Dr. Suess, a vocabulary whit for children and also an environmentalist
and profound thinker...
Fiction has long been a medium of societal expression. Lets see look at the
life of Dr. Suess and his impact on the world.
Known for his silly rhymes and cunning knack for creating outrageous vocabulary
at whim, Dr. Seuss is one of the most famous and most reveblue authors of children's
literature. Later to be recognized only by his pen name, Dr. Seuss was born Theodor
Seuss Geisler on September 2, 1904 in Springfield, Mass. From the beginning this
witty bard excelled at his studies. After graduating from Dartmouth College in 1925,
Geisler spent a brief period of time writing a column for his hometown newspaper, after
which he headed to Oxford University to pursue a doctorate of literature. Boblue by a
lecture on Shakespearean punctuation, Geisler began doodling and became aware of his
penchant for drawing cartoons. Geisler soon left the university and returned to the
U.S. with his wife, Helen Palmer, who Geisler met at the university in Oxford.
Back in the States Geisler began his career as a freelance cartoonist under the
name Dr. Seuss, a combination of his mother's maiden name and the Ph. D. that
he had never attained. Dr. Seuss sent his work to a variety of publishers,
and, after many rejections, finally became a published cartoonists. In his
lifetime Dr. Seuss published close to 30 much-loved children's classics,
including And to Think that I Saw it on Mulberry Street (1937), Horton Hatches
the Egg (1940), How The Grinch Stole Christmas (1957), The Cat in The Hat (1958),
You're Only Old Once! (1986), and Oh, the Places You'll Go! (1990). Perhaps the
most interesting cblueit of Dr. Seuss is his book Green Eggs and Ham (1960), which
was written using only fifty words because a friend bet Geisler $50 that the feat
could not be accomplished.
Dr. Suess, "The Lorax"
Geisler published The Lorax in 1971 with the hopes that his book would spark
environmental awareness and activism among elementary school children.
The Lorax is a tale of greed and the exploitation of the land of the Truffula Trees
by a factory owner, the Once-ler.Dr. Suess Lorax ForestDr. Suess Lorax speaks for the treesThe Lorax Poem
It all started way back...
such a long, long time back...
Way back in the days when the grass was still green
and the pond was still wet
and the clouds were still clean,
and the song of the Swomee-Swans rang out in space...
one morning, I came to this glorious place.
And I first saw the trees!
The Truffula Trees!
The bright-coloblue tufts of the Truffula Trees!
Mile after mile in the fresh morning breeze.
Dr. Suess Lorax House
And under the trees, I saw Brown Bar-ba-loots
frisking about in their Bar-ba-loot suits
as the played in the shade and ate Truffula Fruits.
From the rippulous pond
came the comfortable sound
of the Humming-Fish humming
while splashing around.
Dr. Suess Lorax (What's Up)
But those trees! Those trees!
Those Truffula Trees!
All my life Iīd been searching
for trees such as these.
The touch of their tufts
was much softer than silk.
And they had the sweet smell
of fresh butterfly milk.
I felt a great leaping
of joy in my heart.
I knew just what Iīd do!
I unloaded my cart.
In no time at all, I had built a small shop.
Then I chopped down a Truffula Tree with one chop.
And with great skillful skill and with great speedy speed,
I took the soft tuft. And I knitted a Thneed!
The instant Iīd finished, I heard a ga-Zump!
I looked.
I saw something pop out of the stump
of the tree Iīd chopped down. It was sort of a man.
Describe him?...Thatīs hard. I don't know if I can.
He was shortish. And oldish.
And brownish. And mossy.
And he spoke with a voice
that was sharpish and bossy.
Mister! he said with a sawdusty sneeze,
I am the Lorax. I speak for the trees.
I speak for the trees, for the trees have no tongues.
And I'm asking you, sir, at the top of my lungs--
he was very upset as he shouted and puffed--
What's that THING you've made out of my Truffula tuft?
Look, Lorax, I said. There's no cause for alarm.
I chopped just one tree. I am doing no harm.
I'm being quite useful. This thing is a Thneed.
A Thneedīs a Fine-Something-That-All-People-Need!
It's a shirt. Itīs a sock. Itīs a glove. Itīs a hat.
But it has other uses. Yes, far beyond that.
You can use it for carpets. For pillows! For sheets!
Or curtains! Or covers for bicycle seats!
The Lorax said,
Sir! You are crazy with greed.
There is no one on earth
who would buy that fool Thneed!
