Good Ol’ Charlie Brown
The first PEANUTS cartoon appeared in 1950. The cartoonist,/Charles M. Schulz,/died in 2000,/but old cartoons continue to be published,/and everybody knows the PEANUTS characters,/especially Snoopy.
Charlie Brown. Lucy. Linus. Snoopy. They have appeared in magazines and newspapers/for over 70 years. They have hundreds of millions of fans around the world.
People who don’t know the names of their next-door-neighbor’s children/know Charlie Brown,/the little “loser” who never stops believing/that he can win;/Lucy, the little girl/who always gives people advice;/Linus, the small boy/who always has his security blanket with him;/and, the best-known of all,/Snoopy, the beagle/who thinks that he is a fighter pilot/or a great writer. They are the main characters/in the Peanuts cartoons.
Why are these cartoons so popular? Why has Peanuts captured the hearts of people/all over the world?
Let’s look at a few Peanuts cartoons/and see if we can find answers to these questions.
It is Father’s Day/and Charlie Brown and his friend Violet/are talking about their fathers. Violet says/that her father is richer than Charlie Brown’s dad,/and that he is better at sports. Charlie Brown has little to say. He just asks Violet/to come with him/to his father’s barbershop. He tells her/that no matter how busy his father is,/he always has time to give him a big smile/because he likes him. Violet has nothing more to say. She simply walks away. Her father’s money and athletic ability/cannot compete with a father’s simple love for his son.
Many Peanuts episodes would focus on such heart-warming aspects of family life. Charles M. Schulz,/the cartoonist who created Peanuts,/would put people and incidents from his childhood/into his cartoons. And this may be part of the reason/why the Peanuts cartoons are so popular/among people all over the world.
In this cartoon,/Linus is excited/because the home team has won a football game. Charlie Brown listens quietly/and then asks Linus one simple question:/“How did the other team feel?”
Because Charlie Brown has experienced failure himself,/he finds it important to be sensitive/to the feelings of other people who fail. He makes us think of other people.
In many ways,/Charlie Brown is a loser. He is not a very good student,/and he is not good at sports. The pretty little girl in his class/pays no attention to him. In a world where wealth and power are so important,/Charlie Brown is a failure.
But Charlie Brown never really loses. He never feels sorry for himself. He always hopes for a better day tomorrow/and keeps on trying. Perhaps that’s what makes a real winner.
The Peanuts cartoons are not funny/in the ordinary way. We are more likely to smile/than to burst out laughing. But somehow they make us feel good. We want to see Charlie Brown and Linus and Snoopy/and all the other Peanuts characters again tomorrow/in our newspaper. If they are not there,/we will miss them/as we might miss a friend/who has gone away. It is not because our friend always makes us laugh,/but because he always makes us feel good about ourselves.
Charles M. Schulz seems to suggest/that real success in life is not a matter of money, fame, and power. Rather,/it is defined by hope, courage, respect for others/and, above all,/by a sense of humor. He used to say,/“If I were given the opportunity/to present a gift to young people,/it would be the ability/for each individual to learn to laugh at himself.”
For nearly 50 years,/Charles M. Schulz drew Peanuts,/day after day,/one episode at a time. However,/late in 1999,/Schulz learned that he had cancer/and could no longer continue. To say goodbye to his readers,/he drew a farewell cartoon/and it appeared some six weeks later. If he had lived one day longer,/he would have seen it in print. Sadly,/he died the day before the cartoon came out.
On February 13, 2000,/Peanuts lovers all over the world/woke to learn that both the Peanuts characters and their author were no more. We used to think of them as our friends,/but they were now gone. Charles M. Schulz and Peanuts helped us face this difficult world/with their special type of humor/and gentle encouragement to carry on.
Though there will be no new Peanuts cartoons,/the old ones will be read/for years to come. They will keep reminding us/that true success lies in sensitivity to others/and in small acts of kindness. Charles M. Schulz found it important/that we never lose hope/even in the face of great difficulty.
