BVCC sends this in: “Yes, I can tell you that it’s not textbook imposter syndrome, because it’s not. From Wikipedia: “Impostor syndrome, also known as impostor phenomenon or impostorism, is a psychological experience in which a person suffers from feelings of intellectual and/or professional fraudulence.” This is not at all what Schroeder is exhibiting.”
Comics I Don't Understand 
I think the point is that if he were actually confident he would be playing a real piano, perhaps for an audience that doesn’t consist of small children and a dog. Just because he makes a show of confidence and is comically good doesn’t mean he feels it inside.
If I were to peg Schrodinger with a dysfunction, though, it would be monomania.
“If I were to peg Schrodinger with a dysfunction, though, it would be monomania.”. Andrew, what would Freud say about that word substitution?
I don’t think Schroeder has a mental illness at all.
I wouldn’t call it a mental illness, but Schroeder certainly has an obsession with Beethoven in that anything he does seems to revolve around him and his music.
I remember one series where he forgot Beethoven’s birthday and reacted…poorly.
In early Peanuts comics, Schroeder (and Linus) are infants/toddlers. Schroeder is playing a toy piano because he has tiny hands. Over time, all the Peanuts characters become close to the same perceptual ages, but the tiny piano stays, perhaps because it’s easier to fit in the panel.
When Schroeder was still a toddler, Charlie Brown led him away from his toy piano and set him at a real one. Schroeder cried until he was back at his toy. The one other time I recall Schroeder at a full-sized instrument was the movie “A Boy Called Charlie Brown”, and that was a fantasy sequence.
I propose that what he’s been playing all these years is an electric keyboard, small and probably battery powered, maybe even a one of a kind prototype built into a toy cabinet. A forerunner to those Casios that simulated different instruments — in “A Charlie Brown Christmas”, Schroeder plays “Jingle Bells” in real piano mode, then in the full tones of an organ, and finally in tinny toy notes. Under this hypothesis, he spurns real pianos because his technique was self-taught on this singular device.
A little like Harpo Marx, who pretty much invented his own fingering and tuning when he was given a harp. As an adult he decided to brush up with professional instruction, but formal technique was totally alien to him while his own method mystified teachers.
I think the only way Schroeder fits impostor syndrome is if he feels he is not qualified to play a real piano. But playing the Hammerklavier Sonata on a toy piano — which Schroeder has done — really should make anyone feel qualified to move up to the real thing.
In the comic strip, Schroeder doesn’t do any public performances and doesn’t seem to be interested in any. He practices for his own enjoyment. He sometimes tolerates Lucy or Charlie Brown being there but he certainly does not believe he is performing for them. He doesn’t want compliments.
On the TV specials, he plays for the kids’ dances but probably because he figures somebody has to, just like Snoopy has to play the bass because there’s nobody else around who can play piano or bass.
I think the change in musical tone in the Christmas special was for comedic effect.
…and why would Charlie be saying this in therapy? The setup doesn’t make sense to me.
but the tiny piano stays, perhaps because it’s easier to fit in the panel.
It’s also portable, otherwise all piano strips would have to be at his house or school or something.
bensondonald –
As I recall Harpo was upset as he was paying for lessons, but all the teacher did was listen to him play and did not attempt to teach him anything about classical harp playing.
My dad was a huge fan of the Marx Brothers and we had at least 2 (that I remember) books which were bios about them which I read, one of them being “Harpo Speaks” – written by him (with help).
(My dad had good sized mustache and black hair as Groucho did. He wore eyeglasses. He smoked cigars and would walk around with one of them. When I was young I was not completely sure whether or not my dad WAS Groucho! :-)
Carl, I don’t know what you’re talking about but am slightly insulted. What word substitution, and why would I give a damn what Freud would say?
Schrodinger, being a fictional cartoon character, obviously does not have a mental illness. He doesn’t have a mentalness to ill. However, it’s fine to play around with the idea because he is a fictional cartoon character.
@Andrew Millar: The “word substitution” is that the Peanuts character should be called Schroeder, not Schrodinger.
Ah. I didn’t catch on. Probably isn’t the first time I’ve misspoken his name.