Homer Jay Simpson is one of the main characters in the animated television series The Simpsons, voiced by Dan Castellaneta.
Warning: Wikipedia contains spoilers.
Table of contents |
2 Jobs 3 Awards & Honors 4 External links |
Overview
In the show, Homer is:
It has been suggested in the series that Homer is between 36 or 39 years old. In one episode, a quiz indicates he will die at 42 and he wails "he has only three years to live" (But note that Homer's ability to do mental arithmetic is not necessarily reliable). Different episodes give his birth date as May 12, 1956 or May 10, 1955 or even 17-23-1956 [sic].
Homer and his family probably live at 742 Evergreen Terrace, Springfield. Several alternative house numbers on Evergreen Terrace are given in various episodes, including 59, 94, 743, and 1094, in addition to 430 Spalding Way.
Homer works in the Springfield Nuclear Powerplant, although "working" in this case refers to dozing and eating doughnuts. He spends a great deal of his time at Moe's Tavern with his lifelong friends Barney, Carl, Lenny, and Moe. His hobbies include heavy drinking (especially local favorite, Duff Beer), television, and whatever he favors from week to week.
On the food front, Homer is particularly fond of doughnuts and pork chops, but also pie, chile, Krusty Burgers, nachos, bacon, potato chips, heroes/hoagies/grinders. His diet is not a good example to younger viewers and this point is frequently made throughout the series. Homer frequently responds to food with drooling and exuberant postures.
His high school yearbook quote was "I can't believe I ate the whole thing," and it was in high school that Homer met Marge, whom he would later marry.
As widely evidenced, Homer's mind is vacuous nearly throughout but sprinkled with occasional dense packets of knowledge. He has shown small bursts of astonishing foresight, memory, creativity, and fluidity with language (including Japanese, German, Chinese, Spanish, and penguin). These bursts are almost always temporary and constantly changing. The nature of this intellect is two-fold. Much of his mental ability is suppressed by the presence of a wax crayon in the frontal lobe of his brain, the result of a bizarre childhood mishap. Also credited is the Simpson Gene, which is an almost guarantee that male Simpsons will become underachievers.
With regards to his health, Homer is incredibly lucky to be alive. He has broken nearly every bone in his body and received countless cuts and bruises, both major and minor. He has blown-out his knee, had his thumb cut off, undergone a triple coronary bypass, had corrective eye surgery, been in a coma, had his jaw wired shut, donated a kidney, suffered repeated back trauma, been institutionalized, and been shot at least once. His brain is protected by the unique genetic condition known as "Homer Simpson syndrome."
Homer is prone to becoming very emotional, especially when it comes to his neighbors, the Flanders family or to troubles related to his son, Bart. He is also deeply compassionate if not initially so.
Homer has gone by many names and aliases. While in the Witness Relocation Program, the family assumed the surname 'Thompson.' Homer legally changed his name to 'Max Power' for a time to escape public ridicule. He has also been known by many nicknames, including 'Homey,' 'Home-boy,' 'Colonel Homer,' 'Dancin' Homer,' 'Hungry, Hungry Homer,' the 'Brick Hit House,' the 'Southern Dandy' and 'Bottomless Pete, Nature's Cruelest Mistake,' among others.
Homer's middle initial J., standing for the "Jay" himself in this case, is a tribute by Simpsons creator Matt Groening to the work of cartoon producer Jay Ward, creator of Bullwinkle J. Moose and Rocket J. Squirrel. Abe and Bart are also so initialed.
Creator Matt Groening has said that he named the core of the Simpsons family after members of his own family (Homer after his father in this case), but he has also acknowledged that Homer Simpson was the name of a character in Nathanael West's The Day of the Locust.
Homer Simpson (and of course Dan Castellaneta) popularized the annoyed grunt "D'oh!," as an abbrieviated form of Jim Finlayson's "dooooh" from the films of Laurel and Hardy.
See also: List of characters from The Simpsons
Jobs
(assuming actual compensation [money, Powersauce Bars, etc.] and excluding Halloween episodes and passing bets (grave digger, panda, etc.))
Springfield Nuclear Power Plant
Other
Awards & Honors
External links