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.
Dr. Seuss is an important figure in the lives of children everywhere. His stories are children’s classics that are fun to read and also tackle some real life issues. Dr. Seuss’s political views are very apparent in his some of his books like The Butter Battle Book, which discusses the issues of the Cold War.
Dr. Seuss, also known as Theodore Seuss, has written many poems as well as short stories, and is considered one of the greatest children’s author in history. His silly stories are able to excite children in ways that make them want read. His Wife says,” Ted doesn’t sit down to write for children. He writes to amuse himself;” Little do children know that often, in his stories, there is a lot of political undertone, a few examples include The Lorax, Yertle the Turtle, The Sneethces, and The Butter Battle Book. If you were to really critique some of his books or poems, you might see that some of his themes wouldn’t seem to pertain to children.
Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union began with mutual distrust in World War II, intense rivalry, and conflicting ideologies. Cold War was fought with four major weapons. The weapons were propaganda, economic and military aid to devastated nations after World War II, arms race, and the alliances. Propagandas were used for containment and to raise the people’s morale and patriotism. Economic aid of the devastated nations was also used as a method of containment, as it prevented the desperate nations from falling under communism. Arms race was one way of representing the nation’s military pride and the ability to retaliate when attacked, although the arms were not developed to dominate world power. Finally, alliances were created and its scale was compared to verify the superior side of the Cold War.
Seuss, was surrounded by rhymes and rhythm ever since his mother would chant songs she remembered from her childhood, to sing him to sleep. Seuss started out his writing and drawing career in college at Dartmouth for the school paper, and ended up being one of the most successful writers to this day. One of the many things that landed him a job in the industry was drawing advertisement cartoons, which he did during the great depression to support him and his wife. He became a well known name for his cartoons about an insecticide called Flit by writing the catchphrase “Quick, Henry, the Flit!” During his advertising career, Seuss drew cartoons for Standard Oil, General Electric, Narragansett Brewing Company, NBC and many more. During WWII Suess joined the United States Army, but not to fight. He became the first commander of the first ever Motion Picture Unit of the United States Armed Forces. His job was to create animated war propaganda films/drawings to ridicule the United States opponents, but also to write promotional films for the American citizens and troops at war. Some of his famous pieces include “Yertle the Turtle”, in which he pokes fun at Hitler, and “The Butter Battle Book”, where Suess where he presents what went on in the Cold War and the Arms race then taking place between America and Russia.
Throughout Dr. Seuss’s life, he has written dozens of books with over one hundred million copies sold, and still being produced to this day. Theodor Seuss Geisel is a well-known author that had many inspirations for his works that are still read by millions today, such as Yertle the Turtle, The Sneeches, How the Grinch Stole Christmas. His inevitable fame and fortune came with a lot of pressure; pressure of his readers as well as pressure of his producers.
Glynn, Patrick. Closing Pandora's Box "Arms Races, Arms Control, and the History of the Cold War". New York: HarperCollinsPublishers, Inc. 1992.
Walls are built up all over the world. They have many purposes and uses. The most common use of a wall is to divide a region. One of these famous walls is the Berlin Wall, which was constructed in 1961. This Wall was erected to keep East Berlin out of West Berlin, and even America had its own wall well before this one. There were a few major differences though. America’s wall, in contrast, was not a physical one that kept capitalism from communism. America’s wall was of a psychological variety, and it spread across most of the nation. America’s wall was more of a curtain in the fact that one could easily pull it aside to see what behind it, but if one didn’t want to they didn’t. This curtain was what separated whites and blacks in America, and one famous writer, James Baldwin, felt there was a need to bring it down. He felt that one should bring it down while controlling his or her emotions caused by the division. One of the best places to see the bringing down of the curtain and the effects that it had on the nation is where the curtain was its strongest, in Birmingham, Alabama.