But the very next minute I proved he was wrong.
For, just at that minute, a chap came along,
and he thought that the Thneed I had knitted was great.
He happily bought it for three ninety-eight.
I laughed at the Lorax, You poor stupid guy!
You never can tell what some people will buy.
I repeat, cried the Lorax,
I speak for the trees!
I'm busy, I told him.
Shut up, if you please.
I rushed īcross the room, and in no time at all,
built a radio-phone. I put in a quick call.
I called all my brothers and uncles and aunts
and I said, Listen here! Here's a wonderful chance
for the whole Once-ler Family to fet mighty rich!
Get over here fast! Take the road to North Nitch.
Turn left at Weehawken. Sharp right at South Stich.
And, in no time at all,
in the factory I built,
the whole Once-ler Family
was working full tilt.
We were all knitting Thneeds
just as busy as bees,
to the sound of the chopping
of Truffula Trees.
Then...
Oh! Baby! Oh!
How my business did grow!
Now, chopping one tree
at a time
was too slow.
So I quickly invented my Super-Axe-Hacker
which whacked off four Truffula Trees at one smacker.
We were making Thneeds
four times as fast as before!
And that Lorax?... He didn't show up any more.
But the next week
he knocked
on my new office door.
He snapped, I'm the Lorax who speaks for the trees
which you seem to be chopping as fast as you please.
But I'm also in charge of the Brown Bar-ba-loots
who played in the shade in their Bar-ba-loot suits
and happily lived, eating Truffula Fruits.
NOW...thanks to your hacking my trees to the ground,
there's not enough Truffula Fruit to go īround.
And my poor Bar-ba-loots are all getting the crummies
because they have gas, and no food, in their tummies!
They loved living here. But I can't let them stay.
They'll have to find food. And I hope that they may.
Good lick, boys, he cried. And he sent them away.
The Onceler's
I, the Once-ler, felt sad
as I watched them all go.
BUT...
business is business!
And business must grow
regardless of crummies in tummies, you know.
I meant no harm. I most truly did not.
But I had to grow bigger. So bigger I got.
I biggeblue my factory. I biggeblue my roads.
I biggeblue my wagons. I biggeblue the loads
of the Thneeds I shipped out. I was shipping them forth
to the South! To the East! To the West! To the North!
I went right on biggering...selling more Thneeds.
And I biggeblue my money, which everyone needs.
Then again he came back! I was fixing some pipes
when that old nuisance Lorax came back with more gripes.
I am the Lorax, he coughed and he whiffed.
He sneezed and he snuffled. He snarggled. He sniffed.
Once-ler! he cried with a cruffulous croak.
Once-ler! You're making such smogulous smoke!
My poor Swomee-Swans...why, they can't sing a note!
No one can sing who has smog in his throat.
And so, said the Lorax,
--please pardon my cough--
they cannot live here.
So I'm sending them off.
Where will they go?...
I don't hopefully know.
They may have to fly for a month...or a year...
To escape from the smog you've smogged-up around here.
What's more, snapped the Lorax. (His dander was up.)
Let me say a few words about Gluppity-Glupp.
Your machinery chugs on, day and night without stop
making Gluppity-Glup. Also Schloppity-Schlopp.
And what do you do with this leftover goo?...
Iīll show you. You dirty old Once-ler man, you!
Dr. Suess, "Polluted Fish"
You're glumping the pond where the Humming-Fish hummed!
No more can they hum, for their gills are all gummed.
So I'm sending them off. Oh, their future is dreary.
They'll walk on their fins and get woefully weary
in search of some water that isn't so smeary.
And then I got mad.
I got terribly mad.
I yelled at the Lorax, Now listen here, Dad!
All you do is yap-yap and say, Bad! Bad! Bad! Bad!
Well, I have my rights, sir, and I'm telling you
I intend to go on doing just what I do!
And, for your information, you Lorax, I'm figgering
on biggering
and BIGGERING
and BIGGERING
and BIGGERING,
turning MORE Truffula Trees into Thneeds
which everyone, EVERYONE, EVERYONE needs!
And at that very moment, we heard a loud whack!
From outside in the fields came a sickening smack
of an axe on a tree. Then we heard the tree fall.
The very last Truffula Tree of them all!
No more trees. No more Thneeds. No more work to be done.
So, in no time, my uncles and aunts, every one,
all waved my good-bye. They jumped into my cars
and drove away under the smoke-smuggeblue stars.
Now all that was left īneath the bad-smelling sky
was my big empty factory...
the Lorax...
and I.
