List of Pearls Before Swine characters
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This is a partial list of characters in the comic strip Pearls Before Swine by Stephen Pastis
Contents |
[edit] Rat
[edit] Personality
Rat is a megalomaniacal rat, who is frequently critical of the strip's style and artwork, as well as the other characters in the strip, and almost all living (and some nonliving) things. He believes himself to be more intelligent than he actually is, and thinks more or less anybody else is stupid. He tends to aggravate people, particularly his intelligent friend Goat, and is easily aggravated by his naïve, dim-witted housemate Pig.
Rat is also a con artist, as he is often taking up professions he knows almost nothing about and charging people a lot of money, often insulting or confusing his customers, co-workers and boss in the process. At times, other companies make the mistake of hiring him, in which case Rat is usually rude to his customers and employers.
In the comic's history, Rat has hosted several jobs for varying lengths of time. Some of them include a marriage counselor, a book store information guide, a Feng Shui expert, a telemarketer, a supermarket cashier, a reporter for the New York Times, a pizza parlor manager, a stockbroker, a life coach, an oil company CEO, a coffee shop cashier, and a hotel concierge among others. Much about his family is unknown, but he did telephone his mother in one strip, and we know that his father was killed by a circus clown for an unknown reason.
He has also made various forays into the world of literature, and Sunday strips often depict him typing novels. These novels usually are about a character called Angry Bob, who, in every book, finds true happiness, followed by an untimely death. Rat also has a comic strip, Dickie the Cockroach, about a cockroach who ties people up and slaps duct tape over the mouths of people who say stupid things (he did this to the titular character of the comic strip Cathy); he is seemingly oblivious to the fact that no one reads it. Recently he has begun writing children's books, starring the character Danny Donkey (Rat even made a doll of Danny who mysteriously came alive). He has made references to poetry many times too, although he has almost never written a poem himself (except for rhymes that he used to put in postcards, who turned out to be almost always rather insulting to the postcard's owner). He once said that the key to writing great poetry is making your work so obscure that "no one can understand you, much less criticize you". He once wrote the following free verse poem: "Atop the fog the Zebra's buttocks angry at my mother's sloth".
While Rat is often cold hearted or mean to his housemate Pig, he has been shown to be kind at times, saying nice things to him (although quickly covering it up with his usual attitude). He sometimes lies to Pig to spare his feelings, although not very often. It has also been revealed that Rat has a soft spot for Pig's sister, Farina, a germaphobe who lives in an air-filtered bubble. She, however, had on-and-off feelings about Rat, often breaking Rat's heart and dating other characters.
He is also seen criticizing the quality of other comic strips, particularly older ones or those aimed at a specific group. For this reason, he and the other characters were banned from the 75th anniversary of "Blondie and Dagwood". He sometimes even goes into the "real world" and complains to the strips writer, Stephen Pastis directly. Rat once mentioned that another reason the funnies are "unfunny" is because the censorship code hasn't been updated since the 1950's, meaning they can't do things commonly seen on prime time television. He explains that some comic strips, such as "The Far Side" and "Calvin and Hobbes", were genuinely funny, but the writers retired, because they had the good sense to not let their features grow stale and let new cartoonists make their livings. Unfortunately, most of the new writers follow in the footsteps of the very comics Rat states as the root of the problem, so the funnies are trapped in a vicious circle.
[edit] History
Stephan Pastis, the strip's author and formerly a lawyer, started drawing Rat in law school, often killing him off for the sake of humor. In later attempts to get syndicated, Pastis teamed Rat up with Poe, a being that didn't resemble anything. The strip, titled Rat, was too depressing for the syndicates, and was turned down.
Rat was later put into another one of Pastis' comics, Bradbury Road, which was also rejected. According to Baywalk.com,
Bradbury Road is the story of Gus, a ten year old boy who is befriended by Rat, a cynical rodent who gnaws his way through the wall into Gus' room. Gus, the child of divorced parents, lives with his mother and very rarely sees his father. Reserved and slightly awkward, he spends a lot of time in his own room. For those times when Gus is not around, Rat talks with Jingles, a stuffed, court jester doll that lives on a shelf in the boy's room.
After some rejection, Pastis eventually wrote Pearls Before Swine, which was an attempt to revive Rat with a less depressing tone. Poe was replaced by Pig, and began syndication by United Media on December 31, 2001.
[edit] Pig
[edit] Personality
Pig is a good-natured pig. He believes that there is good in every being, even his cynical housemate Rat. As well as being friends with Rat (despite Rat's constant abuse), he also frequently is seen talking with Zebra and Goat.
Pig is very dimwitted and naïve, often being beaten up by Rat after trying to have a serious conversation with him, only to say something unrelated (i.e. Euthanasia being confused for "Youth in Asia"). Pig is usually oblivious to how cruel Rat is.
