Dr. Seuss used his creativeness in the form of political propaganda to inspire Americans to fight against the Axis Powers in World War II. This propaganda was in the form of political American people in these cartoons that show his perspective of Hitler’s character, his leadership, and the extent of his threat to the United States.
Dr. Seuss portrayed Hitler’s character in the political cartoon, “The latest Self-Portrait” (86). He “depicts Hitler as simultaneously sculptor, subject, mermaid and putti crowning Hitler with knight’s helmet” (74). The multiple Hitlers in the cartoon takes “a jab at Hitler’s unlimited ego” (74). In this cartoon, it seems as if Dr. Seuss is telling the American people that Hitler thinks too highly of himself and shows his distrust in other people. It comes across that Hitler is the kind of person who believes that they have to do everything in order for it to be right. “Dr.
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Seuss’s Hitler is jaunty, almost nonchalant. His chin is raised. His hair is combed to the side… His eyes are shut demurely” (74). This pose portrays Hitler as superior and arrogant. Dr.
Seuss used his political cartoons to critique Hitler’s leadership, not only towards his own people but towards other nations. His leadership is shown through his attitude towards his people and the leaders and people of the nations that interacted with Germany in World War II. Looking at Hitler’s character in the political cartoons, Dr. Seuss portrayed Hitler’s attitude towards his own people in a negative manner. A political cartoon that is a representation of how Dr. Seuss portrayed Hitler towards his people is “Second Creation” (90). In April 3, 1942, Dr. Seuss “shows Hitler melting Germans down to recast them in the Nazi mold” (75). This image depicts Hitler’s relationship as “epitomizing as they do the essential relation between totalitarian dictator and subject and, indeed, the creation of a new race of slaves” (75). This does not portray Hitler in the best manner and shows what was believed to be the nature of the Nazi regime. It depicts Hitler as brain washing his people to do his bidding and carry on the political views he has enforced upon
them. Hitler’s attitude towards other nations can be shown in two political cartoons. The first of which is “Crawl /out and Round Me Up Another 400,000 Frenchmen” (103). This cartoon shows Hitler with his head held high as he demands more forced laborers. “And on December 17, 1942, Dr. Seuss produced one of his grimmest cartoons… [Where] the issue here is not genocide but forced labor; French laborers sent to Germany largely survived” (77). It is interesting how one of Dr. Seuss’s “grimmest cartoons” portrays Hitler has a totalitarian dictator enforcing slavery among a nation, which he has overrun. It shows the perspective Seuss had on this world leader and the lack of respect this leader had for nations that were not German. A key point to remember is that Hitler saw Germans as superior beings and anyone not German was inferior. The next cartoon is one that shows Hitler’s attitude towards other world leaders, one of which being his “ally”. “Hitler’s Italian ally Mussolini appears in October’s “Crisis in the High Command.” Hitler consults with his generals about what to do with his Italian ally. Because of defeats abroad and dissension at home, Mussolini was perennially a problem for his German ally” (77). Dr. Seuss portrays Hitler as willing to throw away his alliance once it was no longer any help to him or his people. It seems as if Hitler had no respect for this ally because Dr. Seuss portrayed Mussolini as awaiting the decision in a closet on a small stool. Dr. Seuss portrayed Mussolini as smaller than Hitler and hunched over in a closet, while Hitler awaits at the table for his generals discussion. Hitler’s eyes are closed and he showed no effort in the decision making process. This seems as if Hitler has no regard for his “friend” and did not care which way the discussion went. The threat of Hitler to the United States was another topic of Dr. Seuss’s political cartoons. One cartoon that portrays this was published May 11, 1942, “Giving the Axis a Lift” (110). This cartoon portrays an American male, “a thoughtless consumer of crucial resources,” chauffeuring Hitler and “Japan” (79). This cartoon has the driver blindly driving down the road with the two Axis leaders in the back with the caption, “Step on it, kid; ya got gas and rubber to burn” (79). It is “Japan” whose mouth is open while Hitler’s remains shut and hidden by his mustache; this seems important because of the fact that the United States had refused to sell oil and other resources to Japan in fear of fueling their campaign of imperialism in Asia. The driver whose eyes are shut is similar to another cartoon mentioned in the book, where Hitler and Mussolini are behind “Uncle Sam” and are arguing over who gets to trip him (105). This is important because both of these characters representing America have their eyes shut when around the enemy “in blithe disregard of imminent danger” (78). Dr. Seuss’s portrayal of Hitler seems to be in a negative manner which critiques his character, leadership, and the United States being oblivious to the danger imposed by Hitler and his regime. Hitler is portrayed as egotistical and jaunty. He is depicted as a totalitarian dictator, ready take down any nation in his way and use their resources for his own advantage. Dr. Seuss used his resources to warn the United States citizens of the imminent danger before them and called them to fight Hitler and protect their nation instead of ignoring the problem. Dr. Seuss stresses Hitler’s threat not only to Americans but also to his own people.
