Dr. Seuss Goes to War (Gabrielle)
September 17, 2009 by sharppointythings
Yesterday being our weekly library day I found myself at the library (weird, I know). In the midst of trying to find something for Samuel that took far too long to find and then ended up being not what he’d wanted I stumbled on a book called Dr. Suess Goes to War. It is a collection of the editorial cartoons Dr. Seuss drew during World War II with commentary. It looked fascinating if you’re a history geek and Dr. Seuss fan. I’m not much of a history geek though I try hard, but I am a serious Dr. Seuss fan so I grabbed the book right up. And then I went to help Samuel find something else he was interested in.
So, today I’m reading the book and it’s as good as I’d thought. The cartoons are biting and witty and there are glimpses of where the look and feel of his future books came from. The commentary on the cartoons is very informative both in what Dr. Seuss was thinking and the historical events and trends he was reacting to. The only issue is that I’m finding I disagree with his politics.
It is so weird. I didn’t even really know I had any opinions about the US policies around World War II. But I’m reading the cartoons and I’m reading the commentary and I think Dr. Seuss was wrong. This has me spun because I’m the butterflies and flowers person; I don’t have opinions about politics, right?
Also, I am disagreeing with Dr. Seuss. Dr. Seuss! The man who brought us those Sneetches nobody thought could learn, but who end their story with Star-Bellied and non hand in hand on the beaches. The man who took us all the way to Solla Sollew (On the banks of the river Wahoo where they never have troubles at least very few), back again and then out beyond Zebra where the Sneedles and the Yekkos live. Who stood with the Lorax and who asked questions about the Butter Battle. The man who gave us that faithful elephant Horton who was so stalwart and so brave. Whether he’s standing by a promise (”I meant what I said and I said what I meant. An elephant’s faithful one hundred percent.”) or safeguarding lives only he knows or cares about (”A person’s a person no matter how small.”) Horton is high up on my list of favorite characters. I can’t disagree with Dr. Seuss!
Well, I guess that’s just part of growing up. Finding out where you differ from your heroes and still admiring them and appreciating their genius. Theodor Seuss Geisel, I still like you. Your books still rock and I still plan on enjoying them fully.
Dr. Suess is a real genius if you ever do some research into him some of the things you find out about him are amazing.
So, if you had to summarize in no more than a single paragraph the differences between your political views on WWII and Dr. Suess’s, what are the differences?
Like Jeremy I am interested in that question…..
Finding out where you differ from your heroes and still admiring them and appreciating their genius.
Totally agree. Some of the men I admire, Washington, Roosevelt, Reagan, Churchill, Patton, etc. etc. all had their issues. But, like Bruce Lee said (a man I also admire for his abilities but again do not always agree with), learn from the good, reject the bad. Jeet Kune Do!
God bless,
Spencer
The vastly oversimplified version is that Dr. Seuss was anti-isolationist. I’m not.
There! That wasn’t so hard.
More seriously, he was adamant that the US should be a big mover and shaker in world politics especially when it came to World War 2. I’m more of the opinion that we should take our policeman uniform off and work on fixing our own problems. Our first President warned against getting too involved especially in Europe and I think history bears him out. We should take his advice and take a step back from the world stage.
That’s still vastly oversimplified, but it’s the core of where we disagree.
well, that answered my question.
i was going to point out that you never really said what his political opinions were, and in what ways you disagreed with him. i haven’t read that particular book, but a quick look at his wikipedia article gave me a summarized view of his opinions. none of it was particularly shocking and i agreed with about half of his views and disagreed with the other half.
it’s good you still like his books. i think it’s useful to be able to keep that separation. i mean, roald dahl was arguably anti-semitic but A) that’s not really shocking, and B) his books are still fantastic.
Yes, Brian, I was very aware that I never said what his political opinions were and how I disagreed with him. This whole having political views thing is very new to me and I wasn’t sure I wanted to have to defend them on the Internet.
Roald Dahl is an incredible writer. Seems like some of the finest children’s literature is not actually for kids.
By the way, I asked about the differences between your political view and Dr. Suess’s because I was curious, not because I’m gearing up to pick a side and create a flame-war on your blog. In fact, I purposely asked for the short, simplified explanation to (hopefully) help you avoid a big debate.