The atomic bomb is represented by the bopulous beep and at the end of the book the two sides representing the Soviet Union and United States joke by saying, "Who's going to drop it? Will you...? Or will he...?". The leaders of war are Stalin and Grandpa which are similar to each other by the dedication they both have when it comes to protecting one another's country. They both believed that their way was better and the enemy was wrong in their beliefs. The Yooks and the Zooks would create better weapons when they saw that the other one was better than another. A similarity that jumped at me was the Walls. In the Butter Battle Book the Wall was not as high at first and the Yooks and the Zooks could see everyone straight in the eye. The Wall was built and constructed with barbed wires and concrete, just like The Berlin Wall which had the coils of barbed wire that crossed along to West Berlin made from concrete slabs and hollow blocks. These reasons among other more violent things that occur in war are seen throughout the Butter Battle Book and should not be in a children's
Born and raised in Springfield Massachusetts, Theodor Geisel was born on March 2nd 1904. Under the pen-name Dr. Seuss, Ted was able to accomplish his dream of becoming a writer after attending Dartmouth College and wrote for the school paper – the Jack-O-Lantern. Upon graduation, Geisel went to Oxford in which he received a PhD in English Literature and was inspired to become an English teacher and writer. Some of Dr. Seuss’s works include Horton Hears a Who, Green Eggs and Ham, The Lorax, and The Cat in the Hat. Throughout his lifetime, Dr. Seuss earned three Academy Awards and a Pulitzer Prize, as well as numerous degrees and other awards. Dr. Seuss was not only a highly acclaimed children’s book writer as he is popularly known to be, but also, Ted Geisel is known for his work during the WWII era. He created hundreds of political cartoons in which he gave a voice to his views on topics such as war bonds and the war itself. Ted Geisel is an author who successfully revolutionized the way children read books through the creation of new “seussical” words, interesting rhyme scheme, as well as stories with meanings far beyond what they seem to represent at first glance. Geisel was able to enlist the help of the majority of the United States in WWII through the publication of cartoons and movies.
The first connection between the Butter Battle Book and the Cold War, is a wall separating two different peoples. During the Cold War, the Soviet side of Berlin, or East Berlin, built a wall around their portion of the city to keep the people from escaping and taking refugee in West Germany. The reason the people would escape to West Germany was because it was more prosperous, due to it's democratic government, as opposed to West Germany's communism. This is similar to the conflict in the book about "butter-side up and butter-side down". The "Zooks" eat the butter-side down and the "Yooks eat the butter-side up. They have different ideas, so they separate themselves from each other.
Theodor Seuss Geisel. [A profile of the author’s life and works]. (2004). Contemporary Authors Online. Retrieved from Gale Cengage Learning.
The Berlin Wall, built in August of 1961, was s physical symbol of the political and emotional divisions of Germany. The Wall was built because of a long lasting suspicion between the Soviet Union on one side and Western Europe and the United States on the other. For 28 years the Berlin Wall separated friends, families, and a nation. After WWII was over Germany was divided into four parts. The United States, Great Britain, and France controlled the three divisions that were formed in the Western half and the Eastern half was controlled by the Soviet Republic. The Western sections eventually united to make a federal republic, while the Eastern half became communist.
The USA built and tested a new type of weapon called the Hydrogen Bomb. The Soviet Union became concerned as to whether the USA would actually use such a weapon. Because of this, the Soviet Union began designing a similar weapon. The war became an argument about who had the biggest weapon. However, neither country fired a single missile thus making this a cold war instead of a hot war (200 Years).
Theodor Seuss Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss, is perhaps one of the most beloved children’s authors of the twentieth century. Although he is most famous as an author of children’s books, Geisel was also a political cartoonist, advertisement designer, and film director (Kaplan). He used the power of imagination to produce unforgettable children’s books and helped solve the problem of illiteracy among America’s children. By using his experiences in life as a foundation for most of his books, Theodor Geisel created a unique writing style that incorporated various elements and techniques, enabling his books to appeal to people of all ages.
What kid hasn’t heard of Dr. Seuss? From “One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish” to “A person’s a person, no matter how small” to “From there to here, from here to there, funny things are everywhere”, Dr. Seuss has filled the lives of children with whimsical stories and ideas. (8) Using casual dialect and everyday objects, he was able to spark the imagination of others. All the while, he instilled lessons into his writings. It is not a surprise that Dr. Seuss received an award for a “Lifetime of Contribution to Children’s Literature”. His work will be read and enjoyed for decades to come. All in all, no matter which Dr. Seuss story that the reader might select, his or her imagination will be sparked, and the reader will surely be entertained.