Character Analysis: Horton Hears A Who

Theodor Seuss Geisel was born in Springfield, Massachusetts in 1904. He was the second child in his family and the only son. He came from a wealthy German-American family who immigrated to the United States in 1867. At the age of seventeen he attended Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire. While attending Dartmouth, he became the editor of a comical magazine known as “Jack O’ Lantern.” Four years later he decided to transfer to Oxford University in the United Kingdom. After some time at Oxford he decided to leave college and to travel across Europe. In 1927, Geisel returned home and moved to New York. While living in New York, he began his writing career. Geisel was rejected countless times by innumerable publishers. After four months

In “Horton Hears a Who” the creatures of Who-ville are described to be just as a speck of dust compared to the other characters in the story. The other characters were seen to be stronger due to their larger size compared to the Whos. This compares to the size of Japan during World War II. Japan was smaller compared to the stronger countries during this time like Germany, United States, and Britain. Which is why Geisel used the Whos as a symbol of Japan because he believed it wasn’t fair that the United States dropped the bomb and obliterated them to nothing. Many of the antagonist in the story ridicule Horton, because the other animals cannot see or hear the Who’s. “I can hear you fine. But the kangaroos’ ears aren’t as strong” (Geisel 3). Horton is trying to save the town of Who-ville from being destroyed or damaged by the other animals. No matter how difficult the task at hand became, Horton always overcame the conflict to protect his new

“In your towns, darkest hour” (Geisel 4). Most of the citizens felt they would never recover due to the amount of damage to their civilization just as the Japanese felt the same after their town was destroyed and had almost nothing left. Another work of Ted Geisel that symbolizes World War II is “The Sneetches.” The short childrens story is about a group of Sneetches that are divided by those who have stars, and by those who do not have the stars. The Sneetches who were lucky enough to have a star on their belly seemed to be having a great life. Everything seemed to be handed to them and they didn’t have to work hard for anything. Those who did not have a star on their belly were unable to socialize with the other Sneetches who had one. Those who did not have stars were segregated from the