I. Thesis
As I read this comic by Bill Waterson, I thought about how people are fixated on learning about wars and not peace, how children pretend to battle each other instead of pretend to make treaties and agreements, even how many people are hungry to go to war. It made me sad that at a young age, children are taught that wars are exciting and fun. The comic strip also forced me to think about how impractical war really is. In a war, two sides struggle to fight and kill the members of the opposing side until one of the sides feels that it has lost too many of its members and resources and surrenders. Typically, both sides lose an unfathomable amount of soldiers and resources, making it seem as though no one has really “won” the war. It seems useless to fight to the death when it would be easier to make agreements and treaties instead. Bill Waterson, in his comic strip “Calvin and Hobbes,” successfully makes the argument that war, although for some reason is exciting and more intriguing than peace, is in itself an outdated and unneeded concept in the present day. It aims to show the audience why neither side in a war is a true “winner.” It also explains why people are intrigued by wars and not by peace settlements. The intended audience of the comic strip is politicians, for politicians are the ones that start and end wars. Soldiers do not start and end wars, for they are only the tools with which wars are fought. Politicians usually do not physically fight in wars they start, so they do not have first-hand experience of what they have caused. The comic strip displays a young child pretending to go to war with his imaginary friend because there are too few role models in peace making, a reason that should not exist in the youth’s minds. The strip also demonstrates why war is, to put it simply, stupid.
II. Supporting Evidence #1
a. Bill Waterson uses dialogue in order to show why war, although fascinating, is something that Earth can clearly function without.
b. For example, Calvin says, “We’re at war, so if you get hit with a dart, you’re
dead and the other side wins.”
c. After playing the game, Calvin says, “Kind of a stupid game isn’t it?”
d. Hobbes offers up an interesting question at the beginning of the strip, “How come we play war and not peace?”
III. Supporting Evidence #2
a. The author of the comic also uses the pictures in his strip to demonstrate his thoughts on war.
b. Calvin and Hobbes get hit with a dart at the same time, showing the usual events of war.
c. In the strip, Calvin and Hobbes stand directly next to each other when they shoot at each other, showing one of the defects of war.
d. Calvin is wearing a military helmet, in order to depict the image of a real battle in the reader’s mind.
IV. Supporting Evidence #3
a. Bill Waterson uses the art of role-playing to further persuade the reader to accept his own thoughts.
b. In the strip, Calvin assigns roles for himself and Hobbes to play “war” as, in order to give the reader a sense as to how nations view themselves in a war.
c. Waterson shows that there is always an assumed “good” or “right” side; that depends on which side you are.
V. Supporting Evidence #4
a. The author uses humor in order to show the atrocities of war without actually frightening the reader.
b. The cartoons use dart guns in order to fight a pretend battle instead of real ones.
c. The battle lasts only a few seconds, for the cartoons hit shoot each other at the same time. In a real battle, battles can last from minutes to months, while wars usually last several years.
VI. Conclusion
War is an evil that is often celebrated and reenacted by many in order to experience a fraction of the thrill it brought. However, war is a concept in which both sides usually end up losing.
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