Almost everyone has heard of Winnie the Pooh. Walt Disney has adapted the classic character and books into animated movies and television shows, and the bear has a large fanbase worldwide. The story has even inspired several theories and psychological analyses. Why is a book written back in 1926 still being talked about by young and old alike? Are there hidden symbolisms in the characters? Let’s look deeper.
Winnie The Pooh: A Children’s Story
The original 1926 book stars a human boy named Christopher Robin and an anthropomorphic teddy bear named Winnie the Pooh, along with their friends Owl, Piglet, Eeyore, Rabbit, Roo, and Kanga. The book is a collection of short stories with the general theme of the importance of friendship and taking time to listen to one another. In a magical place called the 100-Acre Wood, Christopher Robin visits and plays with his friends.
The Inspiration For Pooh
Author Alan Alexander (A.A.) Milne was an avid fiction writer and playwright. He was an officer in the British Army during World War I, and there he met Winnie, a Canadian black bear mascot for the Winnipeg regiment, who later became the namesake for his son’s stuffed toy bear. Milne’s young son Christopher Robin Milne inspired the Christopher Robin in the book, and the other characters were based on Christopher’s toys. These toys are on display today at the Polonsky Exhibition of The New York Public Library’s Treasure.
Why The Book Was Written
A.A. Milne didn’t usually write children’s stories, but being a doting father, he was inspired by his wife Daphne and his young son Christopher. Having been a soldier in brutal World War I, it’s been theorized, though not concluded, that Milne wrote the book to explain PTSD to his son. Each character represented an aspect of the disorder: Pooh was disassociation, Piglet was hypervigilance, Tigger was ADHD, Eeyore was depression, Rabbit was consistency, and Owl was self-preservation.
The Tao Of Pooh
Author Benjamin Hoff wrote The Tao of Pooh, a book that’s sweet, lovely and quick to read. Through the characters of Winnie the Pooh, Hoff explains the concepts of Chinese Taoist philosophy and instructs readers to learn to see, listen, smell, taste, touch, and feel nature right around them and to appreciate life. Those looking to learn more about Taoism are encouraged to give this a read.
The Psychoanalysis of Pooh
Winnie the Pooh isn’t immune from being dragged into controversy either. While A.A. Milne didn’t create these characters with any psychological disorder in mind, it did inspire a problematic white paper published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal titled “Pathology in the Hundred Acre Wood: A Neurodevelopmental perspective on A.A. Milne.”
In the paper, the authors diagnosed that each of the characters lived with certain personality disorders. Winnie the Pooh was thought to have Obsessive-Compulsive disorder due to his fixation on counting and honey. Piglet had Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Rabbit had narcissism, Eeyore had depression, Owl had dyslexia, Tigger had ADHD, Kanga had social anxiety disorder, and Roo had autism. Although Christopher Robin was noted not to have a disorder, he was unsupervised.
While these personality disorders are real and can be quite serious and people do live with them, the nonchalant diagnoses of fictional characters understandably rubbed people the wrong way. The Canadian Medical Association Journal caught criticism for what people felt mocked real conditions, which are no joking matter.
Wrapping Up In The 100 Acre Wood
Once you read the backstory, inspiration, and theories about Winnie the Pooh, you will never look at the book or its adaptations the same way again. The series remains a family favorite that spans generations and the world. It is endearing to remember that a story a father lovingly created for his son still lives on worldwide.
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