If you were born any time after the year 1900, you know the fluffy, lasagna-loving cat that everyone loves: Garfield.
Everyone who knows Garfield knows that he has a strong hatred for Mondays. The first utterance of such occurred on September 18, 1978. Ever since, he has constantly and consistently reiterated how much he despises Mondays, mentioning the word Monday 115 times across all his comic strips.
Fans of this lovable orange tabby have been puzzled for decades about why Garfield hates Mondays, especially to the extent he does. Though often brushed off as a silly recurring gag and defining trait of the feline, I and many others believe that his beginning-of-the-week blues have a darker, more sinister meaning.
According to Garfield’s creator, Jim Davis, “Monday is just a reminder that [Garfield’s] life is the same old, same old cycling again, and even though his life is pretty much the same every day, on Monday specifically, awful things tend to happen to him physically.” Though Davis is the creator and self-proclaimed lover of Garfield, he gives Garfield a never-ending sense of dread and subjects him to physical harm. Why would he do that if he claims to love Garfield? Something doesn’t quite add up.
Fans have crafted several theories in an attempt to find the true meaning of Garfield’s hatred towards Monday. One theory states that Garf (short for Garfield for those who are uncultured) doesn’t like Monday because he doesn’t want his owner and companion, Jon Arbuckle, to leave for work. I do not think this is the case because Jon goes to work every weekday, so why would Garfield be sad only on Mondays? Another reason this theory can be debunked is that Garfield couldn’t care less where Jon goes. Garfield constantly makes sassy remarks towards Jon and spends most of his time alone, away from Jon.
There have even been instances in the comics where Jon tried to kill Garfield and vice versa. I don’t believe the simple act of Jon leaving for work would supply such hatred within Garf.
There is only one thing that connects to all of the reasons why Garfield hates Mondays: Nermal. Nermal is a small, gray cat despised by all true Garfield fans. The single piece of evidence that sold me on the theory that Nermal is the root of this mystery is that Garfield once stated that the only thing he hates more than Mondays is Nermal. Since Garfield has provided a frame of reference for how much he hates Mondays, if he hates Nermal more, imagine what Nermal could have done to warrant such a distinction.
Nermal once attempted to ship Garfield off to Abu Dhabi in an effort to replace him. Nermal came from Abu Dhabi and has repeatedly stated how much he hates that place. Because Nermal has publicly stated that he hates Abu Dhabi, it shows that he knows sending Garfield there would be mean and belligerent.
Garfield’s biggest fear is loneliness. If Nermal shipped Garfield off to Abu Dhabi, Garfield would be all alone. Garfield has made his fear of being forever alone known to his companions, thus giving the evil Nermal an upper hand on how to make Garfield suffer.
The only person, or cat in this case, evil enough to will Monday into existence is Nermal. I believe Nermal is so evil that he created Monday to spite Garfield. The creator of Nermal, also Jim Davis, must have created Nermal to be a silly frenemy. However, Davis made the cat too evil and powerful in the process, so Nermal surpassed his creator. I think that Davis wanted to cover up his mistake, which explains his strange quote mentioned earlier.
I hate that stupid little gray cat.
