Following a fight about whether or not Jon Arbuckle actually drank dog semen (a debate that required an intervention from Davis himself), fans have moved on to question the very foundation of the cat's character.
The cat has famously hated on the first day of the work week for as long as history can remember, and his take has been profitable, having been printed on merchandise items like mugs and oversized nighties for decades. But what's his motive?
The rigorous debate was started by Twitter user @JamColley, who tried to suggest that Garfield's hatred of the week's first work day comes from a place of love:
Garfield is a cat and doesn't have a job. The only ostensible difference between Monday and any other day is that Jon suddenly isn't around after having been home all weekend. Garfield doesn't hate Mondays, he loves Jon and is too proud to say it.
— Colley (@JamColley) February 18, 2018
Unfortunately, JamColley's admittedly sentimental statements were immediately shot down by the fact that Jon works from home:
"when the strip first begins Jon introduces himself as a cartoonist and we see a panel of him at his drawing board so it is possible he could have been working from home this whole time" is maybe the sentence I've typed that has made me hate myself the most
— Alexandra Petri (@petridishes) February 18, 2018
Still insisting on interpreting the strip with rose-coloured glasses, JamColley attempted to save his argument:
I am willing to suspend belief such that, even if this is true, he closes his door or whatever so that he may work. There's still a separation where his time is not devoted to feeding a cat lasagne. I've decided this is the hill I will die on.
— Colley (@JamColley) February 18, 2018
Unfortunately, Davis foresaw this potential interpretation and made it clear that Jon's door was always open to his feline companion:
There is no Garfield proof door. The cat sits right there while he works. pic.twitter.com/7lgHO1nDCW
— David (@Daveo_au) February 18, 2018
Thus, we are left worse off than we began, with even less understanding for why the unemployed and chronically lazy Garfield detests Mondays so much. Perhaps, like all sentient beings, he's just a living, breathing contradiction whose own free will results in these beautiful yet paradoxical emotions.
(Thanks to A.V. Club for the tip.)