Violet (Peanuts)

Violet is a character in the comic strip Peanuts by Charles M. Schulz.

Character

Violet has shoulder-length black hair, and she frequently wears green dresses (switching to pants in the winter and in later years). Schulz changed her hair between braids and a ponytail in the early strips, but after a few years he dropped the braids and went exclusively with the ponytail, which became arguably her most famous trademark. It became so rare to see her without a ponytail, in fact, that when she showed up without it on the way to school one day, Linus was startled enough to ask why she was wearing her hair down.

Violet and Patty are best friends, and the two began appearing together almost from the beginning of the strip. Patty was one of the four original characters (along with Charlie Brown, Shermy, and Snoopy), and Violet was the first new major character to join the cast, debuting on February 7, 1951. In those early strips, Violet often acted like a preschool-age Suzy Homemaker: making mud pies, playing "house," and being linked to romantic scenarios involving Charlie Brown. Violet never really developed a strong personality, especially compared to the next three characters who would be introduced after her (Schroeder, Lucy, and Linus). She tended to be used mostly as a straight woman to set up the punchline. Schulz admitted as much in a 1988 interview. "Some characters just don't seem to have enough personality to carry out ideas," he said, referring to Violet, Patty, and Shermy. "They're just almost born straight men." As the cast of characters grew, Violet was left with very little to do besides antagonizing Charlie Brown. Other members of Charlie Brown's family weren't spared, either. For a while, she got into the habit of comparing her dad to Charlie Brown's dad, and giving laundry lists of all the things that her dad could do better than his. She also plays outfield (and sometimes third base) on Charlie Brown's baseball team, and pops up in that capacity from time to time in later strips.

Violet's most consistent personality trait is that she tends to be a bit of a snob, very conscious of appearances and status. She once ordered Linus to dress more stylishly when they were walking together, whereupon he quickly transformed his blanket into a neck scarf, and she frequently criticizes Pig-Pen for his inability to keep himself clean. She often looks down on people who do not meet her social standards, especially Charlie Brown, to whom she once said right to his face, "It simply goes without saying that you are an inferior human being." (His acute reply: "If it goes without saying, why did you have to say it?") In fact, her verbal lashings of Charlie Brown (usually in tandem with Patty) are in some ways even crueler than Lucy's. Lucy's insults tend to be fairly blunt, calling him names like "blockhead" and making sarcastic remarks at his expense. Patty and Violet, on the other hand, use social exclusion as their weapon, doing their best to make him feel like an outcast. They once invited him to join their "secret club," then revoked the invitation after he accepted. Another time, they went out of their way to make sure he knew that they were throwing a party and he wasn't invited. In that way, they can be seen perhaps as a caricature of the "in crowd" that exists at public schools everywhere, lording their status over their peers who are not "in."

Violet's last official appearance in the Peanuts world came on November 16, 1984, although unnamed characters resembling her would make occasional cameo appearances afterwards.

Trivia

• Violet's full name is Violet Gray.
• One of Violet's hobbies is stamp collecting.
• Violet, not Lucy, was the first character ever to not let Charlie Brown kick a football (on November 14, 1951). She let go of it early for fear of him kicking her hand.
• Violet's birthday is unofficially celebrated by Peanuts fans on June 17. Charlie Brown and Pig-Pen attended her birthday party on that date in 1962.