Years have passed since I first saw a cartoon series of a sea sponge, whose shape is like a kitchen sponge (“Western Animation”, nd), called Spongebob Squarepants. It tells the daily life of SpongeBob and his friends, namely Patrick Star, Squidward Tentacles and Mr. Krabs, who live in a city under the sea called Bikini Bottom. Even though I’m at an age now where it seems “not appropriate” to watch a cartoon like that, my parents often say in a humorous tone, I really can’t take my eyes off it every time it’s on TV. It is, perhaps, the clear and beautiful view of Bikini Bottom that keeps me from getting bored of watching that movie. Despite the same episodes playing over and over again, the movie serves as an alternative TV show in the morning when there are no other interesting shows to watch.

Along with my interest in the Spongebob Squarepants cartoon series, my interest in the human characters was growing. I spent some time reading a book on human personalities called “Personality Plus” by Florence Littauer (1992) and observed the character and uniqueness of the people around me based on what I had read. According to Littauer (1992), every human being comprises four basic characters as follows: Sanguineous, Choleric, Melancholic and Phlegmatic. Each of these characters brings their own unique values ​​that cannot be found in the others.

Then, one day, a question arose in my mind: Can the characters of SpongeBob and his friends in the cartoon series be classified into the four characters proposed by Littauer? I thought about it carefully, in my spare time, and finally managed to find the answer: Yes, SpongeBob’s characters and his friends can be classified in the basic Littauer characters. Throughout this article, I will show you how the ranking is done, followed by some examples from the episodes.

Spongebob Squarepants, the protagonist of the series, represents the character of Sanguine. He is characterized by attitudes in which he is always happy, energetic and optimistic regarding his life and work at the Krusty Krab, a local fast food restaurant owned by Mr. Krabs, although he is only paid a small amount of money. money. He likes to talk, tell stories and make many jokes, some of the main characteristics of a Sanguinis person. However, this talkative behavior sometimes alienates him from people; in the extreme case, once the flying dutchman sea ghost captured him, and only 30 seconds later he released him as he got bored of his story.

Patrick Star, SpongeBob’s best friend (best friends forever), is the best representation of a phlegmatic boy. He never cares much about his life. He spends most of his days playing with his best friend, sleeping in his house, a big rock in the middle of a circle, and standing across the street, doing nothing. In one episode, he is awarded “the longest out of a job sea creature among others” for these unique characteristics, which is in stark contrast to SpongeBob, who is awarded tons of awards. He never says no to SpongeBob’s invitation to play with the jellyfish.

Then the representation of the Melancholic character can be found in Squidward Tentacles. Passion for perfection, lover of art, great demand for life with excellent quality and pessimism in most of the time of life, all are parts of the character, they are observable in Squidward’s life. It can be seen in the episodes of the series that whenever he finishes his work at the Krusty Krab, he spends most of the day making sculptures of himself and playing his flute. He also dreams of a perfect and richer life, away from the fun and childish life as SpongeBob and Patrick always demonstrated. Perhaps it is that dream that makes him endlessly jealous of his rival Squilliam Fancyson, a squid-like upper-class citizen in the city.

Finally, in the life of Mr. Krabs there is obviously a choleric character, a born leader and profit-oriented. As mentioned, Mr. Krabs owns a local fast food restaurant in town. However, his main concern is his customers’ money and how he can get more and more money with poor customer service. One episode shows how he wants to attract children’s attention to order food from his restaurant at the beginning of summer vacation by building a playground called “Krabby Land”. However, the playground is not what the children expected; it is full of play equipment that is made of broken woods and irons, which are surely dangerous for them. As a born leader, he likes to order things from the two loyal employees of his, namely SpongeBob as a cook and Squidward as a cashier. When they make even a small mistake, he gets upset easily, especially when it comes to money.

This article discusses character classification in the Spongebob Squarepants cartoon series based on Littauer’s four basic human characters. It is interesting to see that the different characters between them can lead to interesting stories, another reason why the enjoyment of watching it is still there. The weaknesses of those characters can create amusing and sometimes “silly” conflicts between them. I put the word “fool” in quotes to show that most of our life we ​​have conflicts that are actually unnecessary. They are just a matter of different perspectives between one character and the other. It is hoped that a good understanding of each of the characters will prevent us from such conflicts and focus on larger challenges that we must face together.