History TearJerker / Peanuts

* The 1990 TV special ''Why, Charlie Brown, Why?'', which tells the story of a little girl named Janice, who not long after becoming friends with Linus, is diagnosed with leukemia. Linus is especially hit hard as he has gained feelings for Janice, and is scared over whether she will live. Throughout the show, Janice suffers a number of health setbacks, endures bullying from a classmate (who until he is told to walk a mile in her shoes refuses to understand her illness) and jealousy from her older sister, who is healthy. Eventually, there are tears of joy as Janice returns to school with a full head of hair -- she had lost her hair earlier due to chemotherapy -- and the long, blonde hair returns in its full health. The special ends there and Janice appearing to be in full health, but as her future is not told it leaves ambiguity and her future to the imagination of the viewer: Either the future is an averted trope with Janice continuing to remain healthy, or a full-effect tearjerker as Janice's illness is terminal and that she and her parents have decided to stop treatment, knowing that death is imminent.

*** It is said that one of his final words were, "I just realized that Charlie Brown's never going to kick that football. Good grief."

* [[http://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1972/06/22 The strip where Peppermint Patty tells Linus how she broke down crying when seeing the Little Red-Haired girl]] is utterly devastating, especially since that's ''all'' that happens in that particular strip; there's no punchline or "smiles-through-the-melancholy" comfort to ease the wretchedness:

** Striking uncomfortably close to him since feelings of inadequacy and worrying about being loved tend to be very common.
** [[http://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1972/06/23 The follow-up strip]], however, is a true CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming.

* Most of the strip's storylines put Charlie Brown through the wringer, but a few stand out as ''exceptionally'' cruel. One of these is the two-week arc in which the gang, egged on by Linus, decide to throw him a testimonial dinner to show their appreciation for all he does as the manager of their baseball team. When Charlie Brown gets the news (via a phone call from Peppermint Patty), he's so surprised and delighted ''("I'm smiling!!!")'' that he looks, in Sally's words, "like [he] just swallowed a chocolate cake." At the eleventh hour, however, the kids realize they're being hypocritical--they all think he's a terrible manager and player and they can't say otherwise and maintain their integrity. They proceed to call off the dinner moments before it begins, leaving Charlie Brown (in the last panel) besuited and alone at a table, surrounded by balloons and streamers.

* Basically any time Charlie Brown is the victim of bad luck. For example, Charlie Brown not getting any valentines, not getting an egg from the "Easter Beagle", being unfairly blamed for losing the homecoming game, and having his dream girl stolen from him twice (the first time by Linus, the second by Snoopy). It becomes bittersweet when he actually DOES win a motocross race.

* Charlie Brown's failures at something become expected after a while, but when you keep seeing it for decades, and even up to Schulz's death, you tend to really feel disappointed.
** One of the most heartrending examples is one of the simplest, when Charlie Brown is at a bench at lunch all alone and sees the Little Red Haired Girl and he can't get the nerve to approach her:
-->'''Charlie Brown''': It's stupid to just sit here and admire that little red haired girl from a distance. It's stupid not to get up and go over and talk to her.
-->[stands up]
-->'''Charlie Brown''': It's really stupid! It's just plain stupid; so why I don't I go over and talk to her?
-->[sits down, in utter personal defeat to the point of tears.]
-->'''Charlie Brown''': Because I'm stupid.

** He ended the strip in a proper send-off strip to his newspapers and viewers. It was a ''coincidence'' that this last strip went out the day before he died, but it's too easy to believe it wasn't. He knew he was failing in health anyway so he probably planned the strip at the right time semi-accurately.
** [[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f8/Last_peanuts_comic.png Here's the last strip]]. If you had ever been alive and seen a comics page before the year 2000, it should have been enough to bring a tear to your eye. If you had grown up as a fan of the series... Let's just say that five generations of American comic readers all [[TearJerker wept from the sheer emotion of it all]] the day this was published.
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0q0CY1SQ1nY One interview late in his life was recorded on video and it was played on news channels the day on his death]]. When talking about the characters, he said that Charlie Brown never got to kick that football.... and then he repeated it... and then ''cried''. For a minute straight. It shows just how much the characters were really the most important part of the job to him.

