Racism Galore and Dictators Ashore
After the events at Pearl Harbor, the United States officially declared war against Germany on December 11, 1941. World War II had begun for the U.S., and its effects were felt all across America. People united under a single cause and U. S patriotism soared through the hearts of Americans. After the war, Theodor Seuss Geisel became inspired to write books concerning the two major issues brought to attention during World War II: racism and dictatorship. He wrote Yertle the Turtle (1958), based on Adolf Hitler and his Nazi regime, as a response to World War II in an effort to address the ill effects of tyranny and dictatorship. In 1961, he sits down in his office with his editor, Bennett Cerf of Random House, Inc., to discuss the political implications in the new children’s book he is writing called The Sneetches.
I have an idea for an all-new story. I’m going to call it The Sneetches. It addresses the issues of Anti-Semitism and I want to be sure my message gets across well in the book. Well anyways, let me tell you a little bit about The Sneetches. The premise is that there are two types of Sneetches: Plain Bellied Sneetches and Star Bellied Sneetches. The Plain Bellied Sneetches want to be like the Star Bellied Sneetches, who think they are better than everybody else (See Fig. 1). A business man known as Sylvester McMonkey McBean comes along and builds a machine that is able to give the Plain Bellied Sneetches stars, for a hefty fee of course. Well you could imagine that ALL the Plain Bellied Sneetches came down to get their stars. So the Star Bellied Sneetches become upset and McBean makes another machine that could remove stars. So the Plain Bellied Sneetches become Star Bellied Sneetches, and the Star Bellied Sneetches become Plain Bellied Sneetches! I know it’s a little confusing, but try to follow me. So, the Sneetches keep running back and forth through the machines until they are all penniless and McBean leaves a rich man. In the end, all the Sneetches learn that neither Star Bellied nor Plain Bellied is better, and they are all able to get along and become friends (“The Sneetches”). Isn’t it a beautiful story?
Fig. 1. The Plain Bellied Sneetch only want to be happy like the Star Bellied Sneetch.(Seuss, Dr. The Sneetches and Other Stories. New York: Random House, 1961. Print.) |
I think it really shows the prejudice that is in our world and how we believe that race has something to do with superiority. Hitler hated Jews and eventually, caused other people to hate Jews so much that they thought it was ok to exterminate them. He even made Jews wear yellow stars on their shirts to distinguish who was Jewish. “One day, they were just people on the street and the next day, there were Jews and Non Jews” (Rosenburg). That was my reasoning behind using stars in The Sneetches. But now, with the Civil Rights Movement, it seems that we are having this same problem all over again. As Jews once were, Blacks are now at the top of everybody’s list. I’m not sure if racism will ever truly go away, but we mustn’t succumb to the judgments of others. I think the Civil Rights Movement’s assertion on integration is truly a valiant one. I can only hope The Sneetches will help kids to understand the value of integration, but foremost, of harmony within integration.
Why do I feel so strongly about spreading this message? Well it’s because of my time spent in the war. It’s one thing to hear about the things going on in Germany, but it’s another to experience it. I actually had the chance to visit Germanys’ concentration camps and “the real atrocity about these camps was the fact that human beings actually were locked up in them.
Fig. 2. Starved male Jews living in Buchenwald concentration camp in Germany. (Clark, Josh. “Are there Nazi war criminals still at large?” HowStuffWorks, Inc, 1998-2012. Web. 18 Feb 2012.)
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There is enough horror in that to condemn the Nazi system forever” (qtd. in Nel 60) (See Fig. 2). The Germans had what I liked to call “the Super Race Disease, the World Conquest Disease” (qtd. in Cohen 272). “Hitler was so ravaged by the disease he’d gone insane” (Cohen 272). You remember my book Yertle the Turtle? Of course you do, you edited it! Well, that book was “modeled on the rise of Hitler” (qtd. in Nel 51). Initially, I drew Yertle with a mustache on, but I didn’t want him to only represent Hitler, but all dictators (Knight). Yertle the Turtle was a direct representation of dictatorship with Yertle, the king of the pond. By demanding that all of the turtles build him a throne by stacking on top of one another, Yertle only grew more power hungry and paid no attention to the well-being of the other turtles. But then there was Mack, the one turtle who had the courage to talk back to Yertle and ask him for a break. When Yertle told him no, Mack did one of the most courageous things anybody could do-he burped. And by burping, Mack freed all of the turtles and Yertle was thrown off of his throne (Colando). I was really pleased with the outcome of that book because it addressed dictatorship and illustrated that it only takes one person to stand up to a ruler, all you need is a little courage, like Mack. These are the things that we should be teaching kids. They need to know that they have a voice and should stand up for what they believe in (See Fig. 3). I feel an urge to help these kids and inform them of the opportunities they have.
