Morals In Dr. Seuss's The Cat In The Hat

Have you ever read a book and felt you learned something important? Many readers experience this every day. Whether they get a good cry out of it or a good lesson, readers almost always walk away from a book a little different. People of all ages should be able to read fictional literature because it can help reader distinguish right from wrong, help them see the world from a different view, and even teach them how to respect one’s self and those around them.
Throughout history many parents have consistently read to their children as demonstrated in movies and literature, and they do it with good reason. They don’t just read to their children to get their imagination flowing. Reading fictional literature can teach readers, and listeners, many

Though some literature demonstrates bad morals through its characters, it is typically made clear to the reader that the character is wrong through other characters. Take a book as simple as Dr Seuss’s The Cat in the Hat for example. In this book, the Cat in the Hat intrudes the house of young Sally and Conrad while their parents are away, and the fish, the positive reinforcer, tells him he cannot be there. The fish continues to ridicule him throughout the story as he destroys their belongings, wrecks their house, and bring out Thing 1 and Thing 2. Fictional literature almost always has an antagonist, or someone who makes poor decisions. However, this antagonist is often canceled out by a positive protagonist who reinforces what is right and socially acceptable. However, some stories such as Love You Forever by Robert Munsch teach bad behavior and have no positive reinforces. In this story, a young boy destroys his home day by day and his mother reinforces his behavior by

When someone reads a book they really connect with the characters and “the brain… does not make much of a distinction between reading about an experience and encountering it in real life” (Paul). So, when someone reads a chapter about their favorite character in which their shown no respect, it will reflect in their own life. Readers can learn how to respect themselves and others through literature from instances such as these because they feel the pain alongside the character. If someone reads a book about an outcast who doesn’t get respect from their family, coworkers, or classmates they will sympathize with the character and try harder in their own life to treat others how they want to be treated. Readers gain this attitude because “the brain… treats… interactions among fictional characters as something like real-life social encounters” (Paul). Readers can also learn to respect themselves and their bodies better through a riveting novel about a character who struggles with insecurities. In such a novel, these insecurities result in the protagonist having relations with many different people before finding love in the end. The protagonist finds confidence through this new found love and reflects on and shows regret for their past, and the reader will learn these lessons right along with the character. On the other hand, some may argue that this promiscuity influences the reader to act as the character did, and though some