Line #13 Headscratchers/DrSeuss


1	* In ''How The Grinch Stole Christmas'': wouldn't it have been much easier for the Grinch just to walk down into Whoville and say, "Hey, guys, I know you love Christmas and all but you're really loud. Can you keep it down?"
2	** For the same reasons a lot of people in RealLife don't bother with tactful diplomacy and just go straight to the temper tantrums/scheming.
3	** People don't always listen when you ask them to be quiet. Besides, he's EEEEEEVIL.
4	** Plus it wasn't just the noise. The idea of the Whos being merry and enjoying Christmas at all seemed to disgust the Grinch.
5	** [[HandWave "Please don't ask why; no one quite knows the reason."]]
6	** Because the Grinch is a dick. Simple as that.
7	* Also, if all the Whos are such grand and wonderful folk, why didn't they invite the Grinch to Christmas before? Why did it take until he jacked all their stuff for them to extend their welcome?
8	** Here's a possibility: They're nice people, but they're clueless, naive, and isolated. They barely even realized that the Grinch was there in the first place. Also, he hates Christmas so much that if they ever ''did'' invite him, he would have refused.
9	** I don't remember the text ever saying that they never had. We don't have any real back story. Fill in the blanks yourself.
10	** The live action remake attempts to fill in some of these plot holes. Originally, he grew up with the Whos but was treated horribly and made a laughingstock when he tried to impress Martha May Who while trying to hide a shaving accident. This made him leave Whoville and retreat to Mt. Crumpit.
11	** The problem is that the live action remake doesn't seem to take place in the same world, so it would shed no insight into if or when the Whos had invited the Grinch to their Christmas celebration.
12	* Where did the Whos get all their stuff in the first place? After all, their gifts seem to be commercial goods and there isn't any apparent infrastructure.
13	** Whoville is a residential district. The infrastructure is elsewhere.
14	** They get them from SantaClaus, of course. Where do ''you'' get your zoozit-and-kazay sets, and your annual re-supply of socks and underwear, and that one citrus fruit at the toe of the stocking? [[Film/MiracleOnThirtyFourthStreet Macy's]]? I think not.
15	** Are you guys telling me that you can make head or tails of the architecture and city planning of a Dr. Seuss city at a glance?! Besides, even if all the buildings were residential, there are all sorts of real world towns where the majority of the shops are on one floor while the shopkeepers live on another.
16	* In ''The Lorax'', if the Once-ler had the last Truffula seed, why didn't he just plant it himself?
17	** Because then we'd see what he looks like.
18	** Because he feels he's done enough damage, that he's destroyed so much, he doesn't trust himself to create well; hence his giving it to an innocent youth who has yet to give in to greed or corruption.
19	** Perhaps he's too old and crippled- we've never seen him actually walking from place to place other than those wheeled chairs.
20	** Or maybe he doesn't trust himself to know where the reborn truffula forest will be planted.
21	* ''Oh the Places You'll Go''...why do all the illustrations look like an acid trip?
22	** ...because it's drawn by Dr. Seuss?
23	** Because [[EpilepticTrees the story is actually about the protagonist going on acid trips.]]
24	* I can understand not using the Dr. Seuss name for things other than children's books. However, a few of his children's books use aliases. According to Wikipedia, "Theo. [=LeSieg=]" (his real last name, Geisel, backwards) was used for thirteen books and "Rosetta Stone" was used for one. The same (or very similar) art style, the same publisher, the same target audience...why?
25	** [[Manga/DeathNote Dr. Suess wanted to be like L - he wanted to be the top three illustrators in the world.]]
26	** He used "Dr. Seuss" exclusively for books that he illustrated himself and "Theo. [=LeSieg=]" for books illustrated by others.
27	*** His second wife's maiden name was Stone. Seuss didn't want to put his name on the book "Because a Little Bug Went Ka-Choo", and his co-author suggested he use his wife's name. Ta-da. (From Dr. Seuss and Mr. Geisel, by Judith and Neil Morgan)
28	*** Theodore S. Geisel started using the name 'Seuss' to submit his cartoons to the Dartmouth school paper after he was ejected from the paper for drinking (it was the age of prohibition). He later added 'Dr.' when he was working at a magazine and did a series of cartoons called 'Science with Seuss.' I guess by that point it had become a habit.
29	* Why won't Sam I Am leave the poor guy alone? He doesn't want to eat; go away!
