Calvin (Calvin and Hobbes)

Personality

Named after 16th century theologian John Calvin, the character of Calvin is presented as being intelligent and verbose, with an imagination that usually manifests itself in the comic strip as an apparent physical existence. He despises school as an institution, directly criticizing teaching methods and enforced conformity. He often delivers sarcastic responses to dull fact-oriented questions on tests. Calvin consistently receives bad grades, simply because the subjects do not interest him enough for him to work at them. Occasionally, Calvin will receive excellent grades for a project he truly was interested in, such as dinosaurs. Calvin has a wide vocabulary and an advanced sense of irony. His grapples with philosophical quandaries are explored most elaborately during hazardous sled and wagon rides, often visual metaphors for the point of discourse which are usually cut short by a crash, banal distraction, mischievous urge, or sarcastic retort from one of his parents.

Calvin's precocious vocabulary, imagination and curiosity frequently clash with his refusal to learn things he does not want to, from teachers, parents or the lessons that emerge from his follies. He does, however, enjoy learning by choice and has a wide knowledge of dinosaurs. When his father asks why his enjoyment of learning is not reflected in his school performance, Calvin replies, "We don't read about dinosaurs." He frequently daydreams in class, imagining it variously as a prison, an alien planet, or the setting of a space battle, with the characters of Miss Wormwood or other students appearing as antagonistic aliens. He is not against learning new things so long as he doesn't feel like he's being forced to do so, he believes that "if no one makes you do it, it counts as fun."

Rather than seek real help, Calvin usually defers to Hobbes, who despite his regal and wise demeanor, shares Calvin's penchant for creative stupidity. They are frequently depicted as partners in mischief and rarely take away the correct lesson when their schemes backfire. As Hobbes puts it, "Live and don't learn, that's us!" Despite their frequent fights, some less playful than others, Calvin considers Hobbes the most intelligent creature in his life and rarely perceives his "help" as misguided or deceitful.

Calvin sometimes displays minor antisocial tendencies, once wishing he were dead (only to add he really wished that everyone else were dead), and showing reluctance to participate in group activities or join organizations, frequently disrupting them when forced to participate anyway (although on the rare occasions he does attempt to follow the rules, he usually breaks them by accident). His fantasies also revolve around this, and they may frequently consist of people he knows or masses of people getting killed, such as a pack of Deinonychus attacking a school (by eating Susie Derkins first) or Calvin flying an F-15 fighter jet and launching missiles into his school, destroying it and leaving a smoking crater (only to show great disappointment when he knows it's just fantasy). Although early in the strip's run Calvin was depicted as a Cub Scout, this did not recur. He says to Susie that he did not sign up for recess baseball because he absolutely hates organized sports, and later creates Calvinball as its antithesis, the only permanent rule being that it can never be played the same way twice. The reason why Calvinball was made was because Calvin left the baseball team after he caught the ball for the wrong team and everyone yelled at him.

Although frequently depicted as selfish, Calvin does exhibit a deeply caring side, with several strips dedicated to his attempts at caring for an injured baby raccoon, and his despair following its death. His dad couldn't find any single way to cheer him up, even when his mom tries to help, and influences Calvin's subsequent curiosity over life and death. He similarly mourns a bird which dies after flying into a window. After catching a butterfly he lets it go when Hobbes remarks, "If people could put rainbows in zoos, they would." Conversely, he decries birds' inability to write memoirs and often tries to belittle Hobbes for being a tiger, yet just as often remarks on the pettiness of humans and envies the quiet dignity of animal life.

Despite being six, Calvin often expresses imagination and naivete, though these are often contrasted with his intelligence. He believes anything his dad tells him, which his dad often takes advantage of as a joke. He seems not to understand why his dad is his dad, eventually assuming it to be an elected position, and subsequently presenting polls and studies of his performance as "Dad." He believes in Santa Claus, but often grapples with the morality of acting good, and questions Santa's existence on more than one occasion. When Hobbes says "Isn't this a religious holiday?" Calvin replies, "Yeah, but actually, I've got the same questions about God."

In a reference to John Calvin's philosophies on predestination, many strips depict Calvin causing trouble or being disobedient as a result of imaginary events that are forcing him to act a certain way. Calvin frequently claims his disruptive behaviors are out of his control, remarking to Hobbes that "Life is a lot more fun when you're not responsible for your actions."

Calvin's alter-egos

Calvin frequently imagines himself as other human characters with super powers, usually to avoid difficult situations (like school tests). His alter egos are: Stupendous Man, Tracer Bullet, and Spaceman Spiff. Stupendous Man is when Calvin puts on a mask and cape and pretends to have super powers, often picturing his mom, babysitter, or teacher as villains. Tracer Bullet is when Calvin is a private eye and takes "cases," usually from his mom or teacher. As Spaceman Spiff, Calvin frequently crashes his spacecraft and is left on alien planets. Later Watterson said he regretted creating the Spaceman Spiff character due to lack of flexibility and humor.

On several occasions, Calvin has appeared as either a larger or a smaller version of himself, wreaking havoc as a T-Rex, or crawling across a book page as "Calvin, the human insect." More frequently, he imagines himself as a different creature altogether, in a scenario that parallels his present situation: one strip depicts him imagining himself as Godzilla battling another monster (his mother) while taking a bath.

Inventions

During his imaginative flights of fancy Calvin occasionally creates machines from a cardboard box to facilitate his plans, the use of which almost always backfires. Their reality is similar to that of Hobbes, which is to say that it is never fully confirmed if they somehow actually work or if it's simply Calvin's imagination. These are:

Noodle Incident

The Noodle Incident is a running gag about an event at school in which Calvin was involved in the past. Whenever a character mentions it to Calvin, he immediately gets very defensive about it. The June 10, 1989 strip hinted that worms were involved. The incident itself is never shown or explained, although various allusions appear throughout the strip.

Christmas

Calvin always experiences internal struggles during the Christmas season, trying to decide whether he should try to be well-behaved to get more "loot," whether his bad behavior during the year will negate any efforts he makes, or whether the presents are even worth being good. He remarks in one strip that "throwing these snowballs would give me immediate and certain pleasure. Refraining from throwing these snowballs in the hope of being rewarded at Christmas is delayed and uncertain pleasure." On Christmas morning, he usually wakes his parents up extremely early (5:00 for example) so that he can open his gifts, much to his father's disgust.