Now beloved Disney characters, Winnie the Pooh and his friends first appeared in stories by A.A. Milne in 1926. Over the years and through the Disney acquisition, Pooh Bear has achieved world recognition. Milne based the entire series on his son, Christopher Robin Milne and his love of stuffed companions.
Milne’s son played with many stuffed animals including a teddy bear, a stuffed tiger, a kangaroo, a rabbit, and a piglet. At the beginning of his father’s book’s success, Christopher Milne enjoyed the fame and attention he was given. While all of the characters of the Winnie the Pooh universe would go on to achieve fame through animation, Christopher Milne would become resentful towards the literature inspired by his own stuffed companions. Children who went to school with Milne’s son, Christopher Robin would buy Milne’s books and use them to tease the real life Christopher Robin. They would quote lines from A.A. Milne’s work in order to mock the young boy. Through these tauntings, the real life Christopher Robin began to resent not only his father but the characters of Winnie the Pooh.
It is a shame some school mates of Christopher Milne teased him so much that he began to resent his fathers works and perhaps even the very stuffed animals he had grown up loving to play with. Human jealousy caused Christopher Robin’s school mates to turn to vicious taunting.
Pooh’s modern portrayal is a gentle spirit. Modern Pooh Bear is not easily upset and focuses his life on a search of honey and aid towards his friends. Unfortunately for the real life Christopher Robin resented his fathers work for a time, when all A.A. Milne wanted to do was tell a tale of a boy enthralled with his own imagination.
Winnie the Pooh and the legacy of Christopher Robin have outlasted any of the childish taunts of school age children and become a true American icon.
American Cultural Icons 