30	** VitriolicBestBuds?
31	** RuleOfFunny.
32	** Sam-I-Am's a breakfast pusher. You see at the end that [[spoiler: [[FanNickname Sam-I'm-Not]] is totally hooked]], he plans to get his mark hooked on the good stuff, then come back with white-and-yellow eggs and bacon, then scrambled eggs and low quality sausage, then finally he'll be selling bowls of cold cereal for more than the green eggs and ham cost. The fox is obviously one of his "example" clients, one he keeps supplied with green eggs and ham in exchange for its endorsement. If it lives in a freaking box to support its breakfast habit, how much do you think Sam-I-Am got from his total client base?
33	*** Sounds more like WildMassGuessing bullshit, but if you're serious, you should know that the real reason Seuss wrote that book was because he wanted to win a bet that he could write a whole book using a vocabulary of no more than fifty different words. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Eggs_and_Ham
34	*** WatsonianVersusDoylist.
35	* So, I look at the Sneetches and think... sure, the Aesop is good and valid, but I can't help but think the story just wouldn't go like that. Bear with me here... as the story goes, the Starless Sneetches manage to get their stars on. So, what do the Stared Sneetches do in response? They decide to re-invent the segregation principle so they're again on top. Even after things are all messed up and they have no money left, I imagine they'd just create another law off thin air, such as "the most stars the better". I keep thinking the kind of people they are wouldn't just give up on status easily like that. Also, wouldn't it be simpler (and make more sense) to add another star, instead of taking it off?
36	** It's hard to have an "us" and a "them" if you're not sure who's "us" and who's "them." Also, without any money, it'd be difficult to have hot dog roasts at all, so it'd be difficult to exclude anyone.
37	** After all the confusion and their money swindled, I suppose they all realized that it was all pointless to begin with. I'm just wondering why they didn't kick Mr. [=McBean's=] ass afterwords.
38	*** I thought that was because he ran like hell after the Sneetches' money ran out.
39	* What's the name of the main character from Green Eggs and Ham?
40	** Sam-I'm-Not.
41	*** NoNameGiven, if not TheNameless. Sam-I'm-Not is just the name I use, and ''maybe'' a FanNickname, it's difficult to see the PotHole above because of the spoilermarking.
42	*** Can't be "Sam-I'm-Not". Using "I'm" would break the 50-word limit, and lose Geisel his bet.
43	** According to [=IMDB=], his name is Joey.
44	** The Netflix series names him Guy-Am-I.
45	* Why didn't the doorman of Solla-Sollew simply re-assign the city keyhole as a urinal until the Slippard moved out? Beats most of the population having to climb out over the wall...
46	** If it's bad luck to kill them, maybe it's also bad luck to pee on them. Also, there's the trouble of cleaning it up.
47	* What ''would'' you do if you met a Jibboo?
48	** [[BringMyBrownPants Poop]] [[PottyFailure myself]], those things are [[NightmareFuel scary]].
49	** I'd run away, screaming bloody murder.
50	** We need more information. They might be as scary as they look or they might [[DarkIsNotEvil be actually nice]]. Maybe what you should do is do some research.
51	** Attempt to make contact and conduct research on whether or not they are truly the menace they are believed to be.
52	* Personally, [[{{Tropers/Spinosegnosaurus77}} I]] have always wanted to know: Do ''How The Grinch Stole Christmas'' and ''Horton Hears A Who'' [[WhereTheHellIsSpringfield feature the same Whoville?]]
53	** I think so. The live-action adaptation of ''Film/HowTheGrinchStoleChristmas'' took place inside a snowflake, so it could be the same speck in there.
54	** Seussical mentions the Grinch, so likely yes.
55	** There's a tricycle in ''How The Grinch Stole Christmas'' labelled "For Jo-Jo." If that's the same Jo-Jo from ''Horton Hears A Who'', then yes.
56	** Probably not. Horton's Who-ville features Truffula-like trees, whereas the Grinch's Who-ville features realistic-looking pine trees.
57	* The message of ''Literature/HowTheGrinchStoleChristmas'' is "Christmas is about family, not presents". But the Grinch took all of the Who's ''food'' as well as their presents! Don't they ''need'' food to [[FridgeHorror stay alive]]?
58	** He probably started on basically the holiday foods, like the Roast Beast, and then just got carried away. By that time he didn't care about how the Whos would survive without anything.
