Dr Seuss Characters from WWII: Opposite of Kid Friendly
Dr. Seuss is a well-known children’s book, writer and fictional storyteller. Not only was he a children’s book writer, but he also illustrated the cartoonish fictional characters for the books as well. Dr. Seuss is children’s fiction works numbered over 60 in total. However, what many people don’t actually know about Dr. Seuss is that in the late 1930s he took a break from children’s books in order to help the war effort during World War II. Mainly, he did this by producing politically driven cartoons that depicted messages in favor of war bonds, and against axis powers. And this article we are specifically going to visit some of the politically driven cartoons from this period of time in World War II as illustrated by Dr. Seuss himself.
Let’s see some of these, nowadays, controversial illustrations from Dr. Seuss.
Theodor Seuss Geisel what is the real life name of Dr. Seuss and he was born in the early 1900s. He lived until 1991, and for 70 years time he illustrated children’s books and wrote fictional stories. For a few years in between these large chunks of time filled with beautifully written kids books, he produced some of the images you see here.
October 20th, 1941
Hideki, Tojo and Adolf Hitler are prominently depicted in this illustration by Dr. Seuss himself. The Japanese and German leaders and axis powers are being made fun of in a politically satirical manner. Not only does this illustration feature Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf, being read by Hideki Tojo, but it also makes the inclusion of a framed photograph of Hitler himself on the wall of the Japanese leader. This is to say that the two were properly in cahoots and “buddy buddy”. It is to also speak on how the Japanese leader was following the ideals of Hitler during this time period.
Among some of the more controversial and upsetting topics, in this illustration, there is also the mention of Jewish people in a clearly violent nature. The Japanese leader Hideki is asking the question what he can use in place of “Jews”. This is to say that Hideki was reading Hitler’s Mein Kampf, and making the association between the way that Hitler viewed Jewish people and what group of people he would be able to do similar things to, in his own right.
October 27th, 1941
This illustration shows a before, and after depiction of a fictional bird like character. This fictional character, drawn by Dr. Seuss speaks on how “guts“ is something that has changed his life. He generally speaks on how life before finding this out was much more difficult and things did not seem to go his way. In the after portion of this illustration, the bird like character states that he now feels good enough to punch Hitler in the nose. While this message is certainly not a bad one due to the receiving, and being, Hitler certainly is unique to think that one of these fictional characters John by Dr. Seuss himself would be speaking about punching Hitler in the face.
October 13th, 1942
Finally, we see an illustration speaking about how the individual viewing this political cartoon should make it a priority to go out and buy war bonds. This is a very prominent feature among Dr. Seuss‘s political cartoons around the years of 1940 to 1942. The thing that seems to stand out the most, however, is the drastically exaggerated, and racially charged depiction of the main subject. Dr. Seuss drew his illustration of this man with squinted eyes and large teeth. Most people in today’s society would view this as a racist illustration.
December 22nd, 1942
Being that this drawing was done only three days before Christmas it actually features imagery. That is explicitly Christmas oriented. Dr. Seuss, having been a children’s writer and illustrator and providing Christmas styled images during the time of Christmas is sort of macabre when you think about the subject matter at hand. In the picture, there are several dr. Seuss styled reindeer that are asking the viewer if they are going to buy war bonds.
December 24th, 1942
The day before Christmas. Christmas eve a Dr. Seuss illustration was released depicting a jack in the box styled toy with an evil face inside. The box has inflation written on the side of it, and the meaning is made incredibly clear. In an overt manner, the cartoon calls to attention that they did not ask for inflation this year for Christmas. We added this image because it was released on Christmas Eve, and the imagery is spooky to say the least.
December 7th, 1942
This one is simply outlandish. This illustration shows the message from Dr. Seuss being that Japan and Germany, at this point in time, had been partners in crime for a year. The way in which he shows this is with another stereotypical racially charged view of an Asian subject, and Hitler being married for a year to the day. Not only this, but there is a baby that has clearly been the result of the relationship holy and axe or hatchet.
February 25th, 1942
This image shows a fleet of Americans on a rowboat. At the back of the boat is a man with a slingshot labeled sniper. This man is hurling a stone at the man at the front of the boat. It is written at the top of the cartoon that he doesn’t like the color of the other man’s tie. This is in reference to the different colors of the political parties within the United States of America. This was to say that the war outside of America was more important than the war between political parties inside of our nation. However, the differences between the two political parties was becoming an increasing issue and providing distraction from the real war at hand.
February 27th, 1942
A pun, possibly, on of mice and men; this image shows the Japanese and German leaders lurking around the corner of a wall. These leaders are depicted as felines and are prying on Americans, which are depicted as mice. found, laying around the mice are several books with varying titles. The titles of these books all seem to allude to the fact that America did not want to go to war with Japan and Germany. They seem to state that the mice are attempting to learn how to avoid going to work and stay on their own land.
March 4th, 1942
Apparently, Dr. Seuss was not getting enough out of his readers. In this illustration, he solemnly states that there has been enough scorched earth. He instead insists that they blister their britches, referring to the axis powers. The building in which fires the ammunition to blister, said britches, is labeled several times over with the word production. This is to say that the increase of production in America would help the war effort against the axis powers.
March 5th, 1942
The very next day, Dr. Seuss released this illustration. Over the course of these few years, he must have released several hundreds of political cartoons. In this one, a man is seen looking up at a large billboard. The man is labeled on his back with the word “you”. The subjects on the billboard are the main axis powers. The billboard also says to the viewer. “What have you done today to save your country from them?” This is to say that Dr. Seuss was speaking directly to the viewer and asking them how they have helped the war efforts during World War II.
June 11th, 1942
This one may be more interesting than most in this article. It seems as if Uncle Sam or someone dressed in full American flag garb is pumping Insecticide into peoples ears that are lined up a mile long. This Insecticide is said to be a mental variety and is used to clean out mental bugs so to speak. The bug in which is being removed from the subjects head is labeled racial prejudice bug.
July 20th, 1942
Pierre Laval was a French politician, and Prime Minister. Pierre and Adolf Hitler are seen singing under a forest full of hanging bodies from the tops of trees. This one is certainly the most macabre of all of the pictures seen here in this article. While it is hard to view this image, the bodies hanging from the tops of the trees are all labeled “Jew”.
July 28th, 1942
This image simply shows a drawing of Adolf Hitler’s face. It then speaks to the viewer directly, saying to insure your home against Hitler. This is said to be done by purchasing war bonds towards the effort of World War II. This is a dramatically prominent fixture within these political cartoons from Dr. Seuss.
January 1st, 1943
This image shows a creepy older man, providing a lollipop labeled “isolation lollipop“ to a little baby. The image is labeled the kidnapper. That is all we will say about this one.
Recap and summary:
While a lot of people know about Dr. Seuss‘s endeavors in writing children’s fictional stories and illustrating them, not everyone knows about his World War II efforts. Being that Dr. Seuss is such a well-known and famous kids, author and cartoonist it makes for a unique and interesting experience in seeing his more adult topics provided in the same medium. Not only wear these topics of the adult variety, but they were incredibly controversial and difficult to view no matter the age. this adds fuel to the fire of interest as this is such a polarizing concept to what is generally known to come from Dr. Seuss.
And this article we saw several different political cartoons and images illustrated by Dr. Seuss from the years 1940 to 1943. Some of them were racially, charged, and many of them depicted, gruesome and violent acts. Just be careful and letting your children see these specific works from the longtime beloved, children’s author Dr. Seuss.
Thank you for taking the time out of your day to read this article! : )