“Horton Hears a Who” is a children's book written and illustrated by political cartoonist Theodor Seuss Geisel under the pen name Dr. Seuss. The book tells the story of Horton who is responsible for protecting all Who from multiple dangers. The book often expressed the moral statement “A person is a person, no matter how small” and represented that one person can truly make a big difference when they join together with all their neighbors and friends. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay While the “whos” could represent children or any minority of the population, Dr. Suess most likely represented the “whos” such as the Japanese people. This book is often considered a sort of "apology" by Dr. Seuss for supporting Japanese internment during World War II. During the war, Japanese-American citizens were sent to internment camps because they were considered a "threat" to the security of the United States (Shmoop editorial team). According to Shmoop's editorial team, Japanese Americans were represented as the "Chi" and jungle animals were represented as the United States. Throughout the book, the statement “A person is a person, no matter how small” most likely refers to this small population and sends a moral statement to society to consider them as part of the population of the United States. Therefore, the book is aimed at restoring peace even if the small population has done nothing wrong. According to Richard Minear, Dr. Suess's view on World War II changed dramatically and was very supportive of the Japanese-American (Minear). In fact, he wrote this book upon returning from Japan and influenced by his visit to Japanese schools (Sailsbury). Dr. Suess even dedicated the book to a certain Mitsugi Nakamura, a Japanese man. During World War II, most cartoons viewed this small, minor population in the United States as latent traitors, while Dr. Sues' approach was very different. Critics also consider this book's most compelling message to be pro-life. The kangaroo character is fanatical about killing Whos simply because they are not visible and the kangaroo cannot hear their voice. According to an article by Melanie Mazzei, the kangaroo can be compared to the kangaroo court, a term used to describe the Supreme Court's crucial decision to punish harshly (Melanie Mazzei). Interestingly, another influence of the statement "A person is a person, no matter how small" is that pro-life advocates have used this statement to represent their anti-abortion views..
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