THE LORAX BY DR. SEUSSby Yvonne Wabai | 20-11-2016 20:52 |
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  The Lorax is a children's book written by Dr. Seuss. The book highlights the danger that corporate greed poses to nature and uses personification to represent the corporates as the Once-ler and the environment as the Lorax. In the book, a boy visits the Once-ler to learn of how the Lorax disappeared. The Once-ler tells the boy of how he chopped down trees and used them to make garments which he sold for profit and made a business out of it. As the Once-ler's business grew, the trees in the forest begun to disappear, as did the animals that lived in the forest. The Once-ler's factory polluted the water and the air, forcing swans and fish to migrate as well. The Lorax presented these issues to the Once-ler but the Once-ler turned a deaf ear and instead continued to advance his business. However, with the final tree, his business went into a slump because no more raw materials were available. The Lorax then left without a word, with the only proof of his previous existence being the word 'UNLESS' engraved where he last stood. The Once-ler pondered the message for years in solitude and finally realized that the Lorax meant that unless someone cares, the situation will never improve. The Once-ler then gives the boy the last seed and tells him to grow a forest out of it so that the Lorax and the animals can return.   Dr. Seuss admitted that of all his books, The Lorax was his favourite because it allowed him to 'attack what he thought were evil things'. I chose the Lorax because it is able to address environmental issues in a vibrant way and captures the attention of children and adults as well. There's a lot we can all learn from the book.   |
