Eeyore

Eeyore
Winnie the Pooh character
First appearance	Winnie the Pooh (1926)
Created by	A. A. Milne
Portrayed by	Ralph Wright (1966-1977), Ron Gans (1983-1986), Peter Cullen, Bud Luckey (2011-Present)
Information
Species	Donkey
Gender	Male

The original stuffed toys owned by Christopher Robin Milne and featured in the Winnie-the-Pooh stories, with Eeyore on the right

Eeyore (ⁱ/ˈiːɔr/ ee-or) is a character in the Winnie-the-Pooh books by A. A. Milne. He is generally characterized as a pessimistic, gloomy, depressed, anhedonic, old grey stuffed donkey who is a friend of the title character, Winnie-the-Pooh.

His name is an onomatopoeic representation of the braying sound made by a normal donkey, usually represented as "hee haw" in American English: the spelling with an "r" is explained by the fact that Milne and most of his intended audience spoke a non-rhotic variety of English in which the "r" in "Eeyore" is not pronounced as /r/.^[1][2]

Original works

Eeyore appears in chapters 4, 6, 8, and 10 of Winnie-the-Pooh, and is mentioned in a few others. He also appears in all the chapters of The House at Pooh Corner except chapter 7.

Physically, Eeyore is described as an "old grey donkey." In Ernest H. Shepard's illustrations, he appears to be about chin-high to Pooh and about hip-high to Christopher Robin. He has a long, detachable tail with a pink bow on the end, of which he is very fond, but that he is also prone to losing (Owl once mistakes it for a bell-pull). Christopher Robin is able to reattach the tail with a drawing pin.

Eeyore is apparently able to write, or at least recognize letters such as the letter A that he teaches to Piglet in the fifth chapter of The House at Pooh Corner. He spells his own name "eoR" when signing the "rissolution" that the animals give to Christopher Robin as a farewell present in the final chapter of The House at Pooh Corner. Eeyore also wrote the awkwardly-rhymed poem called "POEM", which appeared on the "rissolution", making him the only character in the Winnie-the-Pooh books other than Pooh himself who attempts to write poetry. Eeyore is also surprisingly good at the game Poohsticks, winning more times than anyone else when it is played in the sixth chapter of The House at Pooh Corner.

Eeyore lives in the southeast corner of the Hundred Acre Wood, in an area labeled "Eeyore's Gloomy Place: Rather Boggy and Sad" on the map in the book. He has a stick house therein, which collapses rather regularly, called The House at Pooh Corner. Pooh and Piglet built it for him after accidentally mistaking the original house that Eeyore built for a pile of sticks.

He has a poor opinion of most of the other animals in the Forest, describing them as having "No brain at all, some of them", "only grey fluff that's blown into their heads by mistake" (from chapter 1 of The House at Pooh Corner).

Eeyore's favorite food is thistles. On Eeyore's birthday, he is given an empty honey jar from Pooh; a popped green balloon from Piglet, and a note from Owl.

Disney cartoon version

Eeyore as depicted by Disney

Eeyore also appears in the Winnie-the-Pooh cartoons popularized by The Walt Disney Company. He was originally voiced by Ralph Wright, who was then replaced by Ron Gans (for Welcome to Pooh Corner), and later Peter Cullen. His current voice actor is Bud Luckey.

He was ridden by Rabbit in his search for train "borrowers" in The Tigger Without A Name and The Pooh With A Name. Nearly all of Eeyore's houses in the cartoons have been bounced down. Eeyore is not good at rebuilding the houses; woozles bounce on them. Yet he soldiers on and rebuilds them time after time. Despite his depressive nature, Eeyore is capable of great compassion, which is shown when he grows a plant that Rabbit, a master gardener, was unable to grow, just by showing the plant a little love.

Eeyore has also been featured in a number of movies: Piglet's Big Movie, The Tigger Movie and Pooh's Heffalump Movie. He appears at the Walt Disney Parks and Resorts for meet and greets. His catchphrases are "Thanks for noticin' me" and "Ohhh-kayyy".

In merchandise by The Walt Disney Company, Eeyore sometimes has an uncharacteristic smile. Also, he is somewhat less caustic and sarcastic in the Disney version than in Alan Milne's original stories. His tail was not always fixed to him by a nail, although Disney has chosen this as part of his permanent image. Eeyore lost his tail in the Hundred Acre Wood. Owl found it and used it as a bell-pull beside his door, before Winnie-the-Pooh found it for Eeyore. Christopher Robin then pinned it back on. According to Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree, this was possible because Eeyore is full of sawdust. Also, when Eeyore appears in animation he is colored his natural grey, though he is coloured blue with a pink muzzle in merchandising.

See also

• Marvin the Paranoid Android
• Victor Meldrew
• Eeyore's Birthday Party

References

1. ^ Pyles, Thomas. The Origins and Development of the English Language. 2nd Edition. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich; New York. (1971).
2. ^ Observations on British and American English by an American linguist in the UK