The Bottomless Pit: Greed and Loneliness in The Lorax
“Greed is a bottomless pit which exhausts the person in an endless effort to satisfy the need without reaching satisfaction.” Erich Fromm expresses how greed can take over a person’s life. In Dr. Seuss's The Lorax, The Once-ler travels to a land with the most beautiful trees he has ever laid eyes on. He is mesmerized by the vibrant sounds and colors that engulf him as he enters this paradise. The true joy he feels in this state quickly shifts, as the Once-ler feels a need for something much greater. His need for materialistic items rather than true joy ends up taking everything he once loved about this paradise. He copes with his sadness and anger towards what he has done by burying his
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feelings in his materialistic gains. His greed ends up overwhelming his life and destroying everything he once loved about the colorful paradise that once laid amongst thick smoke. Dr. Seuss uses the evolving character of the Once-ler, and his descent from happiness and contentment with what he has, to demonstrate that being ungrateful and greedy to acquire materialistic gains will lead to dissatisfaction in the end. The happiness and joy the once-ler feels when he is in the idyllic environment is quickly erased when his greed takes hold.
In the beginning of The Lorax, the Once-ler enters a land that he wonders upon. In this land he finds a true happiness amongst the scenery. This is expressed when he says, “But those trees! Those trees! Those Truffula Trees! All my life I’d been searching for trees such as these. The touch of their tufts was much softer than silk. And they had the sweet smell of fresh buttery milk. I felt a great leaping of joy in my heart.” (74-83). In this moment, the Once-ler is experiencing true joy. His love for the trees overwhelms his senses and allows him to feel whole in this idyllic environment that he has dreamed about. The scene quickly changes when just moments later, the Once-ler no longer focuses on the things that he loves about the land that he has found but rather focuses on what he can gain from it. “I knew just what I’d do! I unloaded my cart. in no time at all, I had built a small shop. Then I shopped down a Truffula Tree with one chop. And with great skillful skill and with great speedy speed, I took the soft tuft and I knitted a Thneed”(84-89). Instead of focusing on the joy and happiness that he has found in the land of the trees, the Once-ler yearns for more. His materialistic values lead him to begin his path toward his greedy …show more content…
downfall. While the once-ler is consumed with greed he has the presence of mind to feel sad for what his greed has destroyed but still must meet the demands that his greed consumes. After his business begins to grow, the Once-ler feels more power. His greed begins to overwhelm him and grow stronger with each passing moment. This is strongly portrayed when the Once-ler says, “Then… Oh! Baby! Oh! How my business did grow! Now, chopping one tree at a time was too slow. So I quickly invented my Super-Axe-Hacker which whacked off four Truffula Trees at one smacker. We were making Thneeds four times as fast as before!” (142-151). The Once-ler feels that he needs to build his business in order to maintain his power. His longing for power leads to more destruction of the land that he loves. Even though the Once-ler is overcome with greed he is still capable of feeling sadness. As his business begins to take over the land that was once plentiful and full of life, the animals that he once loved all begin to leave, leaving the Once-ler feeling sadness. “ Good luck, boys” he (the lorax) cried. And he sent them away. I, the old once-ler, felt sad as i watched them all go. BUT… business is business and business must grow” (169-173) In order to overcome his sadness the Once-ler invests his feelings into his business. He focuses his sadness on his longing for materialistic gains and quickly justifies his actions. “I meant no harm. I most truly did not. But I had to grow bigger. So bigger I got. I biggered my factory. I biggered my roads. I biggered my wagons. I biggered the loads of the Thneeds I shipped out.I was shipping them forth to the South! To the East! To the West! To the North!” (175-181). The Once-ler is sad that everything that he loves is being sent away. Instead of stopping and changing his ways the Once-ler decides to increase his business to try to fulfill his joy in life. By doing so, he continues to destroy the land that he loves. The anger that the once-ler feels towards himself in the absence of his once bountiful land consumes his being, leaving him with nothing.
