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Thegrinch Stole Christmas

In: English and Literature

Submitted By Mmbosh
Words 326
Pages 2
Theodore Geisel published ‘The Grinch Who Stole Christmas in 1957 (Illinois, 2013). In the 50’s, North America was starting to buy in (literally) to the commercialization of Christmas. The event of reverence and celebration that it had been for over a thousand years was descending into a money-making ploy by the corporations of the world. In fact, the Santa Claus we know today was shaped by the multi-billion dollar corporation, Coca-Cola (Staff, 2012). As we all know, when Dr. Seuss wrote his books, he most often included a theme, or ‘moral of the story’ as a guide for young children to help them learn important values. In his work, “The Grinch Who Stole Christmas”, Dr. Seuss openly protested the commercialization of Christmas. Seuss’s work is very obviously Marxist-based, as it spoke clearly on issues of discrimination, ostracism and misplaced values. Marxism is different than ‘other progressive movements because Marxists always struggle to overcome the manifold forms of domination and exploitation in and through the self-emancipation of the working class’ (Marxists.org). Dr. Seuss could be interpreted as protesting against this exploitation of the public by the capitalists and corporations, by creating a work that states that ““Maybe Christmas,” he thought, “doesn’t come from a store. Maybe Christmas…perhaps…means a little bit more!”” (Geisel, 1957). Seuss, it seems, was of the opinion that the version of Christmas we know now, based on giving and receiving expensive purchases, was little more than an incredibly clever marketing gimmick by major corporations, which is essentially the upper class. In his work, Dr. Seuss outlined the difference between the upper class (the Whos) and the lower class (the Grinch). I think that Seuss’s characterization of the Grinch and the Whos is more in depth than we may thing. I think that the Grinch represents the lower classes of

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