Does Garfield Hate Mondays Because President Garfield Died On A ...

Welcome to Comic Book Legends Revealed! This is the seven hundred and ninety-fourth installment where we examine three comic book legends and determine whether they are true or false.

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COMIC LEGEND:

Garfield hates Monday because President Garfield died on a Monday.

STATUS:

False

Reader Charlie E. wrote in to ask:

So I've always enjoyed jokes that played on the idea that people named Garfield often share traits with the famous cartoon Cat. The Andrew Garfield gags on Bojack Horsemen are really some of my favorites in the series.

Anyway, as we all know Andrew Garfield in fact also loves Lasagna and hates Mondays, and no one but Bojack thinks that is odd, which is interesting because it suggests that Garfield is comic strip in that universe, but I digress.

Recently, while looking into President James Garfield, I noted that while he was shot on a Thursday, he actually lingered for several months and died on a Monday. Which got me wondering, is there any chance that this is the reason Garfield the comic character hates Mondays? While I get that I hate Mondays may have existed before Garfield (the Boomtown Rats released I Don't Like Mondays in 1979 a year after Garfield went into syndication) it is an interesting thing for a cat, whose life is not bound by a work schedule to have this animus.

Is there any reason to think that Jim Davis had Garfield hate Mondays because that is the day that James Garfield (Jim and James, maybe there is another connection) died?

President James Garfield was shot by Charles J. Guiteau on July 2, 1881. While any assassination attempt is bad, the true tragedy is that it seems fairly clear that Garfield SHOULD have survived the assassination attempt. The bullet was not removed from Garfield's body until after he had died on September 19, 1881 (which, yes, WAS a Monday). His body was consistently probed by unsterilized, gloveless fingers and it caused a good deal of infections that ultimately killed the President. One of the most galling aspects of the story was when an early version of a metal detector was used on the President, but his doctor insisted that the bullet was on the right side of Garfield (when it was actually on the left side) and would only allow the device to be used on that side. It really seems that the injury that ultimately killed the President was when his gall bladder was punctured during an exploratory search for the bullet!

Anyhow, that has become a recurring theory as to why Garfield hates Mondays.

It really seems most likely as though the reason Garfield hates Monday is because it's just a generic joke (people have been complaining about Mondays for as long as we had a "working week"). However, there have been a number of other theories over the years. Just this year, CBR post the following fan theory:

The television special Garfield: His 9 Lives shows that Garfield was born in the kitchen of Mama Leoni's. Basicall, as soon as he was born, he ate all the fresh lasagna and pasta in sight, and developed a lifelong passion for the dish.

The theory notes the restaurant is a mom-and-pop establishment, many of which traditionally close on Mondays, providing the owners with some time away after a (hopefully) busy weekend.

So, if the restaurant where Garfield lived as a kitten was closed on Mondays, there would be no fresh, warm lasagna or pasta for him to devour. That would then force him to turn to leftovers. Garfield does not like leftovers; he loves fresh, warm lasagna. Therefore, the reason he hates Mondays is because Mondays are when he, at least as a kitten, was forced to subsist on leftovers.

However, Jim Davis HAS given an "official" reason. He once told Huffington Post:

“Garfield does not have a job, Garfield does not go to school and every day is the same. Nevertheless every Monday is just a reminder that his life is the same old, same old cycling again and for some reason even though his life is pretty much the same every day on Mondays specifically, awful things tend to happen to him physically.”

Whether that's really the reason or not, I don't believe it is because of the President Garfield connection, although that's definitely very interesting!

Thanks for the suggestion, Charlie!

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