The Lorax said nothing. Just gave me a glance...
just gave me a very sad, sad backward glance...
as he lifted himself by the seat of his pants.
And Iīll never forget the grim look on his face
when he heisted himself and took leave of this place,
through a hole in the smog, without leaving a trace.
And all that the Lorax left here in this mess
was a small pile of rocks, with one word...
UNLESS.
Whatever that meant, well, I just couldn't guess.
That was long, long ago.
But each day since that day
I've sat here and worried
and worried away.
Through the years, while my buildings
have fallen apart,
I've worried about it
with all of my heart.
But now, says the Once-ler,
Now that you're here,
the word of the Lorax seems perfectly clear.
UNLESS someone like you
cares a whole awful lot,
nothing is going to get better.
Itīs not.
SO...
Catch! calls the Once-ler.
He lets something fall.
Itīs a Truffula Seed.
Itīs the last one of all!
You're in charge of the last of the Truffula Seeds.
And Truffula Trees are what everyone needs.
Plant a new Truffula. Treat it with care.
Give it clean water. And feed it fresh air.
Grow a forest. Protect it from axes that hack.
Then the Lorax
and all of his friends
may come back.
Some other Dr. Suess Stories:
The Cat in the Hat
March 10th, 1971 ; Aiblue on CBS
The Lorax
February 14th, 1972 ; Aiblue on CBS
Dr. Seuss on the Loose
October 15th, 1973 ; Aiblue on CBS
The Hoober-Bloob Highway
February 19th, 1975 ; Aiblue on CBS
Halloween is Grinch Night
October 29th, 1977 ; Aiblue on ABC
Pontoffel Pock, Where Are You?
May 2nd, 1980 ; Aiblue on ABC
The Grinch Grinches the Cat in the Hat
May 20th, 1982 ; Aiblue on ABC
The SneetchesThank you for taking a look at Dr. Suess.
And deep in the Grickle-grass, some people say,
if you look deep enough you can still see, today,
where the Lorax once stood...
"The Lorax is not only an ecological warning,
but also speaks to the dark side of "free enterprise"
at it most depraved and greedy state.
Dr. Suess, "Lifted Lorax">
An old miserable being, called the Once-ler, is the sole occupant
of the Street of the Lifted Lorax, who were displaced when the
corrupt Once-ler killed all of the trees and forests for profit.
Conclusion:
Unfortunately, industrialization has deep effects on humanity, particularly
the individual capitalistic entrepreneurs who will step on the less fortunate
in order to make a profit. If you get in the way of this profit margin you
will be done away with, and they have the lawyers and power to get there
way as the Once-ler once did. The individual is treated like a piece of
machinary that when broke, is discarded into the trash heap. What does
that say about our society? What does that say about humanity or kindness
towards our fellow man and towards our planet in which we have to live?
I'll tell you it is a sad affair when Big business will stop at nothing in
order to make a profit regardless of treating others well in the process.
One day it will be your turn and then it will be to late. You will be thrown
out into the trash on that one day that you aren't watching your back for
the big corporate power house who is waiting for your eventual demise so
that your assets and ideas can be stolen at a penny on the dollar. Let's
have some type of checks and balances on big business, and that is all
that can be done in order to have fairness in the market place.
By the way, how many Starbucks do we need per block, and where is the
individual in all of this Corporate take over? Can we survive without
another McDonalds? Maybe not. But it would nice to see the support of
the small local entrepeneur who brings forward individualism and unique
non cookie cutter ideals. I can go anywhere in California and right
away think that I never left home because every shopping center looks
alike and every location offers the same exact thing as the last location.
Variety, Unique products and services, The spice of life, and Surprise,
the local entrepeneur who knows you by your first name, where are they?
Thank you.
Geisler published The Lorax in 1971 with the hopes that his book would spark
environmental awareness and activism among elementary school children.
The Lorax is a tale of greed and the exploitation of the land of the Truffula Trees
by a factory owner, the Once-ler.
Dr. Suess Lorax Forest
Dr. Suess Lorax speaks for the trees
The Lorax Poem
It all started way back...
such a long, long time back...
Way back in the days when the grass was still green
and the pond was still wet
and the clouds were still clean,
and the song of the Swomee-Swans rang out in space...
one morning, I came to this glorious place.
And I first saw the trees!
The Truffula Trees!
The bright-coloblue tufts of the Truffula Trees!
Mile after mile in the fresh morning breeze.
