A Child's Mind in the Hand of a Genius
'Drunken Kaiser,' that is the nickname Theodor Geisel was called as a child. The brewery owned by his father and his German descent contributed to the name, a name that only led to rocks, bottles and obscenities tossed in his direction. There was no fighting back, instead over the course of his 86 years he created some of the greatest cartoons, books and even films to grace the eyes and ears of adults and children everywhere. Described by Jonathan Cott, an author in his own right as, "...a genre, a category, an institution," Mr. Geisel contributed more to a society than his stories but gave the world something to hold onto forever.His sixty plus books have been translated into 15 languages and are read in over 45 countries. Looking back on his lifetime he witnessed and shaped the minds of children, adults and politicians. Either through cartoons during WWII or in books so simple the vocabulary rarely reached over 400 words. The messages weren't always clear but the morals dealt with nuclear arms, the environment, war, racial tolerance, and antifascism. Still the text was s
imple enough for a five-year old to read. Dr. Seuss' realm of influence in politics was not only limited to his cartoons of the 40's. The Watergate scandal involving President Richard Nixon fell under the wrath of Seuss' media power. It was 1974 and Dr. Seuss sent a newspaper columnist a copy of his book, Marvin K. Mooney, Will You Please Go Now! except Marvin's name was replaced with Nixon's. An excerpt from the story, "I don't care how you go/ Just GET! / Richard M. Nixon! / I don't care HOW/ Richard M. Nixon/ Will you please/ GO NOW!" within a week of it being nationally syndicated Nixon had resigned. Seuss calls it a coincidence. Youth, it's something we all possess, others hold onto it while some let it slide from their grasps as they seemingly age. Dr. Seuss captured the minds of children starting after the end of the Second World War. Helen Geisel, his 1st wife, said once, "His mind never grew up," and that was true in a sense; he showed children something they could understand. His logic regarding important issues of the time and those to come in the future was e
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Approximate Word count = 733
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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