Satire In Dr. Seuss's The Butter Battle Book

In the book The Butter Battle Book, by Dr. Seuss, between two different communities of people with different beliefs lays a wall. On one side of the wall live the Yooks who eat their bread butter side up. On the other side of the wall live the Zooks who eat their bread butter side down. The book is a satire of the Cold War, which took place from 1947-1991.This book is better than other satires because it gives the reader a clear story about what the satire is really about and uses many devices to help with the satirization. Throughout the story, Dr. Seuss uses conflict, parody, and reversal to demonstrate the reality of the Cold War. Dr. Seuss’s clear use of parody helps the reader to understand his message clearly. Grandpa says, “As you know, on this side of the wall we are Yooks. On the far other side of this wall live the Zooks.” The author put his is to describe the two different groups of people. The Yooks being the U.S.

“But we are Yooks, as you know when we brealdast or sup, spread our butter,” Grandpa said, “with the butter side up. That’s the right, honest war.”Adding this in describes the Yooks and what they believe in, in comparison to the Zooks that believe in eating bread with the butter side down. Grandpa says, “So you can’t trust a Zook who spreads bread underneath!” Every Zook must be watched.”This states that the Zooks have different beliefs and they should be heavily watched because of them. “We’ll dress you right up in a fancier suit! We’ll give you a fancier slingshot to shoot!” the leader of the Yooks said. This states that the Yooks want to have better equipment and better weapons in order to fight back against the Yooks. The Yooks always want to be superior to the Zooks in case something like this happens. All in all, Seuss’s use of characterization accurately describes the different sides and what they believe