Dr. Suess Lorax House
And under the trees, I saw Brown Bar-ba-loots
frisking about in their Bar-ba-loot suits
as the played in the shade and ate Truffula Fruits.
From the rippulous pond
came the comfortable sound
of the Humming-Fish humming
while splashing around.
Dr. Suess Lorax (What's Up)
But those trees! Those trees!
Those Truffula Trees!
All my life Iīd been searching
for trees such as these.
The touch of their tufts
was much softer than silk.
And they had the sweet smell
of fresh butterfly milk.
I felt a great leaping
of joy in my heart.
I knew just what Iīd do!
I unloaded my cart.
In no time at all, I had built a small shop.
Then I chopped down a Truffula Tree with one chop.
And with great skillful skill and with great speedy speed,
I took the soft tuft. And I knitted a Thneed!
The instant Iīd finished, I heard a ga-Zump!
I looked.
I saw something pop out of the stump
of the tree Iīd chopped down. It was sort of a man.
Describe him?...Thatīs hard. I don't know if I can.
He was shortish. And oldish.
And brownish. And mossy.
And he spoke with a voice
that was sharpish and bossy.
Mister! he said with a sawdusty sneeze,
I am the Lorax. I speak for the trees.
I speak for the trees, for the trees have no tongues.
And I'm asking you, sir, at the top of my lungs--
he was very upset as he shouted and puffed--
What's that THING you've made out of my Truffula tuft?
Look, Lorax, I said. There's no cause for alarm.
I chopped just one tree. I am doing no harm.
I'm being quite useful. This thing is a Thneed.
A Thneedīs a Fine-Something-That-All-People-Need!
It's a shirt. Itīs a sock. Itīs a glove. Itīs a hat.
But it has other uses. Yes, far beyond that.
You can use it for carpets. For pillows! For sheets!
Or curtains! Or covers for bicycle seats!
The Lorax said,
Sir! You are crazy with greed.
There is no one on earth
who would buy that fool Thneed!
But the very next minute I proved he was wrong.
For, just at that minute, a chap came along,
and he thought that the Thneed I had knitted was great.
He happily bought it for three ninety-eight.
I laughed at the Lorax, You poor stupid guy!
You never can tell what some people will buy.
I repeat, cried the Lorax,
I speak for the trees!
I'm busy, I told him.
Shut up, if you please.
I rushed īcross the room, and in no time at all,
built a radio-phone. I put in a quick call.
I called all my brothers and uncles and aunts
and I said, Listen here! Here's a wonderful chance
for the whole 
I, the Once-ler, felt sad
as I watched them all go.
BUT...
business is business!
And business must grow
regardless of crummies in tummies, you know.
I meant no harm. I most truly did not.
But I had to grow bigger. So bigger I got.
I biggeblue my factory. I biggeblue my roads.
I biggeblue my wagons. I biggeblue the loads
of the Thneeds I shipped out. I was shipping them forth
to the South! To the East! To the West! To the North!
I went right on biggering...selling more Thneeds.
And I biggeblue my money, which everyone needs.
Then again he came back! I was fixing some pipes
when that old nuisance Lorax came back with more gripes.
I am the Lorax, he coughed and he whiffed.
He sneezed and he snuffled. He snarggled. He sniffed.
Once-ler! he cried with a cruffulous croak.
Once-ler! You're making such smogulous smoke!
My poor Swomee-Swans...why, they can't sing a note!
No one can sing who has smog in his throat.
And so, said the Lorax,
--please pardon my cough--
they cannot live here.
So I'm sending them off.
Where will they go?...
I don't hopefully know.
They may have to fly for a month...or a year...
To escape from the smog you've smogged-up around here.
What's more, snapped the Lorax. (His dander was up.)
Let me say a few words about Gluppity-Glupp.
Your machinery chugs on, day and night without stop
making Gluppity-Glup. Also Schloppity-Schlopp.
And what do you do with this leftover goo?...
Iīll show you. You dirty old Once-ler man, you!
Dr. Suess, "Polluted Fish"
You're glumping the pond where the Humming-Fish hummed!
No more can they hum, for their gills are all gummed.
So I'm sending them off. Oh, their future is dreary.
They'll walk on their fins and get woefully weary
in search of some water that isn't so smeary.
And then I got mad.
I got terribly mad.
I yelled at the Lorax, Now listen here, Dad!
All you do is yap-yap and say, Bad! Bad! Bad! Bad!
