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Student C
Mrs. Nielsen Bortel
Honors Language Arts 10
26 February 2013
Undercover Genius
Once upon a time there was a brave and strong man, who all the ladies wanted. This guy
could do anything; slay dragons, beat up bad guys; you name it, he could accomplish it. These
types of stories had a set image and description of a true “hero”. The hero would always be male,
have a set body structure and could battle anything with either his fists, or a sword and a shield.
This description isn’t as true today. Heros in this century, do not battle hideous monsters to save
the day and win the girl, no. Heros today battle for what they believe in and never back down no
matter the obstacles. They teach life lessons and have the courage to put their best foot forward
to make this world a better place. In today’s society, if you put your mind to it, anyone could
become a hero. Men, women, teens, and even children could have an impact on the world, but
there are some characteristics you have to possess. Bravery and strength play a big role in
becoming a hero because people will try and shoot your ideas down. No hero will win without a
determined attitude, if you are not passionate about what you believe in, people will notice and
give up on you. The ones that make it through the tough times come out heroic. Today, most
people only knew him as a great children’s author, but Dr. Seuss was much more than that. He
invented a way to make reading, fun. With all his wacky words and goofy characters, kids could
not keep their eyes off the pages. Rooms would be filled with giggles from the classic stories by
Dr. Seuss. Kids thought the stories were just nonsense but actually they were in the process of
learning how to read. Their favorite story would be repeated to them multiple times and soon
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enough, they wanted to read it by themselves. Dr. Seuss’ books gave kids the courage to read on
their own. This man was such a genius; he even managed to insert hidden messages about life in
his stories. The story, Horton Hears a Who, Dr. Seuss states. “A person’s a person, no matter
how small” (Miller). Dr. Seuss’ goal was to get kids to be interested in reading. If the story was
not interesting enough for the public or words did not rhyme, he would work extremely hard to
change that (Geisel, Theordor). A lesson from Dr. Seuss’ stories will be one you will never
forget. It sticks in your mind like glue. On the surface, Dr. Seuss is merely just a children’s
author, but deep down, he is a true hero.
On the outside, Dr. Seuss was an adult, but on the inside, he was still a little kid. From his
stories, you could identify, he was the type of kid that climbed trees, enjoyed adventures, loved
to laugh and did not have a worry in the world. It is hard to wrap your figure around how Dr.
Seuss came up with such a brilliant way to relate to kids. As seen in many of Dr. Seuss’ books,
he would make up words just so they would rhyme with each other. “There’s a wocket in my
pocket… Wasket in my basket… Nureau in your bureau… Woset in your closet… Certain
there’s a jertain in the curtain” (Geisel, Theordor). Dr. Seuss also was a genius at grabbing the
readers attention through his pictures and character names. When you examined his pictures, you
never were a hundred percent sure what they could be. This technique helped you stretch your
imagination to new heights. For example, in the book, The Sneetches, while you’re reading the
story, the whole time, you’re trying to figure out what a sneetch really is. Is a sneetch an ostrich,
maybe? Is a sneetch a giraffe, maybe? Seuss never comes out and tells the reader, what a kind of
creature a sneetch is. He makes you think hard and long about it (Seuss). Children favored Dr.
Seuss’ stories more than adults because they felt a connection with him. His usage of silly words
and phrases, grabbed kids attention and made them feel like they had a connection with him. In
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his stories, Dr. Seuss becomes a child again. Relating to kids by his usage of funky words that
make kids laugh and pictures that make kids wonder. Even though, Dr. Seuss appeared to be an
old man on the outside, but on the inside, it was much more than that. Dr. Seuss was a kid again.
