Theodor Seuss Childhood

Theodor Seuss Geisel is more frequently recognized by the name, Dr. Seuss. He is the author of many well-known children’s books including: Green Eggs and Ham, Oh the Places You’ll Go, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Horton Hears a Who and many more! Through his work, Dr. Seuss expressed his views on childhood, shaped by his own experience of childhood, which has had enough of an impact to still be popular in society today.

Ted Geisel was born in 1904. During this time period, society commonly consisted of parents who taught their families very strict sets of values, including a great deal of family bonding time. Being that he grew up in this era, Geisel’s experience aligned with this cookie-cutter expectation of family values. His mother paid

Specifically in the following quote: “Each Christmas Eve, when the German community opened gifts, Geisels and Seusses gathered beside the tree at Fairfield Street to sing ‘O Tannenbaum’ and ‘Stille Nacht.’”(Morgan, 13) Teaching a child the ways of their culture reflects the desire for the child’s best interest in that it is the attempt to help him or her understand where he or she came from. Also, it includes teaching him or her the ways that they believe are ‘right’ because these ways may work for them in their lives. This being the case, it is easy to understand that Geisel must have believed that these ways were very much ‘right’ and that ‘right’ meant exercising strict disciplines and values to show love and hope for the future of

He grew up in a time of great protection and care, and it is obvious in his writing that he wanted children to not only enjoy and have fun with his stories, but to learn from them because he truly cared. There follows the running theme of Geisel’s belief of the importance and impact of proper education during childhood throughout his life.

Although Theodor Seuss Geisel passed away in 1991, his lessons and stories continue to be as popular as ever. Not only are his books still being sold, many of which are classics, but several movies have been made recently, based on these books. Some of these that I have seen are a cartoon version of How the Grinch Stole Christmas, a ‘real-life’ version starring Jim Carrey as the Grinch, The Cat in the Hat (starring Mike Meyers), and Horton Hears A Who, which was another cartoon film featuring the voices of Jim Carrey and Steve Carell. Even in today’s society if a child has not been exposed to Dr. Seuss