The Lorax Synthesis Essay

“Save the planet!” “Stop pollution!” “Go green!” These popular slogans bring to mind images of protesters chanting and waving signs. These people are clearly worried about the state the world is in and want the rest of us to make a change. Protesting out in the streets isn’t the only way to influence people’s views about the environment, however. Another way to accomplish this is called ecocriticism, which involves using literature to persuade people to think more about the environment, its condition, and what they can do about it. There are several ways that authors do this. Sometimes they use scare tactics and talk about pollution and the dangerous effects of it; other times they go the opposite route and promote the environment by listing

A well-known example of this is “The Lorax” by Dr. Seuss. When you read this story as a kid, you may not realize that the story intentionally mirrors our world today, but eventually you realize that it isn’t just about Truffula Trees being cut down; it’s about real ones: pine trees and oaks and sycamores, just to name a few. “The Lorax” also draws attention to the animals that are being harmed by human recklessness. ”You 're glumping the pond where the Humming-Fish hummed! No more can they hum, for their gills are all gummed. So I 'm sending them off. Oh, their future is dreary,” (Seuss, 1971, p. 53). The humming fish mentioned in the story may not exist in real life, but we are harming actual fish by polluting our rivers with dangerous chemicals. The point is clear: our future may be dreary as well if we continue on this path of pollution and pesticides. Dr. Seuss uses an analogy in the form of a children’s story to urge people to stop harming the world we live in. This method prompts us subconsciously to stop hurting our planet without explicitly stating it, and because the story is written for kids, the message has been cemented in our brain since we were