Environmental History | 2021
Dr. Seuss’s The Lorax: A 50th Anniversary Retrospective
Abstract
In March 2021, Dr. Seuss Enterprises pulled six of the author’s books from future publication. Experts advised the company that Theodor Geisel’s demeaning images of people of color failed to age well through an era of the global Black Lives Matter movement. Critics had leveled charges of both racism and sexism throughout Geisel’s long career, which he usually dismissed with a hefty amount of condescension. Yet Geisel left a complicated legacy because several of his other books highlighted the importance of tolerance, promoted the agency of children, and pressed for environmental change. Although some of Geisel’s works have soured with age, The Lorax—celebrating its fiftieth birthday in 2021—slowly grew and flourished, partially because of the unique, relevant, and even radical messages that Geisel imbedded in the story. As Geisel crafted it, The Lorax is a historical, multi-layered, sophisticated critique of human interaction with nature. As the narrative begins, a young boy in a dry gray world finds the Once-ler who dives into his life story. In the past, the Once-ler began, the world exploded with color and diverse creatures and plants, including Truffula Trees. As a new arrival fascinated by the trees, the Once-ler immediately felled one and made a strange garment called a Thneed from the colorful tuft. In reaction, the fluffy, orange Lorax emerged from a tree trunk, angrily critiquing the Thneed as wasteful and unnecessary. Visions of wealth in his eyes, the Once-ler ignores the Lorax and, instead, increases production through more workers and new technology. Futilely, the Lorax later warns the Once-ler of the negative effects on the area, as creatures become ill or leave. Eventually exhausting the supply of trees, the Once-ler abandons the area. Despite the dark nature of the story, Seuss ends on a hopeful note.