Watterson has many classics, and this is one of his best. I'm struck by the inverted experience. When sledding or riding downhill, it's the ascension part which is boring and tedious, while the downhill part is exciting and rewarding. It's the opposite of the metaphor of success, climbing the ladder to get higher rewards.
My kids love Calvin & Hobbes and have read all the books several times over, but I never thought to analyze one in such detail. There was a lot more to it than I would have guessed.
Thanks for this nice comment! I think one reason the cartoons are so universally beloved is that there is a lot to all of them, even if we’re just reading them for fun.
When I lived and worked in Silicon Valley, unexpectedly losing ones job was a common experience for many. The emotional roller-coaster can be terrifying, but in most cases one ends up in a better situation. Once at a party, a woman was openly sobbing. We were told she had just lost her job. We puzzled for a moment with "Yes... and?" before someone said "It's her first time." Ah!! We all remembered our first time.
My version is when my dissertation fell apart. I had drafts of three chapters, but my advisor refused to sign off on everything. He kept telling me that they were bad, but he wouldn’t tell me what was wrong with them or give me a clue about what I should do. (He preferred vague, Yoda-esque pronouncements like “just read around and have a good think and you’ll figure it out eventually.”) And then my Mellon Fellowship, which had paid for five years of graduate study, ran out. I had the choice of going into debt to pursue a likely fruitless endeavor, or quitting and trying something entirely different. Quitting was the best thing that could ever have happened to me. It is good to have our lives upended!
I think what he thought was wrong is that he wanted to be jetting off to conferences and seducing grad students (he was sleeping with three women in my department that I know of, and who knows how many more) rather than providing actual advice to students he was being paid to teach. At least I wasn’t paying him with my own money!
Watterson has many classics, and this is one of his best. I'm struck by the inverted experience. When sledding or riding downhill, it's the ascension part which is boring and tedious, while the downhill part is exciting and rewarding. It's the opposite of the metaphor of success, climbing the ladder to get higher rewards.
Ooo! Nice point!
My kids love Calvin & Hobbes and have read all the books several times over, but I never thought to analyze one in such detail. There was a lot more to it than I would have guessed.
Thanks for this nice comment! I think one reason the cartoons are so universally beloved is that there is a lot to all of them, even if we’re just reading them for fun.
When I lived and worked in Silicon Valley, unexpectedly losing ones job was a common experience for many. The emotional roller-coaster can be terrifying, but in most cases one ends up in a better situation. Once at a party, a woman was openly sobbing. We were told she had just lost her job. We puzzled for a moment with "Yes... and?" before someone said "It's her first time." Ah!! We all remembered our first time.
Ha! This is a great story!
My version is when my dissertation fell apart. I had drafts of three chapters, but my advisor refused to sign off on everything. He kept telling me that they were bad, but he wouldn’t tell me what was wrong with them or give me a clue about what I should do. (He preferred vague, Yoda-esque pronouncements like “just read around and have a good think and you’ll figure it out eventually.”) And then my Mellon Fellowship, which had paid for five years of graduate study, ran out. I had the choice of going into debt to pursue a likely fruitless endeavor, or quitting and trying something entirely different. Quitting was the best thing that could ever have happened to me. It is good to have our lives upended!
Did you ever find out what your so-called advisor thought was wrong? It sounds boarderline criminal.
I think what he thought was wrong is that he wanted to be jetting off to conferences and seducing grad students (he was sleeping with three women in my department that I know of, and who knows how many more) rather than providing actual advice to students he was being paid to teach. At least I wasn’t paying him with my own money!