Yertle The Turtle, Theodor Seuss Geisel

987 Words2 Pages

It is vital to teach children, and everyone, about treating others with kindness and fairness, but it is paramount to do so in a way they are able to understand the lessons being taught to them. Writing about life lessons in a silly children’s book is an excellent way to accomplish this feat, because even though children may not necessarily catch the fact that Yertle appears to be a turtle version of Adolf Hitler, they are able to see how greed can ultimately lead to destruction, or, in Yertle the Turtle’s case, the mud. In the children’s tale Yertle the Turtle, Theodor Seuss Geisel, also known as Dr. Seuss, describes the great unfairness of a power-hungry dictator; he writes the story in such a way that readers - namely, children - can understand …show more content…

He was mean, and he was cruel. Yertle was so selfish that he forced all the turtles to create a tall turtle throne so he could “be ruler of all [he] could see” (Geisel). It was not enough for King Yertle to rule just the pond, and it was not even enough to also be king of a cow and mule, a house, blueberry bush, and even a cat while sitting on “a nine-turtle stack” (Geisel). It goes without saying that Yertle was no king at all; rather, he was a harsh, greedy dictator who enslaved all the turtles he could find in order to build his throne higher - in fact, he demanded to have “‘bout five thousand, six hundred and seven” (Geisel) turtles stacked all the way to heaven. However, before he could make himself higher than the moon, all the way from the base of the tower a plain yet brave little turtle named Mack stood up to the king’s greedy demands in the most peculiar way: he burped, which shook the throne and caused Yertle to fall “Plunk!” (Geisel) straight into the mud of the …show more content…

Not only did he want a homogeneous empire comprised of his version of the perfect race, but he went so far as to enslave and murder millions of Jews and their allies. Of course, back on the Island of Sala-ma-Sond, Yertle did not seek to slaughter any of his turtle followers, but he did enslave them by demanding for the turtles to stack themselves up to make his throne taller and taller. Like Yertle, Hitler forced multitudes of people to do treacherous deeds against their will; and like many of the Jews, “the turtles ‘way down in the pond were afraid…But they came. They obeyed” (Geisel). Almost anyone will comply with orders simply out of fear. Fear is quite a powerful concept, and is the ultimate dictator of society; it is what gives the bad guys their power over their

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