Before the internet, Cliff Notes were popular books that summarized and provided insight into meaning for classical literature. Students used them in place of reading the actual book.
I completely missed that on the table until you pointed out, and was highly confused as to what he actually did
I just kept thinking that it was supposed to be condoms for some reason lol.
I vividly remember getting the cliff notes for “Of Mice and Men”, realizing it was nearly as long as the actual book, and begrudgingly hammering through the book the night before the test.
Steinbeck had a knack for saying a lot with a little. “The pearl” is another of his works that is also incredibly short but you could easily discuss it well past its length.
I highly recommend the “grapes of wrath” to anyone who hasn’t read it as well. Its account of the brutal knock on effects of the dust bowl and the nature of human kindness and sadism left a mark on my life that never left.
In Poland, we still do read this type of things instead of the actual book, because it’s better at preparing you for the exams
Thank you. This joke completely went over my head.
Chatgpt from yesteryear.
Link to the direct comic in case you want to share with easier credit: https://pbfcomics.com/comics/hard-read/
A lot of classics, especially those from the 19th century were initially serialized in newspapers, and the resulting doorstopper of a book was never meant to be read in a short time frame that teachers usually give for reading and report writing.
I just read Frankenstein, published in 1818, and it’s originally in 3 volumes even tho it’s not that long in total. My assumption was that printing and binding big books was a problem back then but maybe people didn’t read it as one
Your assumption might be the case for frankenstein, it’s a relatively short book.
The parent is most likely talking about books like the count of monte cristo. It goes on for more than a thousand pages, but was originally serialised over a couple years.
Similar things happen to older books. Current day editions of don quixote include don quixote part 2, which was a sequel published a decade after the first.
Next thing you’re gonna tell me I’m not supposed to binge an entire 22-episode season of The Office in one sitting.
Even now, I remember much more about those books where along with which I read the Cliffs Notes, than whatever halfbrained notions I came up with on my own about books like Animal Farm.
Kind of confusing to read, but I hope you get the gist.
At some point you realize that many of the classic books are just… really good books! The terrible part is what they do to them in literature class. But many of those old books have become classics for a reason.
How does the book suddenly appear on the table in the second frame? It could not have been obscured by the the man’s jeans, because he is still wearing them in the first frame.
That’s actually the entire joke of the comic, that he had her cliff notes in his jeans. He’s trying to explain “I was just supplementing my reading and understanding” when she cut him off and walked out for reading her cliff notes in the first place
I miss peanuts. I could follow peanuts, or just think snoopy was cool.
It’s falling out of his jeans, but movement lines don’t really gel with the artists’ style
Cliffs notes… Fell out of his jeans is my interpretation
Some teachers allowed coles notes and some didn’t but was anyone else a member of the gang whose parents couldn’t afford coles notes so you never had that leg up and only had the source material or a friend you could borrow off if you were lucky?
