ENGLISH CIA-3: Analysis of the Calvin and Hobbes

comic strip, Dated-1985

Analysing the comic strip to arrive at fruitful conclusions regarding
the unintended or the intended meanings of the provided comic strip
and to do a deeper analysis of the aforementioned strip to
understand the comic Calvin and Hobbes better .

DESCRIPTION
The strip shows Calvin in a wagon (recurring theme) and Hobbes
pushing it on a downward inclined plane. Here Calvin asks Hobbes if
he believes in Fate.
The next section shows both Calvin and Hobbes on the wagon, where
Hobbes asks if Calvin meant to state that our lives were predestined.
To which Calvin agrees and adds that the things they do in their lives
are inevitable.
To which Hobbes thinks and replies, that what a scary thought it was.

ANALYSIS
The comic is a speculation into the age old school of thought, which
preaches and tries to propagate the idea that, the entire life of a person
is pre-planned and set on a planned track to work as a key-operated
toy, in the hands of the divine. This school of thought, was prevalent
throughout the world in the medieval period when religion was
paramount and the words of the pope still rung in the ears of the
British monarch (Before H.M Henry VIII).
The idea that fate and destiny are predefined and each human is just a
player/actor in the divine play, is still prevalent in societies
throughout the globe, these days these words like Karma, Fate,
Destiny and the Time being overlord of all beings superior or inferior,
exists only in the narratives of the stories, Young adult fictions/TV
series and mythology (which has been considered very redundant in
nature, as the current generation or GenX believes that the Sciences
have established their victory pennant over the religion)
The excitement with which Calvin says all this (as evident in the
comic) can represent the advent of the missionaries in the new lands,
where Hobbes can be a representation of the original inhabitants of
the said land, where the European occupiers have set their Pennant in
the name of His Majesty the King. This could be a representation or a
commentary on the European colonial powers and their imposition of
the faith on the so called savages. The first half of the comic where
Calvin tries to ask and make Hobbes believe in fate, can be a blatant
commentary on Pope Clement VII, protestant preacher John Calvin
and the Episcopalian preachers in earlier times who enforced and
were rigid on the fact that God has assigned Fate and Destiny to fix
the path of human life and the general progression of humanity
towards the judgement day and any action that a man does is fixed
and no one can violate the grand plan of the divine. Here Hobbes is
the representation of the modern man, who is exasperated at the
thought of not being in the control of his own being and the action
he/she has performed throughout his lifetime.
This idea just vexes the man of the modern era, as the people of today
wants complete control of their actions and wants to define their own
life on their own terms. The very idea that the actions they conduct
are predestined is a very intimidating idea to them, as the man has put
aside religion and has crowned himself the overlord of all creation
with the power of science, the idea that there is someone above them
who can control and dictate his (God’s) will on them and even
overpower the will of the man, makes the people very afraid. Their
sense of existence, their purpose of life which they think is, to do
something great and leave mark is threatened due to this idea. This
comic is the sheer representation of the man’s fear of challenge to his
superiority on Earth.
This comic is a very good reminder to us that, we might be all
powerful here and dominate the Earth and its species, but their might
exist a higher being or power which rules us all. It might not be true
but it still reminds us to stay in our limits and to stop the constant
exploitation of the lesser beings and resources on earth.

J.P Sambhava Ray

1934016
1 EPH