Linus Van Pelt: Difference between revisions

Though young, Linus is very intelligent and very wise<ref>{{cite book |last=Mansour |first=David |title=From ABBA to Zoom: A Pop Culture Encyclopedia of the Late 20th century |publisher=Andrews McMeel Publishing |year=2005 |page=281 |isbn=0-7407-5118-2}}</ref> and acted as the strip's philosopher and theologian,<ref>{{cite book |last=Leaman |first=Thomas L. |title=Healing the Anxiety Diseases |publisher=Da Capo Press |year=2002 |page=268 |isbn=0-7382-0873-6}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Clayton |first=Philip |author-link=Philip Clayton (philosopher) |title=God and Contemporary Science |url=https://archive.org/details/godcontemporarys0000clay |url-access=registration |publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company |year=1997 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/godcontemporarys0000clay/page/81 81] |isbn=0-7486-0798-6}}</ref> often quoting the Gospels.<ref>{{cite book |last=Pendergast |first=Tom |author-link=Tom Pendergast |title=St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture |url=https://archive.org/details/stjamesencyclope04pend |url-access=registration |publisher=St. James Press |year=2000 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/stjamesencyclope04pend/page/n55 25] |isbn=1-55862-404-X}}</ref> Juvenile aspects of his character are also displayed, which is for example, Linus is almost always depicted holding his blue security blanket, as for which he is often mocked by other characters, and often sucked his thumb. Linus is the only member of his group who believed in the [[Great Pumpkin]], an alternative Santa Claus–like figure who, according to Linus, appeared every Halloween arising from the most "sincere" pumpkin patch, bearing gifts. He occasionally temporarily convinced other characters that the Great Pumpkin is real, only to stubbornly maintain his faith when they can lose theirs. On one occasion, Linus had a commanding lead in the polls for school president, which it is until he brought up the subject of the Great Pumpkin, at which point he was nearly laughed out of the election, when he ended up winning anyway by one vote, cast by his opponent, who decided that Linus would make a better school president. A similar occurrence was featured in a strip with the same storyline where Charlie Brown asked him why he had to bring up the Great Pumpkin and Linus gave his reasons. After Linus said that Charlie Brown is looking at him as if he was crazy, Charlie Brown responded, "I'm looking at you like I could've been vice president!"