Even though the once-ler buries his feelings in his business. The Lorax sends more and more of the animals that the Once-ler loves away, leaving the Once-ler more invested in growing his business. This Once-ler goes from being sad to incredibly angry. This is reflected when he says, “And then I got mad. I got terribly mad. I yelled at the Lorax, “ Now listen here, Dad! All you do is yap-yap and say, ‘Bad! Bad!Bad! Bad!’ Well, I have my rights, sir, and I’m telling you I intend to go on doing just what I do! And, for your information, you Lorax, I’m figgering on biggering and Biggering and BIGGERING” (210-220). The sadness that the Once-ler buries into his business, when the lorax kept taking away the animals he once loved began to anger him. The Once-ler was so invested in the materialistic items that he forgot the beauty of the land that he took over. This greed and anger quickly overwhelmed his life leaving him with less of the things that he originally loved. The longer his greed overwhelms him, the more the Once-ler loses the joy that he once had until soon everything that he has is gone. “ And at that very moment, we heard a loud whack! From outside in the fields came a sickening smack of an axe on a tree. Then we heard the tree fall. The very last Truffula Tree of them all!” (223-226). Everything that the Once-ler had been
justifying to defend why he was destroying the land that he once loved is gone. The very last tree that his business depended on is and everything that he loved about the land that he had wondered upon is taken away from him. The trees are all gone, all of the animals are sent away and the Once-ler is left feeling angry and sad. Silence and gloom take over. The Once-ler is left feeling the bottomless pit that his greed has left him with. He states, “No more trees. No more Thneeds. No more works to be done. So, in no time, my uncles and aunts, everyone, all waved me good-bye. They jumped into my cars and drove away under the smoke smuggered stars” (227-230) Everything that the Once-ler once felt is now gone. All of the beauty in the land that he once endured is lost and the animals are sent off to other lands. The company that the Once-ler invested in to destroy this beautiful paradise is in ruins and the Once-ler is now left with nothing. In this moment, the Once-ler realizes that his greed for power and money did not satisfy him as much as the moment he first laid eyes upon the beautiful plentiful land that once laid before him. Dr. Seuss uses the Once-ler to elaborate how the failure to recognize true happiness and satisfaction with what he has, to establish that the reality of being ungrateful and greedy to acquire materialistic gains will end up in displeasure. Greed is a black hole that destroys everything within its path. In The Lorax, the once-ler demonstrates how the path of greed can take its toll on the human being. He starts off with true happiness but this quickly changes when he realizes that he wants materialistic gains. His greed overwhelms him and he begins to lose the things that he once loved about the land that he is destroying. The Lorax is sending the animals away one by one and the Once-ler is left feeling sad. In order to mask his sadness he invests more into his business which ends up destroying more of the things that he loved. His sadness quickly turns to anger. This anger quickly escalates and mixed with his greed leaves the Once-ler on a rampage to the top. Little does he know that his greed will soon leave him with nothing. In no time at all everything that the once-ler once had is all gone and everything that he loved has disappeared. He is left with nothing but the realization that his greed has got him nowhere leaves him feeling lonely.
Money can cause people to act selfish and arrogant, especially when they have so much money they do noteven know what to spend it on. In the novel,
In today's world getting enraged and angry won't make somebody change their mind on anything, instead getting angry just causes more conflict. According to The Lorax on page 2, the text states, "He was very upset as he shouted and puffed-- 'What's that THING you've made out of my Truffula Tuft.'" Maybe the Once-Ler and the Lorax could have made a deal. A deal stating that maybe the Once-Ler has to plant a tree for every tree he chops down, but the Lorax immediately comes off angry and overprotective. The Lorax's rage just made the Once-Ler want to cut down even more trees. Horton stayed calm and just stayed nice and kind and in the end it all worked out for him. In addition to the Lorax not being generous he also wasn't persistent at all. According to The Lorax, the Once-Ler states, "And that Lorax? He didn't show up anymore." (Page 2). This quote shows that the Lorax wasn't persistent because after the Once-Ler and the Lorax had their first encounter the Lorax didn't come to yell in anger at the Once-Ler anymore when he should have asked the Once-Ler to please leave or just come to an agreement with the Once-Ler. Even when the Lorax chose his way to come across as angry to the Once-Ler to try to get rid of him The Lorax was not persistent at all while
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All that glitters is not gold. A lesson Mathilde Loisel had learned during her journey of discovering the greed. Greed is a curse that blocks people’s vision from seeing the realistic value of things...
Once-ler persuaded by his family to cut down the trees because it would be easier and faster and he agreed. The lorax, the speaker for the tree warned him not to cut anymore trees for he will bring a bad omen to himself, but he ignores it until the bad event actually occur in his life and which also affect other creatures lives. The greediness, the ambition in this psycho mind soon ruins everything
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Greed, being a key human condition, has shaped society from the very start. In fact, some scholars believe that greed was the first major milestone of human success, when the first human wondered why he/she had to scrounge around for necessities; it is a part of being human to be greedy. Wanting a new car, to be loved by another, or to desire the feeling of well doing when feeding the needy, these are all factions of greed...
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Greed is a distraction from recognizing mortality. It is a distraction. It serves no other purpose except “self-observing me.” What our culture, family, and freinds should be emphasizing concerning such a powerful emotion is focusing on motivating people to follow higher ambitions. Not so much as always grabbing more “wants,” but teaching people to ignore the ugly side of greed and make it beautiful. The antonym of "Greed" is "Generosity" and I think the generosity could do much better. An example of beautiful greed would be not obsessing or hoarding, but giving instead of always wanting. As a substitute of pleasing oneself with material acquisitions and possessions instead gratify people who have very little and on the verge of poverty. Satisfy the lonely and those suffering. Let the evil in greed suffer and be destroyed due to people sprouting in kindness and compassion, generosity and