Analysis Of The Butter Battle Book

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Theodor Seuss Geisel was an American author and illustrator, better known to the world by his pen name of "Dr. Seuss." Acclaimed for several of the most popular children 's books of all time, Dr. Seuss 's works have sold millions of copies, and have been translated into numerous languages. To many, Dr. Seuss was "the Walt Disney to art and literature" ("Introduction"). Much of his work reflects his critique of human values, and sometimes responds to social and political issues. Specifically, The Butter Battle Book, directly criticizes the nuclear arms race taken place during the Cold War. The story tells the tale of the Yooks and the Zooks who are societies that do everything completely different. The Yooks eat their bread butter-side up while …show more content…

The Yooks and Zooks are separated by a long curving wall with the Yooks living to its right and the Zooks living to its left (Seuss 4). Beginning as a barbed wired fence only to evolve into a more permanent structure made out of concrete blocks, topped with barbed wire, the Berlin Wall served as a symbol of the Cold War. It stood as a barrier to separate the democratic/capitalist West Germany supported by the United States from the communist East Germany supported by the Soviet Union ("All About The Rise and Fall of the Berlin Wall"). Similar to the Berlin Wall, the wall in Seuss 's tale began not being "so high, low enough to look an Zook square in the eye" (Seuss 8). This structure later emerges into an immensely large wall (Seuss 4) pointed out at the beginning of Grandfather 's tale. Even though both the Berlin Wall and the wall in the Butter Batter Battle Book stood physically to separate two groups of people, mentally it served as a method to prevent the exposure of beliefs felt by both …show more content…

"An arms race denotes a rapid, competitive increase in the quantity or quality of instruments of military by rival states in peacetime" ("Arms Race"). Central to the Cold War, the nuclear arms race was yet another way for both nations to exert their dominance and power. Both nations spent billions and billions of dollars to build up stockpiles of nuclear devices and weapons of mass destruction. The United States and the Soviet Union competed in a "tit-to-tat" manner to see who could generate the better weapon. Similarly the Yooks creation of the Snick-Berry Switch, Triple-Sling Jigger, Kick-a-Poo Kid, and Utterly Sputter, is outmatched with the Zooks creation of the Sling Shot, Jigger-Rock Snatchem, Eight-Nozzeled, Elephant-Toted Boom Blitz, and Blue Gooer (Seuss 10-30). Perhaps the use of such names in Seuss 's behalf was to downplay the Cold War as a "childish" game, that could have been handled in a brief manner. As soon as one nation developed one the thing, the other was right behind with their creation to out do the other. During the Cold War, this led to the production of both the atomic bomb, and the even more deadly thermonuclear bomb. In The Butter Battle Book this "arms race" leads to a stand off when both nations produce the "Bitsy Big Boy Boomero", reflecting the United States and Soviet Union 's stand off with the possession of nuclear weapons.

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