Lynne Kiesling
Joanna at Fey Accompli has a nice post on Dr. Seuss and the political themes in his children’s books. I’ve always been disturbed by The Lorax, even when I was too young to understand why. Very interesting post.
1 thought on “Love Dr. Seuss, But He Sure Went Around the Bend on the Lorax”
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More Dr. Seuss cartoons here.
His WWII cartoons went beyond just criticizing Hitler. He also accused anyone who didn’t fully support FDR of being unpatriotic and helping the Nazis win; he also accused people who questioned the wisdom sending lots of war materiel to Stalin of being unpatriotic defeatists. Isolationists who opposed war were of course supporters of facisms and nazism as well. Too, he often made the comment that Stalin was much more responsible for holding back and defeating the Nazisms than Britain, the US, or anyone else. (not the Russians in general, either, but personified as Stalin himself and Stalin’s own efforts) He ridiculed those who worked against Stalin’s spies as well.
OTOH, while of course he had the then-standard racial stereotypes against the Japanese in his cartoons, but his political cartoons insulting Jim Crow and the racial treatment of blacks were impressive and well done. However, his “Honorable 5th Column??? cartoon showing Japanese residents of California receiving TNT from the Japanese government is pretty nasty, and justifies internment.