Pandemic lessons from Dr. Seuss

Not only do Dr. Seuss's books teach morals to young readers, but even adults may find the lessons resonate within their own lives, especially in pandemic times. CREDIT: UNSPLASH

RACHEL FIORET

Theodore Seuss Geisel, best known as Dr. Seuss, wrote and illustrated many children’s books. March 2 was established as Dr. Seuss day by the National Education Association to encourage children to read. His unique illustrations and poetry have sold millions of copies worldwide and inspired cinematic adaptations such as The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That! and The Grinch.

Dr. Seuss books are captivating because of their vibrant illustrations and rhymes. In his short stories, he explores issues in society through simple themes such as different personalities and consequences to actions. Not only do his books teach young readers morals in a creative way, but even adults may find the morals resonate within their own lives, especially now as we face the challenges of living in a pandemic.

The story is about a boy named Marco who walks to school, and his father tells him to keep his eyes open and look at his surroundings. At the beginning of his walk, Marco thinks, “but all that I noticed, except my own feet, was a horse and a wagon on Mulberry Street.”

Along the walk, he begins to visualize the horse and wagon as other abstract things, including different animals. Marco’s walk gets more interesting as he goes on, and it ends with him thinking “I ran up the steps and I simply felt great! For I had a story that no one could beat.”

The lessons of this book can be applied to COVID-19 because life can feel stagnant, but by searching for a new perspective on your surroundings, you can elaborate and imagine more than what is truly there. For example, if you’re working from home and get tired of the view, get up from your workspace, walk around your home, and try looking for small details you may not have noticed in your average day-to-day — did you ever notice that that one area of stucco on your ceiling resembles a face?

In the story, Marco tests his creativity by thinking abstractly to make a better story, and this is something anyone can learn from and do right now when there’s extra time at home.

Whether you’ve read the book or seen the film, this story has highlighted the issues in the production system and the negative impacts of environmental degradation. The Lorax tells the story of how a beautiful land was ruined by the demand of ʻThneeds.ʼ

In regards to animals being forced out of their habitat, the Lorax said “they may have to fly for a month… or a year… to escape from the smog you’ve smoggedup around here.” The production of ʻThneedsʼ declined when there was no more demand for them, and he said, “No more trees. No more Thneeds. No more work to be done.” The Lorax concludes with the message that “unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothingʼs going to get better.”

This story could be a critique of the global production cycle. For example, the issues highlighted in it are similar to those of the fast fashion industry. To create cheap clothing fast, there is a greater volume of required resources and often poor working conditions for the factory workers who create products that ship across the world using fossil fuels which in turn create pollution. Production of goods hasn’t reached the point of complete environmental destruction, although we are certainly headed towards it.

The global pandemic has presented us with the chance to reflect on what we need and what we purchase, and demand for products has lessened because there are fewer places to go. We can learn from the lessons of The Lorax and think before making purchases to hopefully prevent future damage to the planet.

This book was written with the goal of introducing literature to young readers and to increase their interest in education. When the children in the story were bored, the Cat came in and tried to entertain them by doing odd things such as bal-

MORALS FROM HIS BOOKS THE LORAX (1971)

THE CAT IN THE HAT (1957)

ancing on a ball and holding the fish who argued against fun. The Cat was known for mischievously breaking the rules, as cats are often depicted in literature. The Cat demonstrated this behaviour when he brought Thing 1 and Thing 2 into the children’s house. The children knew what the Cat was doing wouldn’t be okay with their mother, but they were enjoying the entertainment.

The book ends with the narrator asking the reader “what would you do if your mother asked you?” This leaves the child in a position to think about what they would do in that situation, and parents can encourage honesty and abiding by rules.

This lesson is relevant throughout life, especially so within the last year. Society depends on the honesty of individuals when doing COVID-19 screening tests and trusts that people will follow the set guidelines to work as a community to slow down the spread of the virus.

This story is about Horton, an elephant who was sold to work for the circus. He met a bird, Mayzie who had an egg to watch, but wanted a vacation and complained about never having a break. He decided to help her and watch the egg, so she went to Palm Beach. When Mayzie got a taste of freedom, she didn’t want to come back, so Horton cared for the egg longer than he initially intended to.

When Mayzie did finally return and the egg was ready to hatch, the book said, “Now the work was all done. Now she wanted it back.” At this point, Horton wanted the egg because he invested so much time in watching it, though Mayzie thought she was entitled to it because it was her egg. When the egg hatched, the animal came out as a bird-elephant hybrid. The story read, “because Horton was faithful. He sat and he sat.”

The story demonstrates that good things come to those who wait. This theme applies to the present, because as a whole, our personal freedoms are limited right now. People might be experiencing the same restlessness as Mayzie because COVID-19 restrictions have cancelled the majority of travel and social plans. Horton demonstrates that if we are determined to follow through with what we are doing, then we will be rewarded in the end. As a community, we have been patient and working together from a distance to help stop the spread of COVID-19 and abide by the governmentʼs decisions. Although this has been challenging, society will be rewarded and our pre-pandemic lives will eventually resume.

HORTON HATCHES THE EGG (1940)