Dr. Suess’s beloved children’s book, The Lorax, was published August 21, 1971. For decades, writers and scholars have praised the message of environmental protection that saturates the pages of The Lorax. While the book does praise environmental safety, some verses may lead one to believe that the titular character the Lorax is not a blameless protagonist. In fact, Dr. Seuss’s message can be viewed as saying that one can care to much about a cause, in this instance, the environment.
The Once-ler makes many references to family in the book. He mentions his brothers, aunts, and uncles several times. He also mentions the word “dad” once. The Once-ler says,
“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!'”
Now many people may reject the literal use of the word “dad” by the Once-ler. Furthermore, people may assume Dr. Seuss used this word just because it rhymed. However, the Once-ler character has used various family terms in a literal since. The Once-ler has a strong view of family ties. Whenever he was starting his business, the Once-ler called his family to help him. The public views Dr. Seuss as one of the greatest children’s writers in American history. Therefore, Dr. Seuss could have written any word into this line and he chose “dad”. In the second meeting in the book, the Once-ler tells the Lorax to “shut up”. If it is presumed that this is only their second meeting, why has the Once-ler become so terse so fast. This is not their second meeting; this is one of countless meetings in which the Lorax has tried to shove his opinions down his son, the Once-ler’s, throat.
The Once-ler is symbolic of the millennial generation who had hippie parents. The environmentally savvy parents would leave their entire families to go live in the woods protecting trees or animals. Dr. Seuss was brilliantly predicting the next phase in American culture, the millennials.
He portrayed the next generation as selfish, yet diligent. Millennials are more concerned for their own well being; however, their desire for profit lead them to produce some of societies greatest advancements. Social innovations like Facebook or a Middle-Eastern teenage girl standing against tradition to fight for educational equality are only a few examples. In a similar way, the Once-ler innovates the world of fashion but for selfish reasons. He destroys the environment and his relationship with his father, the Lorax.
Dr. Seuss warns the incoming generation of the problems their fixation can produce. It shows the millinials that their next innovation has to provide limits to how they approach achieving their success. They cannot steamroll everything and everyone to reach success.
American Cultural Icons 