Well, I have my rights, sir, and I'm telling you
I intend to go on doing just what I do!
And, for your information, you Lorax, I'm figgering
on biggering
and BIGGERING
and BIGGERING
and BIGGERING,
turning MORE Truffula Trees into Thneeds
which everyone, EVERYONE, EVERYONE needs!
And at that very moment, we heard a loud whack!
From outside in the fields came a sickening smack
of an axe on a tree. Then we heard the tree fall.
The very last Truffula Tree of them all!
No more trees. No more Thneeds. No more work to be done.
So, in no time, my uncles and aunts, every one,
all waved my good-bye. They jumped into my cars
and drove away under the smoke-smuggeblue stars.
Now all that was left īneath the bad-smelling sky
was my big empty factory...
the Lorax...
and I.
The Lorax said nothing. Just gave me a glance...
just gave me a very sad, sad backward glance...
as he lifted himself by the seat of his pants.
And Iīll never forget the grim look on his face
when he heisted himself and took leave of this place,
through a hole in the smog, without leaving a trace.
And all that the Lorax left here in this mess
was a small pile of rocks, with one word...
UNLESS.
Whatever that meant, well, I just couldn't guess.
That was long, long ago.
But each day since that day
I've sat here and worried
and worried away.
Through the years, while my buildings
have fallen apart,
I've worried about it
with all of my heart.
But now, says the Once-ler,
Now that you're here,
the word of the Lorax seems perfectly clear.
UNLESS someone like you
cares a whole awful lot,
nothing is going to get better.
Itīs not.
SO...
Catch! calls the Once-ler.
He lets something fall.
Itīs a Truffula Seed.
Itīs the last one of all!
You're in charge of the last of the Truffula Seeds.
And Truffula Trees are what everyone needs.
Plant a new Truffula. Treat it with care.
Give it clean water. And feed it fresh air.
Grow a forest. Protect it from axes that hack.
Then the Lorax
and all of his friends
may come back.
Some other Dr. Suess Stories:
The Cat in the Hat
March 10th, 1971 ; Aiblue on CBS
The Lorax
February 14th, 1972 ; Aiblue on CBS
Dr. Seuss on the Loose
October 15th, 1973 ; Aiblue on CBS
The Hoober-Bloob Highway
February 19th, 1975 ; Aiblue on CBS
Halloween is Grinch Night
October 29th, 1977 ; Aiblue on ABC
Pontoffel Pock, Where Are You?
May 2nd, 1980 ; Aiblue on ABC
The Grinch Grinches the Cat in the Hat
May 20th, 1982 ; Aiblue on ABC
The Sneetches
Thank you for taking a look at Dr. Suess.
And deep in the Grickle-grass, some people say,
if you look deep enough you can still see, today,
where the Lorax once stood...
"The Lorax is not only an ecological warning,
but also speaks to the dark side of "free enterprise"
at it most depraved and greedy state.
Dr. Suess, "Lifted Lorax">
An old miserable being, called the Once-ler, is the sole occupant
of the Street of the Lifted Lorax, who were displaced when the
corrupt Once-ler killed all of the trees and forests for profit.
Conclusion:
Unfortunately, industrialization has deep effects on humanity, particularly
the individual capitalistic entrepreneurs who will step on the less fortunate
in order to make a profit. If you get in the way of this profit margin you
will be done away with, and they have the lawyers and power to get there
way as the Once-ler once did. The individual is treated like a piece of
machinary that when broke, is discarded into the trash heap. What does
that say about our society? What does that say about humanity or kindness
towards our fellow man and towards our planet in which we have to live?
I'll tell you it is a sad affair when Big business will stop at nothing in
order to make a profit regardless of treating others well in the process.
One day it will be your turn and then it will be to late. You will be thrown
out into the trash on that one day that you aren't watching your back for
the big corporate power house who is waiting for your eventual demise so
that your assets and ideas can be stolen at a penny on the dollar. Let's
have some type of checks and balances on big business, and that is all
that can be done in order to have fairness in the market place.
By the way, how many Starbucks do we need per block, and where is the
individual in all of this Corporate take over? Can we survive without
another McDonalds? Maybe not. But it would nice to see the support of
the small local entrepeneur who brings forward individualism and unique
non cookie cutter ideals. I can go anywhere in California and right
away think that I never left home because every shopping center looks
alike and every location offers the same exact thing as the last location.
Variety, Unique products and services, The spice of life, and Surprise,
the local entrepeneur who knows you by your first name, where are they?
Thank you.
