Some Children write letters to Santa, Some leave teeth under their pillow for the tooth fairy and some hunt eggs left by the Easter Bunny, but to Linus Van Pelt the Great Pumpkin is his Mythological hero. The Great Pumpkin is supposed to rise up out of the pumpkin patch and bring toys to all the children who believe in him. Linus feels that his faith in him is stronger than anyone else’s so he has to show himself in his pumpkin patch.
Linus convinces Sally to want to stay and wait for the Great Pumpkin. That means missing out on the night of trick or treating (could be a blessing in disguise with all the rocks given out). They sit in the pumpkin patch all night just waiting and waiting. When a mysterious figure comes rustling through the pumpkin patch Linus gets excited, but Sally quickly realizes it’s just snoopy dressed as the red baron. Sally frustrated and betrayed blames Linus for missing out on all the Halloween fun, she wants her restitution.
Linus ends up staying in the pumpkin patch all night hoping the Great Pumpkin finally shows up, but he falls asleep to no prevail and his sister Lucy brings him to bed. The end scene is Linus and Charlie Brown discussing the Great Pumpkins authenticity. Linus is angered that Charlie Brown would even question the Great Pumpkin and that he would wait again next year for him to come. This idea of Linus believing so strongly in this entity shows a religious similarity and how your faith can be questioned and many around you will call you crazy for believing. Linus’ faith is strong and he continues to believe even when nothing shows. I think that is Charles Schulz giving us a glimpse of how the world views religion. There are far more nonbelievers or those so quick to give up hope, but those few that do believe have such a strong faith that’ll endure the ridicule. They will continue that faith no matter what and I think that says a lot about these individuals.
Something so simple as a Halloween special I feel has a strong message. Halloween being a holiday that associates with satanic and demonic entities, but a faith based character turns the whole idea into something more. We see Halloween in a whole new light. In the eyes of a believer, in the eyes of a child and once again are taken back to that nostalgic childhood memory of trick or treating wonderment. When we believed everyone was good because they offered us an opened door warm welcome and loads of sugary treats. I think there’s a lot to this special and shows that it’s stayed relevant over the years. Or Maybe it’s just a children’s cartoon with no underlying meaning and I’m looking too far into it. Let me know what you think of the Great Pumpkin because I know this is one that almost everyone has seen.
Happy Holidays!
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