Popular Culture Review Vol. 10, No. 2, August 1999 | Page 138

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Popular Culture Review

discrimination - and even racism - can adversely affect individuals and all Ameri
can remains unsurpassed.
Dr. Seuss creates a visual frame of reference through his amusing and quirky
characters; and the idea and fallacy of being intolerant and prejudiced against oth
ers comes vividly to life. Dr. Seuss’ framework can best be explained by Lucuis J.
Barker, Mack H. Jones, and Katherine Tate (1999, p. 5), as they write:
A frame of reference is a set of general assumptions about the
nature of the subject or experience being investigated, what con
cepts or categories of analysis are the most useful for understand
ing it, what level of analysis should be adopted, and what ques
tions should be answered in order to develop the most useful un
derstanding of that what is being investigated.
Dr. Seuss’ assumptions and intentions are clearly outlined at the begin
ning of his sassy story of The Sneetches. In addition. Dr. Seuss’ wildly imagina
tive and satirical account of the sociopolitical conditions of our time, notably the
intractable problem of race - and human differences - is especially informative.
Indeed, his vibrant comic portrait of The Sneetches intensifies his dramatization
of the stated issues. Moreover, his interdependent and colorful text and gro
tesque or unusual illustrations of the funny-looking, beak-nosed Sneetches who appear as yellow, upright-walking ducks on steroids - are given equal em
phasis with the sotry’s telling and didactic language, which also enhances the
text explainability. For example. Dr. Seuss (1989, p. 3) writes:
Now, the Star Belly Sneetches
Had bellies with stars.
The Plain-Belly Sneetches
Had none upon thars.
Those stars weren’t so big.
They were really so small
You might think such a thing
Wouldn’t matter at all.
Nonetheless, the Star-Belly Sneetches became a distinct and dominant
group in the society of beach Sneetches. And in this sense. Dr. Seuss, a seemingly
sophisticated cartoonist for children, describes how one race or species can dehu
manize others by pressing forward the supposed superiority of their own kind, as
did the arrogant Star-Belly Sneetches in this story. Perhaps they attributed this to