Ask a Question
or
Create a Poll
  1. Home /
  2. Questions /
  3. Hobbies
  4. / Comics And Comic Books
  5. / Calvin And Hobbes
  6. / Calvin And Hobbes (General)

by davoomac on June 24th, 2006

davoomac

Question

Help answer this question below.

What is Hobbes?

  • Like
  • Report
Share:
Other

Answers. 4 helpful answers below.

  • by Ankith on February 13th, 2009

    Ankith

    Hobbes is Calvin's stuffed tiger. Oh and he is also First Tiger!!(nice title)!!

    • Like
    • Report

    No comments. Post one | Permalink

  • by Ed the Jetpacking Headbanger on March 15th, 2007

    Ed the Jetpacking Headbanger

    In the classic comic tradition of sidekicks, Hobbes represents Calvin's potential maturity and externalized conscience. A comic about a young boy throwing slushballs into a neighbor girl's head would be sad and trite without Hobbes there to wisely tease him, "You think she's cute, right?"

    From everyone else's point of view, Hobbes is Calvin's stuffed tiger. From Calvin's point of view, however, Hobbes is an anthropomorphic tiger, much larger than Calvin and full of his own attitudes and ideas. But when the perspective shifts to any other character, readers again see merely a stuffed animal, usually seated at an off-kilter angle. This is, of course, an odd dichotomy, and Watterson explains it thus:

    “ When Hobbes is a stuffed toy in one panel and alive in the next, I'm juxtaposing the "grown-up" version of reality with Calvin's version, and inviting the reader to decide which is truer. ”

    Hobbes' intangibility is called into question, however, when he pounces on Calvin (often leaving Calvin disheveled) and in one incident, ties him to a chair in such a way that his father is unable to understand how he could have done it himself. Also, in a very early strip, Calvin says that Hobbes ate a classmate of his (and Hobbes seems to verify this.) No other reference to Hobbes doing anything to another person is ever made, and this incident is probably just a humorous throwaway line.

    He is named after the 17th-century philosopher Thomas Hobbes, who had what Watterson described as "a dim view of human nature."[18] Thomas Hobbes' most famous work is titled "Leviathan", in which his description of the human condition also mirrors a physical description of Calvin as "...nasty, brutish and short". Hobbes is much more rational and aware of consequences than Calvin, but seldom interferes with Calvin's troublemaking beyond a few oblique warnings—after all, Calvin will be the one to get in trouble for it, not Hobbes. Hobbes also has the habit of regularly stalking and pouncing on Calvin, most often when Calvin returns home from school. Hobbes is sarcastic when Calvin is being hypocritical about things he dislikes.

    Although the first strips clearly show Calvin capturing Hobbes by means of a snare (with tuna fish sandwich as the bait), a later comic (August 1, 1989) seems to imply that Hobbes is, in fact, older than Calvin, and has been around his whole life. Watterson eventually decided that it was not important to establish how Calvin and Hobbes had first met.

    • Like
    • Report

    1 comment | Post one | Permalink

  • by davoomac on July 31st, 2006

    davoomac

    Hobbes is Calvin's stuffed tiger who, from Calvin's perspective, is as alive and real as anyone in the strip. He is named after 17th century philosopher Thomas Hobbes, who had what Watterson described as "a dim view of human nature.

    • Like
    • Report

    No comments. Post one | Permalink

  • by Google a Foo Fighting COAT on February 25th, 2009

    Google a Foo Fighting COAT

    A stuffed bear, that Calvin talks to and is only real to him.

    No comments. Post one | Permalink

Want to attach an image to your answer? Click here.

Did this answer your question? If not, then ask a new question or create a poll.

More Questions. Additional questions in this category.

You're reading What is Hobbes?

Follow us on Facebook!

Related Ads

Related Questions

Professionally Researched

ANSWERBAG BUZZ

What is hobbs
What is hoobes
What is hobbes
Watterson answered fifteen questions submitted by readers
What is hobbers

Answerbag

a Demand Media company