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19600321

Linus first mentions the difficulties he has with his grandmother in the strip from March 21, 1960.

Linus' blanket-hating grandmother is the grandmother, of Linus, Lucy, and Rerun van Pelt, and like most adults in the comic strip, has never been seen. As the title of this article indicates, it is her relationship with Linus, rather than with her other grandchildren, that is focused on in Peanuts. She hates Linus' security blanket, and always tries to take it away from him. It is unknown whether she is the children's maternal or paternal grandmother and therefore her surname is also unknown.

The grandmother was first mentioned on March 21, 1960, when Linus told Charlie Brown there are two people in the world against thumb sucking. They are dentists, and interfering grandmothers. In an arc in January 1963, Linus dreads his grandma coming over, who believes in "moral fibre", discipline and "butting into other people's business". She arrives that Monday and takes it away, forcing Linus to use replacements like a dollar bill and a dishrag. After angering her about how she drinks 32 cups of coffee, he reconciles and gets his blanket back. Linus tries mailing his blanket away in a Sunday comic in 1964, which goes smoothly in comparison to July 1965 when it got delivered to Snoopy by accident and he stayed silent, so everyone believed it got lost in the mail.

Grandma seems to be mentioned mostly in the 60s, and last mentioned on May 7, 1985. Her age may play into this, having served in WW2 (where she must have been 40, to have mothered one of the parents). The "grandma" character is maintained in the later years through Charlie Brown and Sally's granny.

Linus's blanket-hating grandmother is referred to in the TV special, Happiness is a Warm Blanket, Charlie Brown.

Relationships[]

Linus[]

19600322

Linus tries to prevent his grandmother from taking his blanket in the strip from March 22, 1960.

While staying for a week at the Van Pelt family home, the grandmother demands that Linus stop using his blanket, an act which Linus refuses to do. The whole week, Linus keeps trying to hide his blanket, and ends up successfully hiding it from his grandmother.

The grandmother has featured in the strip's storyline a few more times over the years, and always tries to get Linus to give up his blanket. Linus always dreads her visits. Sometimes, she is successful in stealing Linus' blanket, but he always finds a way to take it back. Linus also uses tricks to prevent his grandmother from finding it, such as using a decoy blanket.

19670828

Linus finds out that his grandmother is prepared to give up smoking in the strip from August 28, 1967.

In one storyline which originally ran between August 28 and September 13, 1967, Linus says he will give up his blanket if his grandmother gives up smoking, which she does. After their grandmother keeps her side of the bargain, Lucy hides Linus' blanket to prevent him from touching it. The boy sends a spy (Snoopy) to find out where the blanket is hidden but the beagle fails in his mission. After Linus has been without his blanket for two weeks, Lucy declares that her brother is cured of his dependency on it and announces that she is going to burn it. Linus, however, rescues the blanket and tells Lucy that neither she nor their grandmother can part him from it.

In the series of strips which originally ran from January 10, 1963, Linus' blanket is taken away after he makes fun of his grandmother for drinking thirty-two cups of coffee. After he apologizes, his blanket is returned to him.

Lucy[]

Grandma has a more positive relationship with Lucy, it seems, as Lucy eggs on the fights regarding the blanket, typically since she invites her over out of spite and exhibits no aversion to her other than writing Christmas thank-you's. Lucy also connects with her grandma through WW2 experiences, doing a school report on her grandmother in November 1976.

Rerun[]

Rerun never has anything to do with his grandmother when she visits and tries to steal Linus's blanket. He always just stays out of the picture. However, Rerun seems to love talking to his grandmother on the phone, and tells her about kindergarten. It is possible that Rerun is talking to his other grandmother, and not the blanket-hating grandmother.

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