Quotations and Literature Forum

Hiya,

I'm doing a semantics course at university and one of the tasks for my coursework is to analyse the quote said by Linus Van Pelt in the Peanuts cartoons by Charles M Schulz.

'I love mankind, it's people I can't stand'

Can anyone help me?! I don't understand the quote - is it just that he can't stand the individual people? HELP!

Kate

it's just basically ment to be ironic. He loves mankind, but the actions of people let them down. i assume

The statment is an oyxmoron. It is the same as saying, I favor Christianity but I detest Christians. Christianity is both an ideal and religion but the individual actions of some Christians are less than ideal.

"Go ahead and hate your neighbor
Go ahead cheat a friend,
Do it in the name of Heaven
And you'll be justified in the end..."

Theme song to the movie, Billy Jack


'I love mankind, its people that I can't stand.' I would say that Linus is trying to tell us that he favors society but he does not enjoy interacting with people on an individual basis. As long as people can play by the rules or follow the norms then Linus can tolerate them. Otherwise he would rather be left alone.

"Why do we say that love is eternal?"
If we say simply that God is love, and leave it at that, we leave love without an object. Love is no more than a state of mind or heart. It is theoretical or sentimental. It neither speaks nor gives. It is a "love" that gets along very well without ever loving anyone or anything. As Linus yells at Lucy, "I love mankind . . . It's people I can't stand!"
~ Greg Uttinger
http://www.chalcedon.edu/report/99sep/uttinger.shtml

"It is easier to love humanity than to love your neighbor." Eric Hoffer
"I love mankind; it's people I can't stand." Charles Schultz
"We walk alone in the world. Friends, such as we desire, are dreams and fables."
~Ralph Waldo Emerson
"The most common of all follies is to believe passionately in the palpably not true. It is the chief occupation of mankind." Mencken

The fact is, the individual can do no more to change a burdensome societal ill in a social democracy than he/she can in a dictatorship. Sadly, in some ways, the situation is worse in a democracy, because in a dictatorship you know you can do nothing, but in a free society you are deceived into thinking you can do something. Practically, you cannot. It is a problem fundamental and inherent to the "individual vs. group" phenomenon.
http://www.etext.org/Politics/Essays/he ... -democracy

Well i'll like to add that it simplem meanS LITTLE BUT THAT UNDERSTANDING TO HUMAN IS AWFULLY MUCH

_________________
It's good to be good

its funny how such a small sentence can mean so much.