Analysis Of Yertle The Turtle By Theodor Seuss

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Yertle the Turtle was a children’s book written by Theodor Seuss Geisel, commonly known as Doctor Seuss, and first released on April 12, 1958. It is about a turtle king named Yertle who is engrossed in building a bigger and bigger throne, which would then lead to his downfall. Doctor Seuss very much dislike the idea of a Fascist state, namely the Axis powers, and was pro-democracy. This book was written post WW2 would no doubt reflect his strong feelings for the Allied cause to liberate the Fascist states. Although not necessarily fascist, Yertle the Turtle could be interpreted as a very close representation of Josef Stalin, the leader of the USSR. In the start of the poem, Yertle is contemplating to himself,”’I'm ruler,’ said Yertle, ‘of all that I see. But I don't see enough. That's the trouble with me.’ alludes to Stalin ambitions and greed. Both Yertle and Stalin have a thirst for more and more; they both have a continuous dissatisfaction with the current concern. This would be like when …show more content…

The two rulers both treat their fellow citizens as a mean of production towards beneficial goal only to them. The building of the throne symbolized Stalin's Five year plan and rapid industrialization to make Russia a superpower, which needed Russian peasants to give up everything they own in order for the completion of the plan. Both rulers used fear to make their people obey them. When turtles spoke up Yertle would say "SILENCE!" the King of the Turtles barked back. This alludes to the censorship in a fascist nation and Stalin blotted out images of his political enemies. When Yertle or Stalin ordered “They trembled. They shook. But they came. They obeyed.” This would be because of the fear of punishment from the leaders and in Stalin’s case his favored way of punishment would’ve been a Gulag, a Russian hard labour

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