Theodor Seuss Geisel, or the beloved Dr. Seuss, is an astonishing author. The Cat in the Hat was first published in 1957, and The Lorax was first published in 1971. Is there any other author that has stood the test of time like Dr. Seuss? How many other authors have a table in nearly every library in America dedicated to their work on their birthday? One can hardly refrain from the expression deserved while reading one of his masterpieces, and though I have in my years looked over some of the arguments meant to place Dr. Seuss in a less than admirable and unpopular light, the statements are false, and the critiques are unjustified. His books are simply amazing, and it stands to reason that they are still used in classrooms throughout the world, on a daily basis, to teach our children.
Consequently, The Cat in the Hat made quite a splash in 1957. Children were different, then, but not so much that Dr. Seuss books would not appeal to them anymore. The words in the book are not meant to create disorder and confusion, but rather to make order from confusion. Children love making sense of Dr. Seuss’s sequential storylines, and it is not as though the story is difficult to follow. It absolutely makes sense. Any child would be bound to understand the story if only following the illustrations, and though the words are basic, they are strung together in a way that is unparalleled by any author today. The “zig-zag between good sense and non sense” is a description that conveys the fact that altered words can stand to suggest brilliant meaning. I can’t think of any book that manages disorder to create such good sense, and children, of course, still love The Cat in the Hat. Though children today are rarely at a loss for entertainment, Sally and her brother search for a creative means of entertainment and are blessed with The Cat in the Hat and Thing one and Thing Two, and children likely still visualize this situation when they are bored. Looking for “fun that is funny,” and allowing the Cat to influence the the cleanliness of their mother’s house, the children worry whether or not to tell their mother what they have experienced during the day. The children who read the book are left with a question of whether or not they would have told. The moral dilemma is a common theme in all Dr. Seuss books, and it leaves children with a deep thought process.
With this in mind, the didacticism that can be found in Dr. Suess’s books is perhaps not shown in any book quite as obviously as in The Lorax. This is absolutely my favorite Dr. Seuss book of all time, and besides all of its lessons and connections to the real world, it is also beautifully and entertainingly written. A book that is considered didactic teaches a lesson while passing along instruction, insight, and entertainment. The pleasure found in this book is indescribable, and it teaches children that everyone has needs, but those needs come with a price, and there are consequences. This is an excellent book to foster a love of the environment. I don’t see why the book is controversial, though I am sure that it is. People must make a living, and we do have needs, but the book suggests not to take in excess. The Lorax, the Brown Bar-ba-loots, and the Swomee-Swans were forced to leave when a factory built by the Once-ler and his family produced so much “gluppity glup” and chopped down all the Truffula Trees that they were used to using for food. Being forced to relocate, the Lorax is unaware if they will make it or not, and the worst thing is that the Truffula Trees turned out to be non-renewable resources. Long after the factory was gone and the Once-ler lived in his old lerkim, the animals had still not returned. The book is about taking something from those who were there first, and the personification that leads to the sympathy that Dr. Seuss affords the characters in the book bother some individuals. With the growth of industry in America around the time the book was written, one can quickly understand the cause of the controversy. Changing one thing in an ecosystem can destroy an entire area. The book will likely make anyone rethink industry, but the fact does not change that ecosystems must be destroyed for Americans to live the lives that they are used to living. Dr. Seuss just puts it in a colorful and pleasing book that is sure to make children and adults feel sorry for the animals and despise the Once-ler and his “Thneeds.” This controversy, besides the fact that children like fanciful and silly books, is likely the reason for the absence of the didactic children’s books, today.
References
Seuss, D. (1957). The cat in the hat. Boston: Hougton Mifflin.
Seuss, D. (1971). The Lorax. New York: Random House.
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