and at the end of the day, just like Calvin, he is pleased to rest at

home and enjoy a meal prepared by Mom

The Man Cub and the Tiger Parent

Many of the conversations between Calvin and Hobbes concern Calvin's attempts to

understand the adults around him and the adult world. "Hobbes frequently appears

cleverer, more adult, and occasionally almost superegolike." (Kuznets, ph. 55). When

Hobbes answers Calvin, we can consider his views to be more "mature1", however, he

never "represents" the adult world; as a tiger, he always answers from an outside

perspective. He might explain, translate, help Calvin to assimilate the adult world, he

is never a part of it.

In his "otherness", Hobbes doesn't necessarily reinforce society's values in Calvin: "toy

characters in literature, like many other character in fantasy, often function as

subversiveforces acting out crises of individual development generally repressed by

modern society." (Kuznets, pg.7) so while Hobbes might be more "mature", he is not

an adult version of a Man, but perhaps an adult version of something else,

Despite his calmness and tendency to want to avoid trouble and think of the

consequences, all things that could be considered "adult" attributes, Hobbes is acutely

distinguished from the adult world, represented for Calvin by his parents, his

babysitter, and his teachers. Hobbes would often help Calvin observe ludicrous

aspects of the adult world, and reject them. Hobbes might serve as a surrogate parent,

but he is a parent from a different world, that works according to different rules. While

forethought and responsibility are still important, careers or politics or pop culture are

not.

Being a wild animal, Hobbes can sound and act exactly as an adult and still be

immediately positioned in opposition to the normal, adult human world. He is always

"other", and by embracing certain values and rejecting others, he provides an

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For example, Hobbes "has an admitted interest in the female of the species and keeps remindingCalvin, locked into his love-hate relationship with Susie Derkin, of the more romantic aspects of

relationships between the sexes." (Kuznets pg. 55)


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alternative to Calvin; a counterculture to something hypocritical and fake. In other

words, Calvin doesn't have to grow up to be his Dad; he can grow up to be a tiger.

The Dual Natured Animal

From its inception, Watterson made three vital, important decisions: that Calvin would

have a friend only he can see, and only he can interact with; that the reader would see

this friend as Calvin sees him; and that friend would be an anthropomorphic wild

animal: a tiger. From the first strip and all through the decade of its run, Hobbes had

an ambiguous nature. From the simple question, is he real? Is he imaginary? A

question Watterson is always very careful never to answer one way or another, we

see Hobbes playing different parts at different times, or even at the same time. He is

a force calling outside, to play, to run, but also to rest, to lie in front of the fire, to be

careful, avoid danger, to think deep thoughts but also play silly improvised Calvinball,

to wax philosophically about the meaning of culture and play while hurling down a

snowy slope into certain falls.

Is humanity opposed to nature? Kuznets sees these texts as valuable places where

"the insiders and the outsiders meet" (pg. 5); while Nature is often depicted as "good",

more connected to who we are, and Watterson certainly loves the woods and hills

around his home (Dear Mr. Watterson, 2013) he is never completely alienated from

the adult world. If being civilized is to be a certain "object", to have a certain job, a

title, a nationality, Hobbes transcends those boundaries, and serves as a bridge for

Calvin to transcend them as well. He allows Calvin to rebel not by destroying but by

alluding. As an animal, he represents nature in her role as counter-ethic to how we

are demanded to live our lives, but since he is never completely animalistic, Calvin,

and us with him, is never asked to completely abandon the human world, the many

comforts of constructed society, that both Calvin and Hobbes know how to enjoy.

The wild animal here is not an extinct animal, caged in a zoo, forced to play one role,

as predator, as danger, but rather is all those things: he can stalk but he can run, ride

a sled or climb a tree, eat a sandwich and sit on a chair, and run, beboth Inside and

Outside.


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We, the readers, are unique in Calvin's world, because we are the only people other

than Calvin that can see and hear Hobbes. We are invited to Calvin's point of view not

just to strengthen it, but also to allow Hobbes to serve as the bridge for us; invite us

to transcend those same boundaries; help us be more like tigers.


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Bibliography

Dobrin, Sidney I. and Kidd, Kenneth B. Wild Things: Children's Culture and Ecocriticism.

Wayne State University Press, 2004

Kuznets, Lois Rostow. When Toys Come Alive.Yale University Press, 1994

Watterson, Bill. Calvin and Hobbes: Sunday Pages 1985-1995. Andrews McMeel

Publishing, 2001

- The Complete Calvin and Hobbes.Andrews McMeel Publishing, 2005

Dear Mr. Watterson. Dir. Joel Allen Schroeder. Fingerprint Films, 2013.

Documents

Calvin and Hobbes: An Ecocritical Look at a Fantastical Tiger