** The last line of Schulz' biography: "Charles Schulz died the night before his final Peanuts strip was published. When Sparky ceased to be a cartoonist, he simply ceased to be."
* WesternAnimation/ABoyNamedCharlieBrown can be this, knowing that he came [[YankTheDogsChain so,]] ''[[FailureIsTheOnlyOption so]]'' [[SecondPlaceIsForLosers close.]]
* [[http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/peanuts/images/9/9d/Pe000102.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20141228033135 The Sunday strip that ran a day before the last daily strip]]. This is the final appearance of Peppermint Patty and Marcie, and it's impossible to not read meaning into the final exchange between them:
-->'''Marcie''': Everyone's gone home, sir. You should go home too, [[RealitySubtext it's getting dark]].
-->'''Peppermint Patty''': We had fun, didn't we, Marcie?
-->'''Marcie''': Yes sir, we had fun.
-->'''Peppermint Patty''': Nobody shook hands and said "Good game".
* Lucy's HeelRealization in ''You're a Good Man Charlie Brown.''
* The ending of the "Baseball Game" sequence in ''You're a Good Man Charlie Brown.'', where Charlie Brown writes to his pen pal about the baseball game he lost, only to mournfully write a new letter with a completely different subject while he fights back the tears.

* Lucy's HeelRealization in ''You're a Good Man Charlie Brown.''

** One interview late in his life was recorded on video and it was played on news channels the day on his death. When talking about the characters, he said that Charlie Brown never got to kick that football.... and then he repeated it... and then ''cried''. For a minute straight. It shows just how much the characters were really the most important part of the job to him.

-->'''Peppermint Patty''': Nobody shook hands and said "Good game".

* WesternAnimation/ABoyNamedCharlieBrown can be this, knowing that he came [[YankTheDogsChain so,]] ''[[FailureIsTheOnlyOption so]]'' [[SecondPlaceIsForLosers close.]]

** [[http://www.princetonol.com/groups/iad/links/peanuts.gif Here's the last strip]]. If you had ever been alive and seen a comics page before the year 2000, it should have been enough to bring a tear to your eye. If you had grown up as a fan of the series... Let's just say that five generations of American comic readers all [[TearJerker wept from the sheer emotion of it all]] the day this was published.

* [[http://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1972/06/22 The strip where Peppermint Patty telling Linus how she broke down crying when seeing the Little Red-Haired girl]] is utterly devastating, especially since that's ''all'' that happens in that particular strip; there's no punchline or "smiles-through-the-melancholy" comfort to ease the wretchedness:

** It ''is'' eased up in the following two strips, when she laments that Snoopy's the only one who understands her, and if he was here he'd kiss her on the cheek... followed by Linus doing exactly that, and telling her [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, Patty... Someday, someone is going to look at you and say, 'Behold! A great beauty'!"]] Of course, it wouldn't be ''Peanuts'' if it ended on a completely happy note, so this is the exact moment Marcie enters to tell Patty that the bus is leaving.
-->'''Peppermint Patty:''' Linus just kissed me on the cheek, and you tell me the bus is leaving!\\
'''Marcie:''' Never take a summer romance seriously sir...\\
'''Patty:'''' [[RunningGag Stop calling me "sir"!!]]

* The strip where Peppermint Patty telling Linus how she broke down crying when seeing the Little Red-Haired girl is utterly devastating, especially since that's ''all'' that happens in that particular strip; there's no punchline or "smiles-through-the-melancholy" comfort to ease the wretchedness:

-->"I stood in front of that little red-haired girl and I saw how pretty she was... Suddenly I realized why Chuck has always loved her, and I realized that no one would ever love ''me'' that way... I started to cry, and I couldn’t stop. I made a fool out of myself, but I didn't care! I just looked at her and I cried and cried and cried... I have a big nose and my split-ends have split-ends, and I'll always be funny-looking and I think I’m going to cry again..."
** It ''is'' eased up in the following two strips, when she laments that Snoopy's the only one who understands her, and if he was here he'd kiss her on the cheek... followed by Linus doing exactly that, and telling her [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder”, Patty... Someday, someone is going to look at you and say, 'Behold! A great beauty'!"]] Of course, it wouldn't be ''Peanuts'' if it ended on a completely happy note, so this is the exact moment Marcie enters to tell Patty that the bus is leaving.

** One interview late in his life was recorded on video and it was played on news channels the day on his death. When talking about the characters, he said that Charlie Brown never got to kick that football.... and then he repeated it... and then ''cried''. For a minute straight. It shows just how much the characters were really the most important part of the job to him.