Comparing The Butter Battle Book To The Cold War

The three connections between the Butter Battle Book to the Cold War are quite apparent. There is a wall separating different people, there is a different way of life, and there is a deterrent. The book by Theodor Guisel, also known as Dr. Suess, is almost a mirror image of the situation during the Cold War.

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.

The "butter up and butter down" predicament is also a close comparison to the conflict during the Cold War.

East Germany, which was partially owned by the United States, was democratic, whereas West Germany was communistic. Democracy's main principle is that people choose what they want to do and is held together with Capitalism. Communism is the polar opposite of Democracy. In a communistic society, there is no competition, everything is shared, and everyone is payed the same, no matter their ability, job, or how hard they work. Capitalism is probably represented by the Zooks who eat their bread "butter-side up". Communism is most likely represented by the Yooks who eat their bread "butter side down". The different ideologies are why there is a wall in the first

place.
Another comparison between the Cold War and the Butter Battle Book would be the deterrent. The Yooks first had a tough-tufted prickly Snick-Berry switch. The Yooks would swat the Zooks with the switch if they came too close to the wall. One day, a Zook named VanItch, slingshotted the Snick-Berry switch. Both sides start to build up different weapons. The Yooks make a Triple-Sling Jigger and the Zooks make Jigger-Rock Snatchem. The Yooks make a contraption called the Kick-A-Poo Kid and the Zooks make a Eight-nozzled, Elephant-Toted Boom-Blitz. They never used these weapons on each other, but they were trying to ensure that the other side doesn't use a more powerful weapon on them. So they both build up weapons, trying to make them better than the other side's weapons. This would be similar to the deterrent during the Cold War. Both the United States and the Soviet Union built up and improved their nuclear weapons, but never used them. Neither wanted to start a war, hence the book ending in a cliffhanger, where the Yooks and the Zooks both have Big-Boy Boomero. Neither are dropping it and they just stand there, waiting. The quote is, "Who's going to drop it? Will you? Or will he? 'Be patient,' said grandpa. 'We will see. We will see....'" This shows the tension of the Cold War. Who will fire first? Neither side wants to, but they do not want to be attacked by the other side.
In conclusion, the Butter-Battle Book almost perfectly represents the conflict of the Cold War. There is a barrier separating two peoples who have different ideologies. They both create mass weapons of destruction as a deterrent, but neither side wants to attack first.