Friday, October 30, 2009

Sincerity


Wikipedia says:
Linus's seemingly unshakable belief in the Great Pumpkin, and his desire to foster the same belief in others, has been interpreted as a parody of Christian evangelism by some critics. Others have seen Linus's belief in the Great Pumpkin as symbolic of the struggles faced by anyone with beliefs or practices that are not shared by the majority. Still others view Linus's lonely vigils, in the service of a being that may or may not exist and which never makes its presence known in any case, as a metaphor for mankind's basic existential dilemmas.
I couldn't agree more. Linus is one of the great literary creations of the 20th century. His faith is baseless, yet he goes through life like a cheerful Kierkegaard. It is the search for authenticity in a meaningless society that matters; the journey toward self-hood, whatever that might be.