“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not.”(Dr. Seuss, the Lorax) The childhood of thousands of adults and children alike were all made memorable because of one man. Theodor Seuss Geisel. His use of words and depictions, although with hidden messages, of daily life has molded the imagination of every child.
On March second 1904 a baby boy was born to a Theodor Robert Geisel and Henrietta Seuss Geisel, on Howard Street, Springfield, Massachusetts (Cat in the Hat.org). This little boy will soon become the great Dr. Seuss, but for now he was named after his grandfather, Theodor Seuss Geisel.
Due to Theodor’s (Ted) family being directly German, they lived a life of poverty. Ted himself was a second generation German so he knew that when World War Two came around he was in a serious quandary. In April 1917, the Germans were at war with the Americans. Ted’s family, from then on, stopped calling themselves German-Americans (Dean 23). Ted’s grandfather owned a brewery of beer. This is what made the family’s income, after the prohibition laws came into play, the brewery went out of business. This caused the Geisel family to go into poverty. Due to the little money the family had, Ted’s sister, Henrietta, died when she was only eighteen months old, due to pneumonia (Dean 20).
Ted wasn’t very an academic student. Math was one of his biggest challenges and brought him down. He was a B average student all around, his GPA stood at 2.45 and he ranked 133 out of 387 students in his grade level (Pease 35). Once Ted got older he freed himself from public school and went onto college. Ted attended Dartmouth College in 1921 (Dean 28). After a difficult struggle, keeping up with his English major, he t...
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Theodor Seuss Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss, is the author of my favorite childhood book, Oh the Places You'll Go along with many other children's poems. Dr. Seuss is easily one of the most well-known children's authors having sold over 100 million books (Kantrowitz). From personification to imagery to rhyming, Seuss knows just what it takes to make a great poem. Dr. Seuss uses literary devices such as rhyme, repetition, onomatopoeia, tone and personification throughout his book, One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish.
Theodor Seuss Geisel was born on March 2, 1904 in Springfield, Massachusetts. To Theodor Robert Geisel and Henrietta Seuss Geisel. His father was a successful brewmaster. All of his grandparents were German immigrants. His father managed the family brewery and later was a supervisor of Springfield’s public park system. The family brewery was closed because of the Prohibition his father had to get a different job he got the park system job from the mayor of Springfield, Massachusetts John A. Denison.
Theodor Seuss Geisel. [A profile of the author’s life and works]. (2004). Contemporary Authors Online. Retrieved from Gale Cengage Learning.
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.
Theodor Seuss was born in Springfield, Mass. on March 2, 1904 and died on September 24, 1991. He graduated from Dartmouth College. Dr. Seuss was a children's author who target young readers. His first book was "And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street" and was followed by many other famous stories such as, "How The Grinch Stole Christmas" and to one of his most famous books "The Cat in The Hat". Dr. Seuss is a well know author world-wide.
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. But what he’s doing, is hoping that they will understand the main idea of the story enough that it challenges them to stand against the crowd of judgment and evil. Take notice of the issues around them, and make a change. He feels that they deserve to know about the issues, just as much as adults do. He is showing them early on, telling them that they do not need adults to make a difference.
The quote stated in the above paragraph is one of his many exact representation of his views on the world. Dr. Seuss is well known for writing many of the children's books my generation has grown up with, but is also known for inspiring and
Ted's family knew there was something wrong with him ever since he was a baby. His mother said that he had strange lapses as a child where he would go silent and still. As he got older the "shut-downs" (as they became known as by his family,) started to be accompanied with rage. He never fit in with anybody his own age. For instance, when Ted was 10 years old, his father tried taking him to a boyscout meeting but Ted would not have anything to do with the other children, so his father gave up. The only thing Ted liked doing was reading and playing his trombone. Ted proved to be very smart and at the young age of 15 years, was given a scholarship to study Greek tragedy for the summer at the University of Chicago. Ted went to Harvard and graduated with a degree in Mathematics, when he was 20 years old. Ted was then offered a tenured-track job at the University of California and taught there until his abrupt resignation in 1969. His family knew nothing of his resignation until he showed up at his parents house to move in. Ted stayed with his parents for two years and during that time he had many low paying jobs, the first being a gardener at the local mall. In 1971, Ted's parents woke up to find Ted gone and only a note thanking them for letting him stay with them. The note was so short and to the point that his father thought that it he was going to commit suicide.