59	** Plus, after his HeelFaceTurn, it's implied he gave the food back along with the Christmas presents. I mean, it would kinda ruin the meaning of the end if he brought back everything except the things the Whos needed to stay alive in the first place. In the animated version at least, he's seen at the end cutting up the beef and delivering it to everyone else at the table.
60	*** I know, but the entire point of the story is that the Whos are enjoying Christmas even without their stuff. (Including what they need to stay alive.)
61	** Did the Grinch actually take all the food from them, or just what they needed for the feast? It does mention that he "cleaned out the icebox" so based on that I would presume that he did indeed take a large amount of their food. But they may have had more. (Also remember that probably not all of their food would be in the icebox. They would have some in the cupboard.) Also it only mentions him cleaning out one icebox. Sure he may have emptied out more but did he actually leave no food at all?
62	* If ham hash is made of ham, and beef hash is made of beef, what is [[FridgeHorror Who Hash made out of?]]
63	** Oh God... Maybe the Grinch ''really was'' doing the right thing...
64	** It's not ''made'' out of anything. It's ''grown.'' Where do you think they got the idea for all those bizarre decorations and musical instruments and party games?
65	*** It's Dr Seuss. Drug theories go on WMG.
66	** It's probably something like beef hash, but the Whos have a linguistic VerbalTic for sticking "Who" onto words as a prefix.
67	** The name refers to it being a type of hash made by The Whos , like Italian ices, or Philly cheesesteaks.
68	* If ''Literature/TheButterBattleBook'' is a metaphor for the UsefulNotes/ColdWar, which side is supposed to be communism?
69	** Both and neither, that's kind of the point. The two sides' only noticable difference is how they eat their bread (an ideaology), just like in real life. And if we don't already have an opinion on one of the ideologies (which making one side directly represent communism and one capitalism would give us), the conflict seems pointless and stupid, just like the Cold War looks to many now.
70	** Alternatively, the Yooks represent the USA and the Zooks represent the USSR. Notice how the Yooks wear blue and the Zooks wear orange, which is a close colour to red. Also, most Americans eat their bread with the butter side up (if not on both sides) and the name "VanItch" sounds very Russian.
71	* In "The Sneetches", why didn't the Plain-Bellied Sneetches make their own frankfurter roasts, picnics, parties, and marshmallow toasts since the Star-Bellies wouldn't invite them to theirs?
72	** It may be because the Plain-Bellied wanted to fit in with the rest of the crowd, rather than stooping to the Star-Bellies' level of acting superior. Take for instance when the Plain-Bellies earn their stars from [=McBean=]; rather than accepting themselves after the Star-Bellies lost their stars, they instead chose to remove/gain their stars in order to match that of the other Sneetches. Thus, they may have felt that acting just as high and mighty as the other Sneetches were was beneath them.
73	* What was the deal with the Glunk from "The Glunk that Got Thunk"? Most of the time, when the girl is thinking up creatures, they're only shown in thought bubbles, but the Glunk is in the real world and is racking up a real phone bill. And did his mother get "thunk" too? What happened to her when her son got "un-thunked"?
74	* Initially, Yertle the turtle only wanted to be higher so he could see more and therefore rule over more (as he's the ruler of all he can see), but then he wanted to be higher than the moon. Why? He can see the moon just fine so he therefore rules over it. Additionally, why was he insisting on using turtles for his "throne"? Why couldn't he get rocks?
75	** 1. Maybe he thought the moon would try to rule him? 2. Rocks are hard to move. Turtles move themselves.
76	** Also, when he says that he is "the ruler of all that [he] see[s]", he doesn't mean literally everything he sees in every direction, but only in the downward direction.
77	* In “The Big Brag” why did Dr. Seuss choose a worm as the creature with the most incredible eyesight. A worm doesn’t fit the concept like the other animals do. I could see maybe an owl or a cat. But a ''worm!?'' Rabbits DO have excellent hearing and bears DO have a strong sense of smell. But worms in [[RealLife real life]] are pretty much the [[ArtisticLicenseBiology exact opposite of the worm in the book when it comes to seeing]].
78	** 1. Worms are smaller than other animals, so are great teachers of humility. 2. It is my interpretation that he wasn’t ACTUALLY seeing all that, he was just trying to teach them a lesson.
79	** Even if the worm really could see than far, keep in mind that this is the same book where turtles can support the weight of hundreds of other turtles and berries can make birds grow extra feathers.

Context Headscratchers / DrSeuss