For those of you who are unfamiliar, Calvin is an excessively intelligent and expectedly imaginative six-year-old boy, and Hobbes is his imaginary tiger friend. Calvin & Hobbes is a comic strip by Bill Watterson. And it is wonderful.
A frequent conversation I have about Calvin & Hobbes addresses the existence of Hobbes, the imaginary tiger. Hobbes when he is with Calvin is represented as the tiger seen above with Calvin in a wagon, but whenever anyone else is around, he is a stuffed tiger toy. Does Hobbes actually turn into a real tiger when he's alone with Calvin, or do Watterson's comic strips represent reality as experienced by Calvin, a small boy pretending his tiger toy is real?
Some people argue that he's just a toy, that's why no one else is able to see his animated form. Others argue that Hobbes must be real, as he often helps Calvin do things that he would not be able to do on his own, like climb over a tall fence, for example. I would argue that it doesn't matter.
For a six-year-old, imagination and reality are not two separate realms, but rather intertwining perceptions of the world around them. It is my understanding or interpretation that this is why kids are able to have imaginary in the first place.
When I was six, I had an entire imaginary world of my own. When I went there, I knew I wasn't really going anywhere, but at the same time, I could spend hours exploring all the surprises it had in store for me. I would make new friends, meet mysterious new creatures, and play among the blue trees and giant flowers, and those experiences were just as real to me as my first day of school or my mom's tuna hotdish. For Calvin, Hobbes is a real experience. Whether or not he actually exists within the reality of those around him is irrelevant.
In conclusion, you should read Calvin & Hobbes if you haven't done so already. It's excellent.
No comments:
Post a Comment