Daniel Kang
Dr. Rhonda Dubec
English 2907 SDE
6 February 2014
Environmental Activision as displayed in The Lorax
Deforestation is a major problem in today’s society. The Lorax is a picture book written by Dr. Seuss and it looks at the issue of deforestation, as well as pollution. Although Dr. Seuss is best known for incorporating imagination and creativity in his children 's books, The Lorax is also one of Dr. Seuss 's most controversial works because it looks at how the consumption of natural resources can have negative effects on the environment. The book opens with a gloomy scene, and this is evident when Dr. Seuss states that “the wind smells slow-and-sour when it blows and no birds ever sing excepting old crows” (Seuss). The picture
…show more content…
It is pretty evident to the reader that he has a lot of passion with regards to protecting the environment, as evidenced by the tone in his voice. The Lorax begs the Once-ler to stop chopping down the Truffula Trees, but the Once-ler reassures him by saying “A Thneed’s a Fine-Something-That-All-People-Need” (Seuss). The Once-ler proceeds by inviting his entire family over for “a wonderful chance … to get mighty rich” (Seuss). They build a factory and continue to chop down trees, with no regard to how their actions take a toll on the environment. In today’s society, this resembles the typical big corporation taking over a rural land. Eventually, the Lorax is forced to send the animals away because the area is too polluted, and there is not enough food for survival. The main problem with today’s economy is that there are so few natural resources available, but the desire for these resources are unlimited. The Once-ler is seen as someone who wants to profit from the environment for his own personal gain. Unfortunately there are some people in the world today, who like the Once-ler, have little regard for the planet’s welfare. The more they profit from the environment, the more it will cost the world as a whole. Dr. Seuss is trying to inform his readers about the importance of protecting the environment, and how greediness can be quite
His outside actions of touching the wall and looking at all the names are causing him to react internally. He is remembering the past and is attempting to suppress the emotions that are rising within him. The first two lines of the poem set the mood of fear and gloom which is constant throughout the remainder of the poem. The word choice of "black" to describe the speaker's face can convey several messages (502). The most obvious meaning ... ...
Quite a while before “green” was the new black; Dr. Seuss wrote a cautionary story about trees. The Lorax, originally published in 1971 by Dr. Seuss, became a classic children’s book. The classic was recently turned into an animated film. In 2012, The Lorax film was made by directors Chris Renaud and Kyle Balda (“The Lorax”). The book and the film have the same basic storyline; however, there are a few differences. The Lorax film is more in depth than the book. The book, The Lorax went through many changes to become a film.
Seuss, who was the author of the Lorax, published in 1971 when the United States was in the midst of the environmental movement during the 1960s. Many trees located in many areas of America, mainly the northwest, were being chopped down at disturbing rates by companies that dealt with logging. In response, Dr. Seuss decided to write the story, The Lorax, to inform people of the damaging effects pollution has on environments, and about the current problems regarding deforestation. The theme Sues code for the story was the necessity for commercial enterprises to practice a safe usage of natural resources. The Once-ler, or the CEO like figure of the company, used resources in an unsafe amount in order to produce his Thneeds, or sweaters. As he did this, he polluted the surroundings allowing smog to build up in the atmosphere. Because of this dangerous problem, the animals were ordered to leave by the infamous Lorax who urged them to go search for cleaner environments. From this story, you can see it is essential for companies like the “Once-lers” to practice using resources sustainably or they will cause damage to the nature around them. Another reason Seuss wrote this story was to criticize society by emphasizing that the environmental issues were solely due to humans. By the end of the novel, writer Dr. Seuss was able to put in perspective the importance of caring for our
Through over forty-two books Dr. Seuss has been able to encourage children to seek delight in reading and has opened the minds of successive generations. He designed books that inspire children to learn through entertainment, by providing according to Steven Brezzo, Director of the San Diego Museum of Art, "a fantastic refuge of wacky characters, convoluted logic, and silly vocabulary." The accomplishments of Dr. Seuss are far-ranging: not only did he resurrect the pleasure of reading for children, and inspire them to think creatively, but he taught many a moral lesson to us during what researchers have discovered are our most formative years. We have learned tolerance and consideration, individuality and compromise, and even morality concerning the ideology of nuclear armament(The Butter Battle Book, 1984) and materialistic society's effect upon the natural world(The Lorax, 1971). These lessons were often taught subtly, subconsciously embracing our young psyche, for as children Dr. Seuss was primarily a wonderful synonym for fanciful adventures that showed us a life we could create beyond reality, where having fun was paramount. For many ...
“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not.” (Seuss 1 pg. 58) In our world today, the environment is not taken care of properly. Most anyone can look outside, or look in a stream, and finds garbage or pollution littering the landscape. Dr. Seuss knew and despised this fact. For this reason, he wrote a children’s book titled “The Lorax.”
Future generations have little to no say when it come to the state of the environment that they are going to have to live in and survive off of. The ones who do have a say in that same future, are the ones who do not have a particular interest in how things turn out. The initial response would be that this way of thinking does not lend itself towards being fair. Who is going to make sure that the world is still beautiful and plentiful in the future? Especially when the children who need to ensure this, do not yet have the knowledge to create change themselves. The Lorax is a story that was founded under the idea of saving the environment, aiming to communicate with children the importance of preserving the environment.