Dr. Seuss not only made his books appealing to children, he also added a twist to his
madness and that twist was somehow fitting life lessons into his stories. Dr. Seuss told the story
of the Star and Plain- Belly Sneetches. Now the Star- Belly Sneethces thought they were the best,
just because they had a star on their bellies (Seuss 4). “Those stars weren’t so big. They were
really quite small, you think such a thing wouldn’t matter at all” (Seuss 3). But it did matter, the
Star- Belly Sneetches would brag, “We’re the best kind of Sneetch… we’ll have nothing to do
with the Plain- Belly sort” (Seuss 4). If you did not have a star on your belly, you could not go to
parties or to their marshmallow toasts (Seuss7). This made the Plain- Belly Sneetches quiet sad,
but on one ordinary day, something wonderful happened. A mysterious man came to their village
and brought with him a machine. This machine gave all the Plain- Belly Sneetches stars on their
bellies. Now this made the original Star- Belly Sneetches furious. So, the stranger removed their
stars from their bellies. As you might predict, this process went on and on until they could not
tell who was who (Seuss 8-22). “The Sneetches got really smart on that day, the day they
decided that Sneetches are Sneetches and no kind of Sneetch is the best on the beaches. That day,
all Sneetches forgot about stars and whether they had one, or not, upon thars” (Seuss 24). The
lesson learned from The Sneetches, is no matter what someone looks like on the outside,
everyone is the same. What was I scared of? This story written by Dr. Seuss was about this
unknown character that was not scared of anything. Then one night when he was walking
through the woods, he spotted a pair of pale green pants and the scary part was; there was no one
inside of them. After running away from the pants, it found out that the pants were harmless and
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only wanted a friend (Seuss 43-65). The lesson learned from this story is to never judge a book
by its cover because the surface appearance might not match the inside. A lot of Dr. Seuss’
stories had the same life lessons or they all had some kind of connection with each other. Dr.
Seuss’ books taught you to think big and to keep your eyes wide open for new opportunities.
Have an open mind on things because you never know what you might get out of it (Meier). “Try
it… you just might like it.” In Green Eggs and Ham, the main character thought the green eggs
and ham would be repulsive but he tried it and fell in love (Meier). This is an awesome example
that you should try things that might be new to you. The ending result may leave you speechless
(Meier). This quote by Dr. Seuss is very powerful, “Kid, you’ll move mountains! Today is your
day! Your mountain is waiting. So… Get on your way” (Meier). This quote is so inspirational
because it is saying no matter what kind of obstacle you have in your way, you can move it and
overcome it (Meier). These lessons showed that Dr. Seuss was a very caring, kind person. All of
these lessons are so simple, but we seem to forget them every day. Dr. Seuss reminds us that we
are on top of the world and nothing is going to bring us down.
Dr. Seuss not only had kid based messages in his stories, he also incorporated adult
views, too. He was a man that wasn’t afraid to express his opinion through his stories. In Dr.
Seuss’ opinion, he thought that the Dick and Jane primer was extremely boring, so he made the
book, The Cat in the Hat (Conradt). Dr. Seuss was dedicated because he wanted to make a book
that was more interesting for kids (Conradt). The hidden story behind The Lorax, was Dr. Seuss’
take on environmentalism and how he thought that humans were destroying nature (Conradt).
This got some people really upset, but he did not care (Conradt). During World War II, Dr. Seuss
would publish war time posters and drawings of his opinions on the war (Conradt). Dr. Seuss had
a strong dislike of Hitler and made a whole book about his rise to power and his hard fall to the
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ground. The book was called, Yertle the Turtle. “It told the story of a dictatorial turtle and his
toppling” (Conradt). Dr. Seuss was a man that stuck to his word and even though not everyone
agreed with it, Dr. Seuss was still not afraid to share it.
No matter how much work it took for Dr. Seuss to come up with his wonderful rhymes,
he took the time. All of his stories were handled very delicately and with great passion. Dr.
Seuss’ goal was to get kids interested in reading and reached that goal with great heights
(Conradt). Dr. Seuss worked hard to achieve perfection. When you read a Dr. Seuss book, it
always leaves you wondering (Hulbert). The words and pictures were just out of this world,
which caught everyone’s attention. Kids loved the wacky things he incorporated into his stories
and Dr. Seuss knew that (Press). Even though his stories were crazy, they still had meaning to
them. You did not have to dig deep to figure them out. Dr. Seuss was a hero not by saving a
village being attacked by a monster, no. He was a hero by improving the way kids learned how
to read. He invented a fun and unique style of writing that got kids interested in books. You may
think Dr. Seuss was insane, but he was nothing less than an undercover genius and a true hero.
