I loved the Peanuts comic strip when I was a kid. I had — still have, somewhere in the depths of the Bennion Archives — a dozen or so paperback compilations that I carried around in my back pocket all through my elementary-school years. I practically had those books memorized, I flipped through them so frequently. I identified with Charlie Brown’s insecurity and I thought the World War I flying ace was the coolest. But as I moved into middle school, I came to realize that I didn’t think the strip was very funny. It was gentle and wise, as its fans so often claim. It was also stodgy and old-fashioned, sometimes preachy, occasionally heartwarming or cute, but it was never funny. I can’t recall ever laughing out loud at a Peanuts strip the way I did over Bloom County or Calvin and Hobbes or even the early, pre-sell-out Garfield, and I honestly can’t remember the last time I actually read a Peanuts strip.
Still, I do have a soft spot for the characters of Charles Schulz — they were very important to me when I was very young and memories of them linger in my heart, like kindergarten friends you haven’t seen in decades — so I couldn’t resist taking the latest personality quiz that’s circulating through the blogosphere, the Which Peanuts Character Are You? test. Here is my result:
You are Franklin!
Which Peanuts Character are You?
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I guess this is an accurate enough description of me. Funny thing, though: I don’t remember this character. Not even a little. I find that odd and more than a little disturbing, considering how obsessive I used to be about this strip. Who is this guy? And what does it say about me that my Schulzian personality match is so forgettable?
