Peppermint Patty is a supporting character in the Peanuts comic strips and a close friend to Charlie Brown, Marcie, and Lucy Van Pelt. Peppermint Patty often gives her friends nicknames such as "Chuck" to Charlie Brown and "Lucille" to Lucy. She is even an expert baseball player and can get a little agitated at Marcie who always calls Peppermint Patty "Sir," which Peppermint Patty herself finds annoying to the point of even telling Marcie to stop.
Personality and Bio
Peppermint Patty is a tomboy (her most notable trait); she often plays sports and is probably the jock of the Peanuts gang. Peppermint Patty can often be very lazy, especially when it comes to school. She is widely known for receiving a D− grade on every test or assignment in school (in 1999, the final full year of Peanuts, her teacher presented her with a certificate placing her in the "D-Minus Hall of Fame"). In one comic strip, she got a Z-, which she called "sarcasm". In a series of strips from 1984, Peppermint Patty is held back a grade for failing all of her classes—only to be allowed to return to her old class when her old desk in front of Marcie starts to emit snoring noises, leading children and faculty alike to suspect that the classroom is haunted by a "snoring ghost". Peppermint Patty's bad grades are possibly exacerbated by her tendency to sleep through class. This has been explained by saying that her father works late, and she is too insecure to sleep until he returns home.
Peppermint Patty can be dimwitted; until March 21, 1974 she did not realize that Snoopy was a dog. Her realization came during a period when she refused to go to school, and instead attempted to stay with Snoopy. During a scuffle with Marcie, Snoopy's doghouse is destroyed, and Marcie finally convinces her friend that Snoopy is a beagle, not a "funny looking kid with a big nose".
Peppermint Patty is a star athlete, especially in baseball, where her team regularly trounces Charlie Brown's squad. In the first series of strips in which Patty appeared from 1966, she actually joins his team as its new pitcher, relegating Charlie Brown to the outfield. However, she quits in disgust after only one game; despite tossing a no-hitter and slamming five home runs, her new team loses, 37-5, because of their somewhat porous defense. In another strip she let Charlie Brown pitch the last throw of the game (Peppermint Patty pitched a no-hit, no-run game and were leading 49–0 on the 9th inning, 2nd out, 2nd strike), only to see Charlie Brown lose the game.
One of Peppermint Patty's most troublesome traits however, is her tendency to only hear what she wants to hear from others. Often times, she will ask a favor or request of someone, and regardless of whether or not they even respond in the first place, will assume they have already agreed to comply, typically because she never gives them an opportunity to respond. Such instances include when in A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving she assumes Charlie Brown would agree to her offer to join him for Thanksgiving dinner. She takes his inability to form a cohesive response as an agreement. Another instance is in the TV special, She's a Good Skate, Charlie Brown (which is based on a series of strips from November and December 1974). While preparing for a skating competition, Peppermint Patty learns Marcie's mother owns a sewing machine, and automatically assumes Marcie will be able to craft an outfit for her. Despite Marcie's continuous declarations she has no idea how to sew, Marcie is forced to create a dress for Peppermint Patty, which turns out disastrous due to no tutorial.
In addition to her habit of addressing Charlie Brown as "Chuck", Peppermint Patty also addresses Lucy by the more formal name of "Lucille". This pattern of calling people by a less-commonly-used version of their name is inverted in the TV special, Play It Again, Charlie Brown, in which Schroeder addresses Peppermint Patty as "Patricia". She is also called "Patricia" by her unseen teacher in France in Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown (And Don't Come Back!!).
In The Peanuts Movie, Peppermint Patty seems to be a Karate star.
Appearance
Peppermint Patty has short, auburn (sometimes brunette) hair and wears a green, striped collared shirt, black or dark blue shorts (long pants in The Peanuts Movie) with two vertical white stripes on each side and green (sometimes brown) sandals that expose most of her bare feet. She has freckles and is the most "tomboyish" girl in the comic strip.
Very rarely does Peppermint Patty wear a dress. Five examples are:
- When she is forced to do so. (January 1972)
- In a strip where she wants to go to a skating competition. (November 1974)
- This also occurs in the animated versions, adding another 2 to the counter.
- In the The Mayflower Voyagers segment of This is America, Charlie Brown!. This is the only instance where she does so throughout the whole special, as it is usually temporary.
As seen in The Peanuts Movie, where she practices karate with Marcie in the school talent show scene, Peppermint Patty wears a white karate gi with a green belt.
