Fans of Stuart Little were taken aback after discovering a major difference between the book and the film adaptation.
In the movie, the story revolves around Stuart Little, a talking mouse, being adopted by the Little family and embarking on various adventures and misadventures, particularly with the family cat.
As expected, the cat is determined to catch Stuart, due to his nature as a mouse, even though he is a polite and kind-hearted talking mouse.
Most people would assume that the defining characteristic of Stuart Little is that he is a mouse adopted by the Little family.
However, some are discovering a fact about the original book by E.B. White that is leaving them surprised.
It turns out that the Stuart Little depicted in the films is quite different from the character in the book.
In the original book published in 1945, Stuart Little is not actually a mouse but rather a boy who is very small in stature and resembles a mouse.
Additionally, Stuart is not adopted by the Little family in the book. Instead, his mother gives birth to a baby who is only two inches tall and looks like a mouse.
Considering the medical technology of 1945, it’s not surprising that this detail might have gone unnoticed during pregnancy.
The book describes: “When Mrs. Frederick C. Little’s second son arrived, everybody noticed that he was not much bigger than a mouse.”
It continues: “The truth of the matter was, the baby looked very much like a mouse in every way. He was only about two inches high; and he had a mouse’s sharp nose, a mouse’s tail, a mouse’s whiskers, and the pleasant, shy manner of a mouse.”
This scenario is notably stranger than the concept of the Littles adopting a talking mouse from another family of talking mice.
This revelation has prompted a mix of amusement and disbelief among fans, who have taken to social media to express their reactions.
One person humorously pointed out the shock of such a revelation: “Finding out Stuart Little is actually a tiny human that just looks like a mouse feels less ‘children’s book’ and more the family made a deal with something and agreed to raise whatever showed up.”
Some simply refused to accept this truth, with one stating: “That’s just not right. Not right at all. No, sirree, Bob.”
Another added: “All those mouse shenanigans were human shenanigans??”
This context also casts the cat’s attempts to eat Stuart in a new and unsettling light.