History TearJerker / Peanuts

*** [[http://www.caglecartoons.com/viewimage.asp?ID={66FA289C-20EC-4D6C-B438-94544DE5F8F1}"That's our house!"]] Dear God...

** Schulz and Peanuts: A Biography covers the worst of these fights. Their oldest child Meredith, was never given TheTalk or allowed to ask about her adoption papers (Sparky wasn't her biological father and adopted her when Joyce was a single parent), and was busted inviting boys along for a girls only gathering. The parents decided to send Meredith to an all-girls boarding school as punishment; she said she was so furious that she decided to be the bad girl that her parents thought she was. TheLastStraw for both parents and daughter was when Meredith revealed to her mother, when the latter was about to kick her out for coming home at odd hours, that she was pregnant, and was forced to get an abortion in Japan or Sparky would face bad publicity. Meredith moved out soon after the abortion trip and married a man her parents disliked. Joyce in the meantime was more upset that Sparky asked how the sightseeing on the trip went. While eventually Meredith reconciled with her parents, at the time there was so much strife.

** The very next strip is even worse; the first three panels are of Snoopy inspects the burnt-out shell of his former home, while the last one is of him ''crying''.

** [[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 wept from the sheer emotion of it all the day this was published.

** [[http://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1972/06/23 The follow-up strip]], however, is a CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming.
*** [[http://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1972/06/24 And the strip after that]] manages to mix the CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming with a CrowningMomentOfFunny. The fact that Schulz managed to go from Tear Jerker, to Heartwarming, to Funny, in just three strips, without ''any'' of it feeling forced, has to count as a CrowningMomentOfAwesome for the comic.

* ''Life Is a Circus, Charlie Brown'': Charlie [[AdultFear realizes that Snoopy hasn't come home]] and later watches him board a train as the circus prepares to leave town. Made even worse when he calls out to Snoopy but the gate slams shut before he can escape. Snoopy's [[OhCrap reaction]] sells it, as does Charlie saying "Dognapped!"

* The occasional references to Peppermint Patty's MissingMom. A self-described "latchkey kid," she frequently loses sleep [[DaddysGirl waiting for her dad to come home]], causing her to zonk out in class, according to Jean Schultz.
Charles Schultz never specified whether her mother was dead or [[ParentalAbandonment simply missing from her daughter's life]]; to a query on why she can't stay with her mother while her father is out of town, she replies with a simple, "I don't have a mother, Marcie!"

* The occasional references to Peppermint Patty's MissingMom. A self-described "latchkey kid," she frequently loses sleep [[DaddysGirl waiting for her dad to come home]], causing her to zonk out in class. Schulz never specified whether her mother was dead or [[ParentalAbandonment simply missing from her daughter's life]]; to a query on why she can't stay with her mother while her father is out of town, she replies with a simple, "I don't have a mother, Marcie!"
** According to Jean Schulz, the reason Peppermint Patty fell asleep in class is that she'd stay up late waiting for her father to come home.

* ''Life Is a Circus, Charlie Brown'': Charlie [[AdultFear realizes that Snoopy hasn't come home]] and later watches as him board a train as the circus prepares to leave town. Made even worse when he calls out to Snoopy but the gate slams shut before he can escape. Snoopy's [[OhCrap reaction]] sells it, as does Charlie line: "Dognapped!"

* A meta-example being Schulz's family life. At the height of the strip's popularity (the 1960's), Schulz relationship with his first wife was deteriorating. This was because he wasn't a good disciplinarian to his kids and this caused several fights with him and his wife, which sometimes resulted in him sleeping in his office at times. He began to have an affair with another woman, and the Schulz's divorced in 1972. Schulz eventually married his second wife, Jean Schulz, and the two were married up until his death

* In one series of strips, Peppermint Patty and Marcie invite Charlie Brown and Snoopy to play a type of hide-and-seek called "Ha Ha Herman." As Patty and Marcie search for the hiding Charlie Brown, Marcie asks Patty if she likes him; Patty denies it, asking how anyone could be in love with "boring, dull, wishy-washy Chuck"...[[OhCrap right next to the bush Charlie Brown is hiding in]]. Cue a heartbroken Charlie Brown emerging from the bush and leaving with Snoopy, as a horrified Patty [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone desperately tries to explain herself]]. The next few strips reveal that both a depressed Charlie Brown and a guilt-ridden Peppermint Patty haven't left their beds in days because of what happened.