Fig. 3. Yertle (Adolf Hitler) stands at the top of all the turtles. ("Yertle the Turtle." Sermons4kids.com. Sermons4Kids, Inc., N.d. Web. 28 Feb. 2012.) |
Children’s reading and children’s thinking are the rock bottom base upon which the future of this country will rise. Or not rise. In these days of tension and confusion, writers are beginning to realize that books for children have a greater potential for good or evil than any other form of literature on earth. (qtd. in Nel 61)
I can only hope my books will be able to show kids the importance of the opportunities they have to do something good for society versus turning against it.
Racism is really affecting our society. It corrupts and blinds the minds of people into believing that one race is superior over another. Racism has caused thousands of Jews to be killed and Blacks too. But not only does it kill people, it terrorizes others into believing that there worthless just because of their race. You know when I was in high school, during the time of World War I, they used to call me “the German brewer’s kid with the three legged dog” (Cohen 211). My dog wasn’t really three legged, but he always liked to sit right next to my right leg whenever I was with him. Kids would always tease me for being German and even at that age it hurt and that’s how I know how prejudice can affect a person. You only want to fit in society like how the Plain Bellied Sneetches want to be like the Star Bellied Sneetches. I think the last line in my book really sums up my views on prejudice and racism. It goes like, “And really, it’s such a terrible shame, For except for those stars, every Sneetch is the same” (Seuss 30). Don’t you see how this applies to real life? No matter white, black, tall or small…we are all just human.
I feel a real need to write books about the underlining issues that had caused the World War II, like I said before Anti-Semitism and dictatorship. Of course my purpose has changed since the war, but the delivery is still the same. I make sure that my books still carry the same style of rhyme and nonsense that kids seem to love. “Kids respond to a little humor, to a crazy situation instead of that solemn old stuff, ‘See my dog, Spot. Run Spot, run” (qtd. in Cohen 324). You know the sense of humor you had as a kid is not the same that you have now.
Have you ever stopped to consider what has happened to your sense of humor? When you were a kid the one thing you did better than anything else was laugh… A strange thing called conditional laughter began to take its place…[it depended on] financial conditions. Political conditions. Racial, religious, and social conditions. You began to laugh at people your family feared or despised-people they felt inferior to, or people they felt better than…You discovered a new form of humor based on sex…Your capacity for healthy, silly, friendly, laughter was smothered. (qtd. in Cohen 204)
That’s one of the funny parts about getting older; you don’t have anything to laugh at anymore. Thankfully, I still understand children, maybe because everything that kids find amusing I find amusing myself. But I know that “children welcome good writers who talk, not down to them as juveniles, but clearly and honestly as equals” (qtd. in Morgan and Morgan 60). They want to know that they matter just as much as everybody else; almost in the same way that the Plain Bellied Sneetches in the beginning of my book feel. I know what children want and only try to inform them about world issues in the process.
So you’re asking me what is one of the important messages that I want to get across in my new quote-on-quote political books? “Let me think about that. Any message or slogan? Whenever things go a bit sour in a job I’m doing, I always tell myself, ‘You can do better than this.’ The best slogan I can think of to leave with the kids of the U.S.A. would be ‘We can… and we’ve got to…do better than this’” (qtd. in Cohen 193)
Thanks for listening to me go on and on about my book. I only hope that the kids will feel the same way that I do about it. Well in about a week or so, I should be completely finished with the story and maybe some others, and I’ll hand them over for you to read. Thanks again, for reassuring me about The Sneetches. I wasn’t sure if the story was too bland or that the political implications wouldn’t get across, but after talking to you I feel more confident than ever. You know you should become a psychiatrist! Well, see you in a week, doc!
Works Cited
Clark, Josh. “Are There Nazi War Criminals Still at Large?” HowStuffWorks, Inc, 1998-2012. Web. 18 Feb 2012.
Cohen, Charles D. The Seuss, the Whole Seuss, and Nothings but the Seuss: A Visual Biography of Theodor Seuss Geisel. New York: Random House, 2004. Print.
Colando, Maia Cheli. “Yertle the Turtle by Dr. Seuss” littlefolktales.org. The Spirited Review, n.d. Web 16 March 2012.
Knight, Rachel. “Dr. Seuss’s Hidden Political Agenda” Web. 18 February 2012.
Morgan, Judith, and Neil Morgan. Dr. Seuss & Mr. Geisel: A Biography. New York: Random House, 1995. Print.
Nel, Philip. Dr. Seuss: American Icon. New York : Continuum, 2004. Print.
Rosenburg, Jennifer. “The Yellow Stars” history1900s.about.com. About.com, n.d. Web 16 March 2012.
Seuss, Dr. The Sneetches and Other Stories. New York: Random House, 1961. Print.
“The Sneetches Summary” library.thinkquest.org. Oracle Think Quest, n.d. Web 16 March 2012.
"Yertle the Turtle." Sermons4kids.com. Sermons4Kids, Inc., N.d. Web. 28 Feb. 2012.