Pig, when on a date, is most likely seen with Pigita, but earlier in the strip, he can be seen with other pigs. Pigita, like many people, is aggravated by Pig's stupidity. She also has dramatic mood swings.
Not much is known about Pig's family, although Pig writes letters to his mother occasionally, and she writes back with indifference to him. He also has a sister Farina who had a brief relationship with Rat. Pig is also a cannibal but is oblivious to this fact.
[edit] History
Not originally in the strip, Pig came from a past attempt to get syndicated by Pastis, and stepped into Pearls to replace the humanoid Poe from Pastis's first strip to feature Rat (also rejected).
[edit] Zebra
[edit] Personality
Zebra is a supportive and caring zebra, who is often seen either writing to his predators or talking about recent deaths. He thinks it is a large problem and tries to promote peace and understanding between species. He is seen mainly around Pig or Rat.
He lives next door to the Fraternity of Crocodiles, much to his dismay, as they are constantly trying (and failing) to eat him. His other neighbhors are the lions.
He recently got a pet cat that the Crocs tried to use to kill him. Instead the cat liked Zebra. The Crocs think the cat is trying to secretly kill him.
Not much is known about the surviving members of his family (almost always when Zebra talks of a dead family member, it is the name of one of Pastis' real relatives), just their names.
He often tries to stop predation, but his efforts usually fail miserably. He once came up with a plan to fool the lions by playing dead. This didn't work, as 99 of the 100 zebras that tried it were eaten, and the one who succeeded "wasn't faking it". Another time, he tried getting zebras some "popemobiles", so they could travel safely. However, it worked too well, and they wouldn't leave, and thus died. Zebra also tries reasoning with the lions and crocodiles, but they refuse to listen, often eating their would-be instructors.
[edit] History
Zebra was originally to be a one time character (as stated by Pastis), but was popular and became a central character. His first strip was released on February 4, 2002.
[edit] Goat
[edit] Personality
Goat is intelligent and literate. He has a hard time putting up with Rat's ego and Pig's stupidity. He willingly interacts with Zebra, but usually tries his hardest to keep away from the other characters. He likes to read, and would rather read than hang out with anyone else.
[edit] Name
As with most of other animal characters in the strip, Goat is only referred to by the noun as a name. However, in an arc where Goat travels home and visits his mother, she comments on how his name is never used in the comic strip he works in, and that his real name is Paris. Goat replies that "Goat" is just a stage name.[1]
[edit] History
Goat is the only beginning character to be thought up specifically for the strip (as opposed to Rat and Pig, who appeared in Pastis's Rat and The Infirm [both rejected], respectively). He was originally supposed to be a bear.
[edit] Trivia
On the cover of the Pearls Before Swine comic strip treasury The Crass Menagerie " Goat is seen seated on the right reading the book "God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater" by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., which has as an alternate title on the cover "...or Pearls Before Swine."
[edit] Farina
[edit] History
On August 18, 2002, Farina was introduced to the strip as Pig's sister, coming over for a visit. She was, according to Rat, "so paranoid about germs she wore gloves to [their] house." However, she is introduced to the strip inside a germ-proof, air-filtered bubble, and many jokes involved the fact she was stuck in a round ball. Little by little, though, Rat started to care about her. Rolling Farina up a hill so she could see a nice view of the nighttime sky and taking her to drive-in movies are just two examples of him expressing love for what may have been the first time. However, Farina's father forbade marriage between the two, and were forced to split up.
Then on July 2, 2003, it was revealed that Farina was married to a bubble pig named Bob and had a bubble child. When Rat called Farina up for a date, Bob picked up instead, and attempted to murder Rat when he found out he still loved Farina.
Bob seemed to have cooled down, as on November 15, 2005, Farina showed up again to ask Rat to babysit their child while she and Bob went on a "two-week romantic getaway to the Bahamas", thus breaking Rat's heart again.
Since then, Farina has broken up with Bob and appeared in the strip again, but instead of getting back together with Rat, dated Dilbert and Hagar the Horrible.
[edit] Angry Bob
[edit] The Adventures of Angry Bob
The books that Rat writes are entitled, "The Adventures of Angry Bob (by Rat)". Sometimes, they will have a subtitle, such as, "An Epic Tragic Poem Thingie" or "A Big Fat Tale 'O Woe".
In every story, Angry Bob becomes frustrated with his life, usually stating that he is either angry or sad. Then, he gets a new idea to make his life better (e.g. go on vacation, buy a new house, go to the zoo, etc.). Finally, just as he is starting to feel happy at last, something ridiculous happens that kills him (e.g. gets trampled by elephants, gets drunk and drowns in the ocean, gets beaten up by an angry mob; gets shot by armed, deaf, easily startled, cross-dressing midgets, etc.).