Throughout Dr. Seuss’s life, he has written dozens of books with over one hundred million copies sold, and still being produced to this day. Theodor Seuss Geisel is a well-known author that had many inspirations for his works that are still read by millions today, such as Yertle the Turtle, The Sneeches, How the Grinch Stole Christmas. His inevitable fame and fortune came with a lot of pressure; pressure of his readers as well as pressure of his producers.
The first theory to explain some of Ted's behavior is that of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs which focuses on describing the stages of growth in humans using the terms physiological, safety, belongingness, self esteem, self actualization and self transcendence. Ted had the necessities of life and shelter, and was therefore satisfied in his physiologi...
Dr. Seuss I took an unconventional approach in the topic I chose for my reading assignment – whereas most groups selected single novels, my partner and I opted to read a collection of short stories by none other than the notorious Dr. Seuss. Were I writing this essay on a “normal” book, I would be able to pose a question about the book itself and answer it in an ordinary sort of way. However, given the subject matter I have chosen, an essay on an individual book, though possible, would be a very tricky thing to do. It would be wiser, and probably easier, to respond to the man himself. My decision to respond to the man himself makes many more choices – what facet of Dr. Seuss shall I ask myself questions about? I think perhaps I first need to give some brief biographical information on the man to understand the background he’s coming from. In 1904, Theodore Seuss Geisel was born in Massachusetts, USA. I have not been able to find too much documentation about his childhood, but he certainly did not come from a terribly poor or terribly unsuccessful family… in fact, his family had owned a local brewery in their home town of Springfield for several years. Ever since his childhood, Geisel had dabbled in the fields we all know and love him for today… for instance, during bible recitals, he read the verses to a rhythm and often in rhyme. In High School he wrote many short essays and drew cartoons for the school paper, and even then he had adopted a pseudonym for himself – “Pete the Pessimist”. Upon graduation, Geisel began studying literature at Oxford university, as his original intent was to become an educator… even then, he punctuated his time at Oxford with his job editing and contributing to the “Jack-O-Lantern”, ...
Theodore Geisel, commonly known as Dr Seuss, published “The Lorax” in 1971. “The Lorax” is a popular children's book that focuses on human ecology and the environmental movement. The book tells the story of the Once-ler, and how his business led to him cutting down all the Truffula trees, which destroyed the ecosystem, habitat, and polluted the water and the air in the meantime. “The Lorax”, while it is a very substantial tool for the environmental movement, presents several wrong ideas about the ecological movement. Even though Seuss' book is successful, people who wish to use this book to teach about the environment should be careful about how they utilize it as a text. While raising important questions, “The Lorax” offers answers that can be precarious, despite Seuss' good intentions. The main point of “The Lorax” is that no society can benefit from exhausting their renewable resources. However, there are contradictions within the story and the solutions steer the attention of the audience away from alternatives that can accomplish the goals stated in the book; the second point is shown in the story because the idea that people must change instead of their motivations is obvious in the interaction between the Lorax and the Once-ler. Before going examining these statements, this paper will summarize “The Lorax” and will challenge the story's solidity.
“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.”
Theodor Seuss Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss, is perhaps one of the most beloved children’s authors of the twentieth century. Although he is most famous as an author of children’s books, Geisel was also a political cartoonist, advertisement designer, and film director (Kaplan). He used the power of imagination to produce unforgettable children’s books and helped solve the problem of illiteracy among America’s children. By using his experiences in life as a foundation for most of his books, Theodor Geisel created a unique writing style that incorporated various elements and techniques, enabling his books to appeal to people of all ages.