Dr. Seuss is a staple of many people’s childhood. He is the most popular children’s book writer, even 2 decades after his death.
His rhymes and quirky characters make his stories lovable and impossible to forget. But there are more to his silly stories than just crazy characters with a lesson to learn. Throughout his books, Dr. Seuss uses rhymes and clever characters to tell stories about issues current to the time. Some of his most well known stories such as Yertle the Turtle, The Lorax and The Sneetches, are all full of the progressive politics that Dr. Seuss truly Believed in.
In his article, Dr. Suess’s Progressive Politics, Peter Dreier gives us a background to Suess’s life. Theodor Geisel is the man behind the Dr. Seuss pen name.
He was born in 1904 and grew up in a German-American community in Springfield, Massachusetts. Geisel went to Dartmouth College and wrote and was editor-in-chief of a humor magazine on campus. He also did ads for companies such as General Electric and Flit. In 1931 Geisel illustrated his first picture book, and in 1939, after getting rejected 29 times, published his first children’s book.After his couple books flopped he took a break from children’s books to help the war efforts, making propaganda and training films.
He also drew political cartoons for PM, a left-wing daily newspaper in New York City. It was at PM that Geisel really found his political ideology. Geisel started to put this into his new picture books. Peter Dreier explains, “[m]any Dr. Seuss books are about the misuse of power – by despots, kings, and other rulers, including the sometimes arbitrary authority of parents”(np).
He mentions Geisel’s lecture he gave in 1947 where he speaks to would be writers and tells them to avoid stereotypes because America “preaches equality but doesn’t always practice it. ” Dreier goes on to explain that Gielsel’s books show sympathy for the weak and wants to teach children “to think about how to deal with an unfair worlds. Rather than instruct them, Geisel invites his children to consider what they should do when faced with injustice”(np).Many of Seuss’s books show the progressive themes that he truly believed in, such as the misuse of power, how wrong racial and religious bigotry is, and the importance of environmental consciousness.
One of the progressive themes that Dr. Seuss believes in and shows in his books is the misuse of power. One book that demonstrates this is Yertle the Turtle. Yertle the Turtle was published in 1958. It is about a turtle named Yertle who is king of all he can see. In the beginning of the book that is his pond but he wants control of more and more.
Yertle decides that if his throne is bigger he can see more, meaning he can rule more saying, “’I’m ruler, said Yertle, ‘of all that I can see. But I don’t see enough. That’s the trouble with me’”(np). Yertle tells the other turtles in his pool to stack themselves up, so he can see more. The turtles stack up and Yertle sees more.
But he still wants more. So he forces more turtles to stack up. A turtle at the bottom named Mack tries to stand up to Yertle saying “’your majesty, please…I don’t like to complain, But down here below, we are feeling great pain.I know, up on top you are seeing great sights, But down at the bottom we, too, should have rights”(np). Yertle yells at Mack for speaking in such a way to the “world’s highest turtle.
” But Mack decides he has had enough and burps, shaking the whole stack of turtles causing Yertle to fall. After he is just the king of the mud. Seuss says “And the turtles, of course…all the turtles are free. As turtles and, maybe, all creatures should be. The misuse of power, and the need for power directly relates to Hitler. Dr.
Seuss has come out and said that Yerlte is a representation of Hitler.Hitler was one of the main inspirations for many of the political cartoons that he drew. He took this inspiration into his children’s books. Yertle, or Hitler, only want power. No matter the expense of those beneth him. Dr.
Seuss shows that you cant just have power. If that’s all you have to stand on, chances are things are going to get a little shaky and most likely fall out form under you. Seuss uses Yerlte to show kids that everyone deserves to be treated equal and that power is not a good thing, especially when it isn’t put to good use.During World War II anti-Semitism was a big part of the current issues. Geisel was strongly opposed to such racial and religious bigotry. This can be seen in his book The Sneetches.
The Sneetches was published in 1961. Its about a Seuss like character, half of the population has stars on their belly, while the others do not. The “Star-Bellied Sneetches” treat those without very poorly. “When the Star-Belly Sneetches had frankfurter roasts or picnics or parties or marshmellow toasts, They never invited the Plain-Belly Sneetches.They left them out cold, in the dark of the beaches” (Sneetches 7). A guy came along and worked out a way to sell the Sneetches without stars a star.
After they all had stars thought the Sneetches who originally had stars didn’t want them anymore. It created a vicious cycle of back and forth “until neither the Plain nor the Star-Bellies knew whether this one was that one…or that one was this one or which one was what one…or what one was who”(Sneetches 21). After continuing the loops of getting a star or having it removed, the Sneetches run out of money and McBean leaves town.As he leaves he laughs at the Sneetches inability to learn. In the end when the Sneetches realize that it isn’t a star that makes you better and everyone is equal. The Sneetches and their stars are symbols of racism and discrimination as a whole, but hold the most symbolism as the Jewish in WWII, who were forced to wear stars to show their lower status than those around them.
In 1971, Dr. Seuss had another hit published. The Lorax, published just a year after the first Earth Day.Geisle himself called The Lorax propaganda against pollution.
The Lorax is told from the prospective of the Once-ler. The Once-ler is a creature who tells the story of the Lorax, the Truffula trees, the animals and how they all disappeared. The Once-ler was a business man who came into town and cut down all the trees. The Lorax, who spoke for the trees “for the trees have no tounges”(np).
The Lorax pleaded with the Once-ler to stop cutting down trees but the Once-ler explained that “business is business and business must grow” (np).So the Once-ler continued to cut the down tress no matter how many times the Lorax pleaded telling him the Bar-ba-loots didn’t have enough food anymore and were having to leave and the smog in the air made it so theSwomee-Swans couldn’t sing. He even showed him the pollution that the gunk from the factory was causing in the water forcing the fish to leave to. Soon after, even the Lorax leaves, leaving behind only a stump of rocks spelling unless.
At the end of the book the Once-ler realizes that it means they will all be gone forever unless someone like the boy in the book is willing to make a change.By ending the book like this Seuss gives children reading a motivation. He puts it on them to make sure the Earth stays beautiful and isn’t polluted. The book not only takes a stand against pollution, but brings up issues such as consumerism, clear-cutting by the logging industry and greed. While Dr.
Seuss is one of the most popular and influential children’s books authors his progressive politics that appear throughout his books has caused some controversy. So uch so that many of his books, including Yertle the Turtle, The Sneetches, and The Lorax have all been banned from some school districts and libraries. But as a society we shouldn’t be banning books because they bring up issues that make us feel uncomfortable. It should be those books that we pride ourselves on reading to learn to open our minds more and become a more accepting society.
And the fact that Dr. Seuss has given us the opportunity to learn that as a child through colorful and creative stories should be embraced and celebrated, not put on a list to make sure we don’t read.
