Eeyore is the “old grey donkey” with a nailed-on tail in A. A. Milne’s beloved children’s books, Winnie the Pooh and The House at Pooh Corner (1926; 1928; illustrated by Ernest H. Shepard), and the later collection by David Benedictus, Return to Hundred Acre Wood (2009; illustrated by Mark Burgess). He‘s one of Christopher Robin’s toys, an inhabitant of the Hundred Acre Wood, and part of Pooh’s friendship circle. He lives in “Eeyore’s Gloomy Place”, a boggy area away from the other animals of Hundred Acre Wood. The most frequent description of him in the books is “gloomy”.
An ‘Eeyore’ has come to refer to a person with a pessimistic outlook, as ‘Jeremiah’ used to do in a bygone era. On reddit, Eeyore is the original emo, or – thanks to reddit’s armchair diagnosticians, and, no doubt, John Tyerman Williams' Pooh and the Psychologists (2001) – a DLWPDD (donkey living with persistent depressive disorder). On LinkedIn, business-minded people write, “This character is toxic for your workplace!”
Eeyore himself might mutter, “Modern inventions! Never as good as they’re cracked up to be” (Benedictus 2009, p. 68). And he would be right. I’m not inclined to pathologise a fictional stuffed donkey from the 1920s, especially when that stuffed donkey displays an admirable depth of thought and honest engagement with himself and his world.
Yet even off social media, Eeyore’s character takes a beating. In The Tao of Pooh (Hoff 1989, pp. 15-16), an explication of Pooh Bear’s ways through the teachings of Taoism, Eeyore is characterised thus:
You might say that while Rabbit’s little routine is that of Knowledge for the sake of Being Clever, and while Owl’s is that of Knowledge for the sake of Appearing Wise, Eeyore’s is Knowledge for the sake of Complaining About Something. As anyone who doesn’t have it can see, the Eeyore Attitude gets in the way of things like wisdom and happiness, and pretty much prevents any sort of real Accomplishment in life.
Apparently, Eeyore complains for the sake of complaining, and lacks wisdom and happiness – as if happiness is all there is.
It’s tough to read these character slurs from the perpetually upbeat. My own reading of Eeyore is somewhat different. I want to reclaim him as a teacher of wisdom. In the books he offers us a model for Stoic living and a commentary on ageing. In the Disney cartoons he teaches us of the perils inherent in pursuing the good life.
Openness to Eeyore’s wisdom can lead us to difficult and rare insights.
Coming soon:
Lessons from a Donkey #2: Eeyore the Stoic Philosopher
Lessons from a Donkey #3: From Ageing to Sageing