Larry vs Eddie Haskell
Who do you think between these two characters do you think caused the most trouble for the one of the Clever brothers Beaver and Wally that caused the most trouble and why?
shareThat is a tough one.
Larry never really tried to purposely get Beaver in trouble but as young boys Beaver went along with Larry (or vice versa) and they got into trouble acting together for the most part.
Wally was not as gullible as Beaver and most of the time Eddie left his trouble making for those who were gullible and/or could not overpower him.
Eddie was more of a trouble maker for Beaver than Larry though, purposely telling Beaver things that he knew could cause him trouble. Beaver being younger did not know how to be a threat to Eddie the way Wally was plus he was more open to Eddie out of desperation at times.
There was a couple of times that Beaver should have punched Larry in the stomach where he almost had his operation.
shareI guess Eddie tips it in by his altering of Beaver's report card. That's borderline criminal. Larry was mostly just a dumb kid who wanted to do dumb stuff like smoke or play with Ward's prized autographed baseball. He knew he could goad Beaver into doing the same stuff by calling him a chicken or whining.
shareDefinitely Eddie, he struck me as a bit of a jr sociopath..
shareDefinitely Eddie, he struck me as a bit of a jr sociopath..
Eddie is represented as somewhat sociopathic in a couple of episodes, but they are anomalies that contrast with how he is generally represented most of the time in a much more positive light (I'm not saying he is a choir boy, but sociopath is a huge extreme to which Eddie almost never fits). share
Larry was mostly just a dumb kid
If we are measuring with the standard of "mostly," then we must measure on an apples-to-apples to basis, with the same measurement for both Eddie and Larry.
Yes, Eddie goes way too far in the report card episode, but mostly Eddie does not go anywhere near that far. Mostly, he is just a wiseguy who is not truly bad and who has limits as to how bad he is willing to be, and who shows compassion by trying to help Beaver and/or Wally solve their problems.
That's borderline criminal.
Larry was not above sometimes committing borderline criminal acts either. Case in point: Larry stole money out of his mother's sewing basket in order to treat himself & Beaver to the carnival. share
But Larry didn't steal from Beaver: he stole from his mom. Though it is still stealing, if he had stolen money from any of the Cleavers, that's a different kind of stealing. Eddie struck me in many of the episodes as a bully, not only to Beaver but to the other kids who he felt he could lick. He called Larry "fat boy" on more than one occasion. There was the occasional time when Eddie saw the light and was on Beaver's side, but those occasions were rare.
shareAlmost every character on the show either made fun of Larry for his weight, or at least took note of the fact that he was overweight.
Beaver says lines that make fun of Larry's weight too. I.e. in one episode, Beaver says something like: "If Larry fell on me, I'd sure be dead alright!" This line is played for laughs as a joke (Beaver wasn't joking when he says it, but the writers were joking when they wrote it for Beaver to speak, and it's intended to make the viewer laugh).
Eddie struck me in many of the episodes as a bully, not only to Beaver but to the other kids who he felt he could lick.
Yes, this is somewhat true...but, my point is that many viewers are missing the nuances of the Eddie character, insomuch for the most part (there are a few exceptions), he only wants to annoy people mildly; he doesn't want to ruin their lives or anything like that. And if they are really in a tough spot and scared/worried etc., then he doesn't kick them while they are down...instead he tries to help them. Therefore, Eddie is much more complex than a typical one-dimensional bully who just hates everybody and doesn't care about anyone. share
Well yeah, Larry was overweight. The writers had him constantly eating or looking for food. But to me there is a difference between Beaver making a joke about being squished by Larry, and Eddie calling Larry "fat boy", which to me is very condescending. Beaver never called Larry a derogatory name in reference to his weight, though he did make reference to it on more than one occasion.
It's true that Eddie doesn't want to ruin Beaver's or anyone's life. And as I said, there are episodes where he sympathizes with Beaver, such as when Beaver ruins Wally's suit coat. But there are episodes when he is a total jerk, such as when he pretends Beaver "hypnotized" him, or when he causes Beaver's pants to rip because he yanked Larry off the see-saw board and that laughs about it. Beaver could have been hurt by that. I get your point about Eddie though, especially in later episodes he really doesn't want to hurt anyone, he is just a "wise guy".