The Lorax and Ecocentrism - 3006 Words

Dr. Seuss’s The Lorax (1971) is argued as one of the most important pieces of environmental children’s literature, with educators expressing the work, â€Å"as a powerful story for teaching and learning, as a story that can promote transformational ideas in educational practice,† (Henderson, 2004). This high praise begs the question: why is The Lorax so successful at reaching out to the child reader? This essay will indentify the use of certain literary characteristics that Seuss incorporated in The Lorax, which stemmed from successful environmental children’s literature from the late seventeenth century to the twentieth century. It will establish the success of each work due to the theme or agenda it had that reflected the social and†¦show more content†¦In the late seventeenth century, children’s stories were largely centered on the Christian belief that if the child was innocent and innately good, it meant that child would be accepted in the eyes of God. Children’s literary authors often connected innocence and goodness with nature and non-human life. The agenda to illustrate nature as anthropomorphic was a direct result of making a connection between children and nature as sharing these same characteristics. Certain authors wouldn’t directly use anthropomorphism to give nature human like characteristics, but instead instilled anthropomorphic themes and morals to provide a better understanding of how children and nature share the same characteristics that God deems as acceptable. For many of these early writers, â€Å"the ability to respect and care for the [non-human] also suggests the larger ability to feel compassion and respect for the weak or powerless, and thus to feel close to the unifying ideal of God,† (Sigler, 1994). Authors like Anna Barbauld and Mary Wollstonecraft would use imagery to romanticize nature when describing its goodness and innocence, therefore better illustrating the a nthropomorphic connection between the child reader and their environment. In