The first PEANUTS cartoon appeared in 1950. The cartoonist,/Charles M. Schulz,/died in 2000,/but old cartoons continue to be published,/and everybody knows the PEANUTS characters,/especially Snoopy.
Charlie Brown. Lucy. Linus. Snoopy. They have appeared in magazines and newspapers/for over 70 years. They have hundreds of millions of fans around the world.
People who don’t know the names of their next-door-neighbor’s children/know Charlie Brown,/the little “loser” who never stops believing/that he can win;/Lucy, the little girl/who always gives people advice;/Linus, the small boy/who always has his security blanket with him;/and, the best-known of all,/Snoopy, the beagle/who thinks that he is a fighter pilot/or a great writer. They are the main characters/in the Peanuts cartoons.
Why are these cartoons so popular? Why has Peanuts captured the hearts of people/all over the world?
Let’s look at a few Peanuts cartoons/and see if we can find answers to these questions.
It is Father’s Day/and Charlie Brown and his friend Violet/are talking about their fathers. Violet says/that her father is richer than Charlie Brown’s dad,/and that he is better at sports. Charlie Brown has little to say. He just asks Violet/to come with him/to his father’s barbershop. He tells her/that no matter how busy his father is,/he always has time to give him a big smile/because he likes him. Violet has nothing more to say. She simply walks away. Her father’s money and athletic ability/cannot compete with a father’s simple love for his son.
Many Peanuts episodes would focus on such heart-warming aspects of family life. Charles M. Schulz,/the cartoonist who created Peanuts,/would put people and incidents from his childhood/into his cartoons. And this may be part of the reason/why the Peanuts cartoons are so popular/among people all over the world.
In this cartoon,/Linus is excited/because the home team has won a football game. Charlie Brown listens quietly/and then asks Linus one simple question:/“How did the other team feel?”
Because Charlie Brown has experienced failure himself,/he finds it important to be sensitive/to the feelings of other people who fail. He makes us think of other people.
In many ways,/Charlie Brown is a loser. He is not a very good student,/and he is not good at sports. The pretty little girl in his class/pays no attention to him. In a world where wealth and power are so important,/Charlie Brown is a failure.
But Charlie Brown never really loses. He never feels sorry for himself. He always hopes for a better day tomorrow/and keeps on trying. Perhaps that’s what makes a real winner.
The Peanuts cartoons are not funny/in the ordinary way. We are more likely to smile/than to burst out laughing. But somehow they make us feel good. We want to see Charlie Brown and Linus and Snoopy/and all the other Peanuts characters again tomorrow/in our newspaper. If they are not there,/we will miss them/as we might miss a friend/who has gone away. It is not because our friend always makes us laugh,/but because he always makes us feel good about ourselves.
Charles M. Schulz seems to suggest/that real success in life is not a matter of money, fame, and power. Rather,/it is defined by hope, courage, respect for others/and, above all,/by a sense of humor. He used to say,/“If I were given the opportunity/to present a gift to young people,/it would be the ability/for each individual to learn to laugh at himself.”
For nearly 50 years,/Charles M. Schulz drew Peanuts,/day after day,/one episode at a time. However,/late in 1999,/Schulz learned that he had cancer/and could no longer continue. To say goodbye to his readers,/he drew a farewell cartoon/and it appeared some six weeks later. If he had lived one day longer,/he would have seen it in print. Sadly,/he died the day before the cartoon came out.
On February 13, 2000,/Peanuts lovers all over the world/woke to learn that both the Peanuts characters and their author were no more. We used to think of them as our friends,/but they were now gone. Charles M. Schulz and Peanuts helped us face this difficult world/with their special type of humor/and gentle encouragement to carry on.
Though there will be no new Peanuts cartoons,/the old ones will be read/for years to come. They will keep reminding us/that true success lies in sensitivity to others/and in small acts of kindness. Charles M. Schulz found it important/that we never lose hope/even in the face of great difficulty.