I came across an article the other day analyzing children's cartoon and one of them included Winne the Pooh, one of the cutest children's shows that I remember seeing as a child. It's funny because now that I think of it, some of the most popular children's books include spirituality, philosophy, and religion - sometimes without us even knowing it.
That brings me so everyone's favorite hunny-eating yellow bear. Everyone loves Winnie the Pooh, but when I read this particular article, I was blown away by how much of it made sense. It related almost all the character in Winnie the Pooh as representatives of the 7 Deadly Sins from Christian Ethics, which really opened my eyes and made me think.
Pooh eats a lot of honey and his entire life revolves around getting that last pot of hunny, making him Gluttony personified. Meanwhile, Eeyore is always lonely and pessimistic, plus he talks and walks extremely slowly, making him the personification of Sloth. My personal favorite was Tigger, just because he was always joyous, reckless, and tried to do much more than he could achieve - Pride.
That brings me so everyone's favorite hunny-eating yellow bear. Everyone loves Winnie the Pooh, but when I read this particular article, I was blown away by how much of it made sense. It related almost all the character in Winnie the Pooh as representatives of the 7 Deadly Sins from Christian Ethics, which really opened my eyes and made me think.
Pooh eats a lot of honey and his entire life revolves around getting that last pot of hunny, making him Gluttony personified. Meanwhile, Eeyore is always lonely and pessimistic, plus he talks and walks extremely slowly, making him the personification of Sloth. My personal favorite was Tigger, just because he was always joyous, reckless, and tried to do much more than he could achieve - Pride.
Though the article doesn't go on to establish who the other four sins are, I can definitely see a parallel in the 7 Deadly Sins and Winnie the Pooh. For example, Rabbit seems like an easy target for both wrath and Greed, because he always gets angry at everyone for ruining his crops (mostly Tigger), and he is particularly greedy when it comes to food and his personal goods. Gopher, in the same sense, also gets angry easily, so can also be construed as Wrath. On the other hand, Piglet is Pooh's best friend, but he is also always the sidekick, and though he is cowardly, he is very envious of his friends and their abilities because he often feels like he has nothing special. Lastly, Kanga and Roo can symbolize Lust - they are the only family in the entire series, and there is no father for Roo, which I always found strange.
If we look at it this way, it's almost as if Christopher Robin is representative of humans, and how he has to go through the trials of all these temptations sins, making the once all-knowing Owl a parallel to the Snake in Christianity, tempting him to go venture into the woods, while the Heffalump (a re-occuring elephant-like creature) is what all these deadly sins are afraid of, making it actually the holy representation of Christ, or perhaps even God.
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