In 1939, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the United States government applied several forms of propaganda in order to receive support from the American citizens. Film, radio and government posters contained forms of propaganda that appealed to the emotions of American citizens. Quotes from President Franklin Roosevelt “Hostilities exist. There is no blinking at the fact that that our people, our territory and our interests are in grave danger..” (Navarro) fueled the American citizen...
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.
During 1925, Mein Kampf was published by the Nazi Leader Adolf Hitler. In this autobiography, where Nazi racist ideas originated, he depicted his struggle with the Jews in Germany. These ideas sparked World War 2 and the Genocide of the Jews. The tragedy of the Holocaust inspired authors, such as Art Spiegelman who produced a Graphic novel, where both the text and images helped him convey his own ideas and messages. In fact, Art Spiegelman’s graphic novel Maus is an effective medium for telling a Holocaust narrative and specifically his father’s story of survival. Through this medium, he is able to captivate the readers while providing interesting insight into the tragedy of the Holocaust by using the symbols of animals, the contrast between realism and cartoon imagery and the various basic elements of a graphic novel.
In conclusion, even though the Nazi political party was known for their constant dependence on advertising, throughout the World War II and all history this king of propaganda has been no stranger to any type of government. Its power should never be underestimated since it has the ability to be used as a weapon of political warfare and determine the magnitude of the sovereignty of a particular government, in other words, it can make or break a social movement. Works Cited http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_propaganda http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_propaganda_during_World_War_II http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_effective_was_Government_propaganda_in_World_War_1 http://www.bl.uk/learning/histcitizen/voices/testimonies/life/backgd/before.html http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/propaganda_in_nazi_germany.htm http://www.calvin.edu/academic/cas/gpa/goeb36.htm http://www.ess.uwe.ac.uk/genocide/statements.htm http://www.ess.uwe.ac.uk/genocide/statements.htm https://www.msu.edu/navarro6/srop.html The Hunger Games Left to Tell Enciclopedia Salvat
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.
During the Holocaust, around six million Jews were murdered due to Hitler’s plan to rid Germany of “heterogeneous people” in Germany, as stated in the novel, Life and Death in the Third Reich by Peter Fritzsche. Shortly following a period of suffering, Hitler began leading Germany in 1930 to start the period of his rule, the Third Reich. Over time, his power and support from the country increased until he had full control over his people. Starting from saying “Heil Hitler!” the people of the German empire were cleverly forced into following Hitler through terror and threat. He had a group of leaders, the SS, who were Nazis that willingly took any task given, including the mass murder of millions of Jews due to his belief that they were enemies to Germany. German citizens were talked into participating or believing in the most extreme of things, like violent pogroms, deportations, attacks, and executions. Through the novel’s perspicacity of the Third Reich, readers can see how Hitler’s reign was a controversial time period summed up by courage, extremity, and most important of all, loyalty.