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Works Cited
Conradt, Stacy. "10 Stories behind Dr. Seuss Stories." CNN. N.p., 23 Jan. 2009. Web. 08 Feb.
2013. In this article by CNN, it talks about stories behind Dr. Seuss' stories. Dr. Seuss
wasn't afraid to speak his mind in his books, so he ended some controversies. This kind
of information could be useful for my paper because it shows that Seuss was a very
strong hearted man and wasn't afraid what others thought.
"Geisel, Theodor Seuss." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online School
Edition.
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 2013. Web. 7 Feb. 2013. In this article, it pretty much
explains Theodor Seuss Geisel's life and how he became the one and only; Dr. Seuss.
This article can help me with my paper because now I have some background
information on the author. The article about Seuss, can also inform me on how and where
his inspirations came from.
Hulbert, Dan. "It just had to Happen --- it must have been Fated, our Favorite Author's been ReSeussitated! so Play Your Trombladders, Blow Your Wazoos! for the King of all Media
(Who?) . . . Dr. Seuss!" The Atlanta Journal the Atlanta Constitution: 0. Jul 30 2000.
ProQuest Newsstand. Web. 8 Feb. 2013 . This article is mainly about how Seuss made
reading fun and entertaining. Kids loved reading and listening to these stories and parents
loved reading them to their kids. Dr. Seuss's stories made you laugh till your stomach
hurt because the pictures and words were just out of this word. This man was a genius,
thinking of an easy way to get kids to read. I used a couple of the ideas in this website
because it shows a heroic side to Dr. Seuss, which was making reading enjoyable for
kids.
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Meier, J. D. "Lessons Learned from Dr. Seuss." Lessons Learned from Dr. Seuss - Sources of
Insight. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Feb. 2013. This article is all about lessons that Dr. Seuss has
taught us through his wacky characters and funky words. Easy lessons that everyone
should remember and could understand. For example, one of the lessons is dream it and
do it. Dr. Seuss is encouraging kids to fulfill their dreams, even if it might seem
impossible. These lessons were good points to use in my story because Dr. Seuss had
sense behind his madness, which was teaching valuable life lessons.
Miller, John J. "Friends of the Lorax: Dr. Seuss's politics for children." National Review 19 Mar.
2012: 25. Gale Biography In Context. Web. 8 Feb. 2013. In this article, it says that Dr.
Seuss had hidden messages in his books. Teaching children and even adults, life lessons.
During WWII, Seuss spoke out against racism and his stories reflected his beliefs.
Another good website to show Dr. Seuss wasn’t just making up words, he had a message
behind this goofiness.
Press, A. (1991, Sep 26). Kids' book author dr. seuss dies. Orlando Sentinel. Retrieved from
<http://search.proquest.com/docview/277887967?accountid=44878> The primary source
was challenging for me to find because Dr. Seuss did not like to be interviewed or be the
center of attention. This article isn't really an interview but it does give me some phrases
that Dr. Seuss said. The article also has quotes from people talking about Dr. Seuss and
his books.
Seuss, Dr. The Sneetches and other stories. 1989 ed. 1904. United States: Random House
Children's Books, 1961. Print. The Sneetches is a wonderful story by Dr. Seuss. In the
book, the star- belly sneetches thought they were the best and bragged about it. The plainbelly sneetches felt left out and wanted to have a star on their bellies. Then a stranger
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came to their town and gave all the plain- belly sneetches, stars. The original star- belly
sneetches didn't like this, so the stranger removed their stars. The cycle kept going on
until the stranger decided to leave. Now they were back to the beginning, but something
changed. They realized that a sneetch is a sneetch, with star or without. This story was
necessary to put in my paper because it’s an example of one of his stories that has a
hidden message, which shows Dr. Seuss cared about kids learning life lessons and setting
them off on the right foot.