Dr. Seuss was certainly not inclined to avoid political or social allegory in his works, but Horton Hears a Who! was published in 1954 decades before Roe V. Wade so it is highly unlikely he had the abortion debate in mind when he penned "a person's a person, no matter how small." In fact, his biographer Philip Nel reports that Seuss threatened to sue right-to-life activists who appropriated his text and characters.
If there is political allegory to be found in the book (and in the excellent animated short on which Seuss collaborated with Chuck Jones) it is clearly the tendencty of both established authority as well as the masses to force conformity by squashing unpopular opinion-- even ones with a strong basis in fact, and given the year of publication, it is specifically aimed at Joe McCarthy and his ilk.
2 comments:
Dr. Seuss was certainly not inclined to avoid political or social allegory in his works, but Horton Hears a Who! was published in 1954 decades before Roe V. Wade so it is highly unlikely he had the abortion debate in mind when he penned "a person's a person, no matter how small." In fact, his biographer Philip Nel reports that Seuss threatened to sue right-to-life activists who appropriated his text and characters.
If there is political allegory to be found in the book (and in the excellent animated short on which Seuss collaborated with Chuck Jones) it is clearly the tendencty of both established authority as well as the masses to force conformity by squashing unpopular opinion-- even ones with a strong basis in fact, and given the year of publication, it is specifically aimed at Joe McCarthy and his ilk.
I guess as Poets and writers, we take the risks that our words can and wil be used against us in a court...of public
opinion?
Post a Comment