Nel describes how Seuss expressed his frustration towards the war by sending a sketch to a chief propagandist. Seuss started his twenty-one-month career as a political cartoonist after the letter and cartoon were printed. Nel suggests that a cartoon that expressed Seuss’s views towards war straightforwardly could be viewed as a bird representing Uncle Sam relaxing in a chair, with bombs exploding all
I will be analyzing two World War II propaganda posters, Kultur Terror and Liberators. The goal of this propaganda poster from World War II was to instill a mixture of fear and hatred for the United States in the European people. Without getting into the specifics of the art, this large figure is covered in American related stereotypes while destroying a European city. At first glance this appeals to the fear in European people, which is an example of pathos. Europeans, especially Germans during World War II were told that America is an evil country and that they want to erase European culture. Now here is a shocking image of an American beast coming and obliterating everything you know and love. Anyone in their right mind would be scared if this was the information they were being spoon fed by the government. Once the European people saw that America was a scary and evil nation, they felt like World War II was necessary because the Americans had to be stopped. Another propaganda technique used in this poster is known as Big Lie. The phrase was actually coined by Adolf Hitler himself. This technique uses false accusations so enormous so that no one would believe that someone could just make up them up. No one has the audacity to form a lie so large so it all must be true. The Nazi party gained support from their citizens which justified what they were doing, even though in reality what they were doing was inhumane. This shows how the perceived reality has an enormous impact and can occasionally over power the real life truth.
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 ...
"The weak must be chiseled away. I want young men and women who can suffer pain. A young German must be as swift as a greyhound, as tough as leather, and as hard as Krupp's steel.( Hitler)” Adolf Hitler is an iconic figure for World War II, his influence and power were for reading and best be seen through the youth of Germany who he so effectively influenced. Growing up, Hitler had many trials and tribulations, and influenced how he saw the importance of youth . The Hitler youth movement was seen as important as a child going to school. Because Hitler believed that the future of Nazi Germany was its children, he sought to shape the minds of German children through propaganda, education, and youth groups.
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.
Adolf Hitler’s work Mein Kampf started a movement that changed the world. If people had not let blind rage and hatred cloud there minds, they would have noticed the lack of argumentative integrity held in his writing. Hitler fills his work with contradictory and false statements and absolutely no facts, and as a result a nation is torn, and the world is forever changed. If only people would have put some thought into the reading of Mein Kampf, history would have been much different.
Being of military decent Hitler’s father ruled his home with an iron fist. This may have affected Hitler in more negative ways than normal. His father soon passed in his early adolescence and Hitler was raised by a single parent, his mother. In the beginning Hitler was not very interested in school he seemed disengaged, nonchalant and rebellious, his true passion lied in being an artist. Unfortunately with many failed attempts of entrance at the Art School Hitler’s hopes of ever becoming an artist remained a dream. Continuing life without formal education life was a little rough on Hitler. His beloved mother now diagnosed with a form of cancer and soon passed away too, Hitler was forced to survive by recreating scenes from postcards and living off the little pension he acquired from that.
This is what had made Hitler one of the greatest public speakers that the world had ever seen from his time and in history. "The German people and it 's soldiers work and fight today not for themselves and their own age, but also for many generations to come. A historical task of unique dimensions has been entrusted to us by the Creator that we are now obliged to carry out." Hitler, the Fuhrer of Germany, was a very talented spokesman in ways that leaders today could not even begin to compare with. He was charismatic and bold, making it easier for him to win over the minds of many Germans with these two traits. He believed that during his rise to power, he and the people of Germany had been given a duty by God to purify the nation of its imperfect races and weaker people so as to make the mother country strong again for future generations. "Those who want to live, let them fight, and those who do not want to fight in this world of eternal struggle do not deserve to live." In many ways, Hitler felt he was justified in what he was doing, and in some