Dr. Seuss and Philosophy - Jacob M. Held [64]
One possible outcome of such psychological oppression is self-
commodification—the packaging and selling of oneself—as a means of becoming acceptable to those in power. When we do this we are no longer alienated from just the larger community; we become alienated from ourselves because we no longer behave according to what we are and what we want, but what society wants us to be. We see this in the Plain-Belly Sneetches’ eagerness to alter their bodies to gain access to social privilege. Sylvester McMonkey McBean preys upon their feelings of inferiority and convinces them that by buying stars and altering their bodies they can buy the status they crave. They discover, however, that such self-commodification rarely works, since those in power will simply change the rules so they can keep their status. In turning to self-commodification, the Plain-Belly Sneetches embrace stereotypes and behaviors that undermine actual equality and empowerment. Only when those in power lose their status (by losing their money) are the Sneetches able to create a just society.
We see all these problems and more in Daisy-Head Mayzie. In this story, Seuss presents the typical ways in which people respond to the Other: horror (the teacher, who snatches up the little girl and rushes her from the classroom), problematizing (the principal, who decides Mayzie is a problem to be fixed), “scientific” objectification (the scientist, who forgets Mayzie’s humanity as he reduces her to a mere object of study), persecution (the mayor, who wants her driven out of town), normalization (the florist, who wants to prune her back to the norm), and commodification (the agent, who sees her simply as a means of making money). No one asks young Mayzie what she wants, and in response to her new status as Other, Mayzie herself exhibits the very behaviors philosophers concerned with diversity describe: alienation, depression, and self-commodification.
Hearing the Other:
A Person’s a Person, No Matter How Small
But there are other possible responses to encountering the Other. Horton the elephant, despite his own size and power, hears the plight of the Whos and recognizes that “a person’s a person, no matter how small” (Horton). He decides that these “little folks [h]ave as much right to live” (Horton) as anyone else, and he devotes himself to saving the Whos from the best efforts of all those around him. In standing firm against the animals of Nool, Horton exhibits the true generosity that is so rare among those not subject themselves to discrimination and persecution.
Of course, just as society shuns the Other, it also tends to turn on those who stand with the disenfranchised. The animals of Nool quickly decide that Horton is “out of his head” and must be stopped from his “irrational” behavior of protecting the dust speck that serves as home to the Whos. They move to rope and cage Horton, and it’s only the unification of Who voices that allows them to be heard. Horton, despite his size and power, cannot save himself or the Whos once he becomes their ally, not until the people of Nool are forced to hear and acknowledge the Whos. Once the Whos unite their voices, they exhibit the “power that springs from the weakness of the oppressed.”10 They are powerful because they know what is at stake, which enables them to put all their energy into their fight for justice. In doing so, they fight not just for their ideals but their very survival. It’s this power that is “sufficiently strong to free both” the Whos and Horton, as well as releasing the people of Nool from their own arrogant assumptions.11
The Lorax provides another example of someone who speaks for those unable to speak for themselves or be heard.12 When the Once-ler first starts cutting down Truffula Trees, he sends shockwaves throughout the entire area with his biggering and biggering.