The Lorax

Josef Reuther

811

  The book "The Lorax" written by Dr. Suess personifies the danger of large industries on the environment using the "old Once-ler" to represent the industries and the "Lorax" to represent the environment. Unlike many recent stories and pieces that focus on criticizing large industries for what they are doing is wrong, however the story of the Lorax is told from the perceptive of the large industries who seem not to be able to defend themselves in recent pieces.

  The "Once-ler" finds the "Truffula Trees" and sees an economical opportunity that he quickly takes. He chops down the Truffula Trees and knits the soft tufts of material that grows on the top into "thneeds" which become the main product of his future industry. The Once-ler's industry grows quickly and he comes up with new technology to cut down the Truffula Trees quicker and more efficiently. The Lorax stands up for the trees and the animals being effected by the Once-ler's deforestation and warns him about the potential consequences that cutting down the trees could have. The Once-ler, however seems not to care about the well being of the animals who may be affected by the cutting down of the trees and is driven sheerly by financial reasons as many large industries today are too.

  The Once-ler and large corporations and industries often tend to lack foresight on how their actions may have affects on the environment and other people. The Once-ler was unable to see how cutting down the Truffula Trees would effect the animals and didn't know until he had done irreversible damage to the nature there turning the once colorful environment there into nothing but gray soil. I think that by telling the story out of the perspective of the Once-ler the book shows how he recognized that he made a mistake. 

  As can be seen the Lorax gives the large companies a voice this is achieved by having the old Once-ler represent the large industries that cause the environment to deteriorate. Large industries are not given much of a voice and seem to be incapable of defending themselves in the Lorax, however "big industries" have their voice and it shows them acknowledging that they have made mistakes and would like to reverse them.

The Sneetches

Josef Reuther
811

  The book "The Sneetches" by Dr Suess deals with two different groups of creatures, on the one hand the star bellied sneetches and on the other hand the sneetches with no stars on their bellies known as plain belly sneetches. The star bellied sneetches think that they are superior to the plain belly sneetches and so they prohibit the plain bellied sneetches from socially associating themselves with them.

 Sylvester a seperate creature comes into play with his "Star On" "Star Off" machines allowing the plain bellied sneetches to become like their more elite counter parts. Once all of the sneetches seem to be equal and all of them have stars, the original star bellied sneetches claim that having no stars is better than having stars on their bellies and so they all passed through the "Star Off" machine removing the stars off their bellies. The now plain belly sneetches are fixated with being superior over the other sneetches and want to be different from them and better. However the now newly star bellied sneetches want to be exactly like their opposites. From here on the two competing groups go through the machines again and again the original star bellied sneetches always wanting to be different and the other sneetches following to become just like them. In the end the sneetches are unable to remember who started of as a star bellied sneetch and who didn't. The sneetches are all at once struck by an epiphany that the sneetches are not very different from one another that really they are basically the same and that they can coexist in harmony.

  The story of the sneetches is very similar to the persecution of Jews during World War II and how Jews and Nazis were very similar they lived in the same towns and ate the same foods and were virtually indistinguishable people. Like the sneetches it presents us with a lesson that race and ethnicity should not be the markers dividing our societies. The original star bellied sneetches were initially competing with the plain bellied sneetches and believed that they were better than the others, however by the end of the book they realized that they should instead live in harmony with the other sneetches.

  As can be seen the sneetches who are initially competing with another and the star bellied sneetches who won't let the the other sneetches associate themselves with them because they feel superior learn realize that they almost exactly the same kind and should be able to peacefully coexist.

"And Tango Makes Three"

Josef Reuther

811

  The story "And Tango Makes Three" by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson talks about a pair of penguins in the Central Park Zoo and how their sexualities are different from the other penguins. It mirrors the gay rights struggle occurring currently in the United States. The story also portrays the idea of cooperation between two groups in this case homosexuals and non-homosexuals.

         One piece of evidence that corroborates this idea about the book is that unlike the other penguins in the Central Park Zoo who find mates of the opposite gender Roy and Silo find each other. Although they are both male penguins they act as if they were not and like all the other penguins they built a nest, however when the time came for the penguins to raise offspring Roy and Silo found themselves at a loss. Their zoo keeper who had been observing them noticed that they seemed to be "in love" and eventually brought them a penguin egg. The other penguins also didn't treat Roy and Silo differently they accepted them for who they were. Roy and Silo treated the egg as their own and ultimately raised a penguin chick called Tango. 

         Another aspect of the story is that despite the fact that Roy and Silo are different from the other penguins they are treated as equals and respected just as the other penguins are by both the zoo keeper and the other penguins. I think that the book is showing that instead of treating homosexuals differently and depriving them of certain rights they should be treated as equals to non-homosexuals. The zoo keeper treated Roy and Silo as equals to the other penguins and even went out of his way to get them an egg to make them feel like equals to the other penguins. Homosexuality is believed to be wrong by some people and that it can be fixed by religion others even believe that homosexuality is a sickness that can be cured by certain healing options. This book gives you an example that homosexuality occurs in nature and that it can't simply be cured by religion.

         The story "And Tango Makes Three” deals with two different groups specifically homosexuals and non-homosexuals.  I think that Roy and Silo's story should influence others to treat gays like anybody else and not deprive them of certain rights like marriage especially in such a diverse city as New York. As can be seen homosexuality is not simply a illness of sorts that can be cured it occurs all throughout nature, and I strongly believe that Gays in our modern society should be treated as equals.