Snoopy

:This article is about a comic strip character. You may also be looking for an American rapper named Snoop Dogg.

Character

Snoopy first made his appearance on the strip on October 4, 1950, two days after the strip premiered. Schulz was originally going to call him "Sniffy" until he discovered that name was used in a different comic strip. Snoopy was a silent character for the first two years of his existence, but on October 19, 1952 he verbalized his thoughts to readers for the first time via a thought balloon; Schulz would utilize this device for nearly all of the character's appearances in the strip thereafter. In addition to Snoopy's ability to "speak" his thoughts to the reader, many of the human characters in Peanuts have the uncanny knack of reading his thoughts and responding to them.

Related Topics:
October 4 - 1950 - October 19 - 1952 - Thought balloon

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Many of Peanuts memorable moments come in Snoopy's daydream as a writer: his eternal opener on the typewriter "It was a dark and stormy night..." is taken from Edward George Bulwer-Lytton's 1830 novel Paul Clifford. The contrast between Snoopy's existence in a dream world and Charlie Brown's in the real world is central to the humour and philosophy of Peanuts (see e.g. Peanuts book title Life's a dream, Charlie Brown).

Related Topics:
Edward George Bulwer-Lytton - Novel - Paul Clifford - Charlie Brown

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Schulz summed up Snoopy's character in a 1997 interview: "He has to retreat into his fanciful world in order to survive. Otherwise, he leads kind of a dull, miserable life. I don't envy dogs the lives they have to live."{{fn|1}}

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~