One of Dr. Seuss's books that contains a political message is Yertle the Turtle. In the book a turtle king, Yertle, is tired of his short stone throne, so he makes other turtles stack beneath him so he can be taller. The turtle at the bottom of the stack, Mack, asks Yertle if he can rest because the heavy weight displaced on him by the other turtles on top of him is giving him pain. Yertle doesn't allow Mack any rest. As the moon comes up, Yertle is mad that something can be higher than him, so he orders more turtles to add to the stack of turtles beneath him. At the end of the book, Mack decides he has had enough and he burps causing the the stack of turtles to fall, and causing Yertle to fall.
Suess has said that this book is supposed to represent Hitler's regime and is downfall. Yertle represents Hitler. In the book, Yertle wants to be higher and higher and wouldn't be satisfied until he is higher than the moon. This connects to Hitler and how although he had a lot of power after conquering Poland and Czechoslovakia, he wanted more and more power so he attacked France.
The Butter Battle Book is another Dr. Seuss book that contains political messages. In this book, two groups of people, the Yooks and the Zooks disagree on which side to butter their bread. The Yooks believe that butter should be spread on the top of the bread, the Zooks believe that butter should be spread on the bottom of the bread. This disagreement leads to distrust with each other and an arms-race. A wall separates the Yooks and the Zooks. As the Yooks build more and more advanced weapons, the Zook's seem to build either a more advanced weapon or match the Zook's weapon. At the very end, the Yook's weapon, "The Bitsy Big-Boy Boomeroo" becomes so deadly that it can completely wipe out the Zook's country. However, the Zooks manage to build another bomb that can wipe out the Yook's settlement. The very end of the book is an image of a Yook holding a bomb out on the Zook side of the wall and a Zook holding a bomb out on the Yook side of the wall.
The Butter Battle Book is a clear indication of the Cold War. The blue uniforms of the Yooks represent America's color and the red color of the Zooks represent the Soviet color. The wall separating the Yooks and the Zooks represents the Iron Curtain. By the end of the book, when each side has developed a weapon that can destroy the other, this is an indication of MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction) during the Cold War. Just like in the book, America and the Soviets in the 1980's had enough nuclear warheads to completely destroy the other, so they were putting each other at gunpoint to mutually assure each other's destruction if one attacks the other. The message in The Butter Battle Book is that "the arms race could be avoided if the trivial misunderstanding of which side of bread is to be buttered, could be let go, which would lead to each side not needing to increase the power of its arsenal."
Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yertle_the_Turtle_and_Other_Stories
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_messages_of_Dr._Seuss
Yertle the Turtle Pic: http://prairieweather.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83451c34d69e2014e89d1748e970d-pi
The Butter Battle Book Pic: https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/19/df/3b/19df3b54c0083797dec14adc7844bf8c.jpg
Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yertle_the_Turtle_and_Other_Stories
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_messages_of_Dr._Seuss
Yertle the Turtle Pic: http://prairieweather.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83451c34d69e2014e89d1748e970d-pi
The Butter Battle Book Pic: https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/19/df/3b/19df3b54c0083797dec14adc7844bf8c.jpg
Wow! I think all of these allusions are especially interesting given that Seuss did start out as a political cartoonist during WWII. What is your opinion though on the inserting of political ideas into children's books? I can think of several parents I know who might object to the idea. Also it might seem to some that Seuss is trivializing massive conflicts. But I feel like trying to create a base understanding as to why these historical conflicts happened can be extremely valuable to young children. Kids so often ask "whhyyyy" things happen, and Dr. Seuss here offers some small answers: People do mean things to others when they feel like they should be the best and want more power, and heated arguments and competition happen when people just can't put aside their trivial differences.
ReplyDeleteI always find it really interesting when people seem to find subliminal messages in children's books. The Lorax comes to mind as being an obvious proponent of the environmentalist movement appropriately marketed towards children. The themes of conservation and being kind to the earth are demonstrated in an age appropriate manner. Emily does raise an interesting point, though - is it appropriate to put political messages in children's books at all? The formation of conscious opinions is an important part of anyone's journey to political literacy. When is a good time to begin?
ReplyDeleteReally really cool post! I think it's really cool how these lighthearted and fun-to-read children's books contained allusions to deep political messages. I was interested to see if there were any other children's books that alluded to World War II and the Cold War, and I found that Star Wars made a lot of references to World War II. The stormtroopers got their names from the Nazi stormtroopers. The uniforms of imperial officers also resembled some historical German Army uniforms. The Great Jedi Purge alludes to the events of The Holocaust, the Great Purge, the Cultural Revolution, and the Night of the Long Knives.
ReplyDeleteFor more information on the Night of the Long Knives, check out this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_of_the_Long_Knives_(1934)
To learn more about the Great Purge, check out this link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Purge
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars_sources_and_analogues