One strength of his article is that it can easily elicit an emotional response from the more sympathetic readers and outdoor enthusiasts. Duane appeals to pathos when first setting the scene of a day in the wilderness. He describes what it would be like if one had the “good fortune” to spot a Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep in the wild. He writes, “You unwrap a chocolate bar amid breathtaking views . . . the sight fills you with awe and also with gratitude for the national parks, forests, and yes, environmental regulations that keep the American dream of wilderness alive” (Duane 1). For the audience that connects to this emotional appeal, this instantly draws them in to the article and can arouse feelings of amazement and wonder toward the sight described. It can likewise leave readers wondering whether or not this scene is truly so perfect. This statement can also appear too dramatic for those less passionate. When Duane writes, “The sight fills you with . . . gratitude for the . . . yes, environmental regulations that keep the American dream of wilderness alive,” it seems almost untrue, as most people do not think twice about the environmental regulations that keep animals in their
It is generally agreed that modern environmentalism begins with ‘A Fable for Tomorrow’, the first chapter in Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring (1962). The fairytale-like opening to the book begins with the words, ‘There was once a town in the heart of America where all life seemed to live in harmony with its surroundings’, painting a classic pastoral picture where she describes civilization far from modern ills coexisting with nature yet away from the perceived danger of the wild. However pastoral peace swiftly gives way to destruction- 'Then a strange blight crept over the area and everything began to change. Some evil spell had settled on the community: mysterious maladies swept the flocks of chickens; the cattle and sheep
“Skimming slightly, wheeling still, the swallows fly low over the field in clouded days,” The birds (swallows, to be exact) are mentioned twice, at the beginning and end of the poem. They seem to be the introduction and closing. They are solemn and peaceful, yet are also reminders of the battle. Or are they peaceful? The clouds could represent the clouded confusion of the battle and aftermath, and the sad and melancholy tones of the area
The diction surrounding this alteration enhances the change in attitude from self-loath to outer-disgust, such as in lines 8 through 13, which read, “The sky/ was dramatic with great straggling V’s/ of geese streaming south, mare’s tails above them./ Their trumpeting made us look up and around./ The course sloped into salt marshes,/ and this seemed to cause the abundance of birds.” No longer does he use nature as symbolism of himself; instead he spills blame upon it and deters it from himself. The diction in the lines detailing the new birds he witnesses places nature once more outside of his correlation, as lines 14 through 18 read, “As if out of the Bible/ or science fiction,/ a cloud appeared, a cloud of dots/ like iron filings, which a magnet/ underneath the paper
Firstly, the narrator gives little detail throughout the whole story. The greatest amount of detail is given in the first paragraph where the narrator describes the weather. This description sets the tone and mood of the events that follow. Giving the impression that a cold, wet, miserable evening was in
In John Updike’s poem “The Great Scarf of Birds”, he uses diction and figurative speech to depict the beautiful autumn season to show how inspiring and uplifting nature is to man. Updike chooses autumn as the season to set his story in because generally, it is the season that has the most vivid vibrant colors in nature such as the ripe apples which are described as “red fish in the nets (limbs)”. (Line 3) Updike paints the picture of the beauty of nature with the simile about the apples to show the reader what a powerful effect nature has on man. Updike goes on to discuss the elm trees that were “swaying in the sky” (Line 7) and the “dramatic straggling v’s” of geese. Updike uses these descriptive portrayals of na...
In the beginning Carver ironically uses the weather as setting to describe the mood and atmosphere. The season used in the story is winter. As winter is season of cold and symbolizes cold, dark and gray. Where color represents happiness, joy and life and darkness represents dullness, sadness and stress. “Early that day the weather turned and the snow was melting into dirty water.”(276). the first sentence gives the reader a hint about something that has happened between the couple in the story and their
The situation the Amazon rainforest is in exhibits the wise statement of the Mr. Lovelock. If the Amazon keeps being cut down, it will do more bad than good for humans. We shall lose countless ingredients for helping treat impending diseases like cancer and AIDS. We shall also be losing the many rare and exotic plants and animals as well as the lush green trees who provide many of the natural gases in our atmosphere. To keep harming the rainforest will be to harm the plants and animals, hurt the innocent native people, and destroy the enviroment. No person in their right mind would want these consequences. But unfortunately, this is the doom for humans if we don’t stop the desecration of not only this rainforest, but countless other natural sites of the Earth.
Environmental issues affect every life on this planet from the smallest parasite to the human race. There are many resources that humans and animal needs to survive; some of the most obvious resources come from the forests. Forests make up a large percentage of the globe. The forests have global implications not just on life but on the quality of it. Trees improve the quality of the air that species breath, determine rainfall and replenish the atmosphere. The wood from the forests are used everyday form many useful resources. Moreover, thinning the forests increases the amount of available light, nutrients and water for the remaining trees. Deforestation (forest thinning) is one of the most critical issues of environmental problems that are occurring today.