* The 1990 TV special ''Why, Charlie Brown, Why?'', which tells the story of a pretty little girl named Janice, who not long after becoming friends with Linus, [[LittlestCancerPatient is diagnosed with leukemia.]] Linus is especially hit hard as he has gained feelings for Janice, and is scared over whether she will survive her illness. 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 a {{lack of empathy}} from Lucy (she "fears" that Janice's illness will spread similar to how the common cold does) and jealousy from her two older sisters, who are healthy and feel ignored. Eventually, there are tears of joy as Janice returns to school with a full head of long, blonde hair -- she had lost her hair earlier due to chemotherapy -- and seemingly in full health again. The special ends there, but it leaves her future to the imagination of the viewer. Either Janice will remain healthy, or her cancer will eventually come back, or [[FridgeHorror most tearjerking of all]], it may be that she isn't cancer-free, but that her illness is terminal and that she and her parents have decided to stop treatment, knowing that death is imminent. [[LongLostUncleAesop Indeed, Janice is a one-time character who is neither seen again nor referred to in future specials.]]

* SnoopyComeHome - especially the farewell party, at which Charlie Brown is supposed to give a speech but is too emotional to say a single word and just stands there with tears running down his face.

*** He might not have realized just ''how'' quickly he was fading. Hours before his death, he had spoken on the phone with Bill Meléndez about a new TV special to be called ''Marbles'' (which would later become the 2006 special ''He's A Bully, Charlie Brown'', which involves a game of marbles), and they planned to meet the next week at Schulz's Santa Rosa studio to hash out the idea further.

*** He might not have realized just ''how'' quickly he was fading. Hours before his death, he had spoken on the phone with Bill Meléndez about a new TV special to be called ''Marbles'' (this could either refer to Snoopy's eponymous brother or, more likely, the 2006 special ''He's A Bully, Charlie Brown'', which involves a game of marbles), and they planned to meet the next week at Schulz's Santa Rosa studio to hash out the idea further.

* The 1990 TV special ''Why, Charlie Brown, Why?'', which tells the story of a pretty little girl named Janice, who not long after becoming friends with Linus, [[LittlestCancerPatient is diagnosed with leukemia.]] Linus is especially hit hard as he has gained feelings for Janice, and is scared over whether she will survive her illness. 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 a {{lack of empathy}} from Lucy (she "fears" that Janice's illness will spread similar to how the common cold does) 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. [[LongLostUncleAesop Indeed, Janice is a one-time character who is neither seen again nor referred to in future specials.]]

*** [[http://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1972/06/24 And the strip after that]] manages to mix the CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming with a CrowningMomentOfFunny. The fact that Schultz managed to go from Tear Jerker, to Heartwarming, to Funny, in just three strips, without ''any'' of it feeling forced, has to count as a CrowningMomentOfAwesome for the comic.

** [[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.

* 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.
* 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.

* The 1990 TV special ''Why, Charlie Brown, Why?'', which tells the story of a pretty 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 survive her illness. 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 a lack of empathy from Lucy (she "fears" that Janice's illness will spread similar to how the common cold does) 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. [[LongLostUncleAesop Indeed, Janice is a one-time character who is neither seen again nor referred to in future specials.]]

* The 1990 TV special ''Why, Charlie Brown, Why?'', which tells the story of a pretty 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 survive her illness. 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 a lack of empathy from Lucy (she "fears" that Janice's illness will spread similar to how the common cold does) 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. Indeed, Janice is a one-time character who is neither seen again nor referred to in future specials.

* 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. Indeed, Janice is a one-time character who is neither seen again nor referenced in future specials.