Horton Hatches the Egg “I mean what I said and I said what I meant… An elephant’s faithful One hundred per cent!” (Seuss 11) . Going through a terrible storm, a frosty winter, humiliated by his friends, and sent to a circus- despite the disastrous circumstances he encountered, just as he promised, Horton the elephant protected Mayzie the bird’s egg. Horton Hatches the Egg by Dr.Seuss is widely read aloud by parents and teachers, for its important qualities of faith and patience it displays. However, among nuclear families with adopted children, it may be controversial of whether the book is to be read to their children or not, for the story creates a strong sense of connection to the topic of adoption. The story starts off with Mayzie, a lazy bird, complaining of how weary she is, having to stay at her nest all day to warm her egg up. In order to take a vacation, she insists Horton, a kind hearted and considerate elephant, to warm her egg while she is away. Faithful Horton replied by saying, “I’ll sit on your egg and I’ll try not to break it. I’ll stay and be faithful.” (Seuss 5). From this day on, despite …show more content…
The amount of effort you are willing to put into your work, contributes to the results you achieve. In the story, Horton sacrificed his time for Mayzie and the egg, despite being caught in terrible weather conditions, taunted by his friends for “trying to be a bird”, and nearly being shot by a group of hunters. At the end, because Horton remained faithful to his promise, the “elephant-bird” that hatched turned out to become his child, and not Mayzie’s, who gave birth to him. Seuss enforces the idea of dedication and effort by repeating “it should be, it should be, it SHOULD be like that!” (Seuss 28), emphasizing that those who work harder should achieve better