It's Not Easy Being Green: The Grinch as Fascist Allegory

This is an essay I handed in for an english class in high school. My tongue bore a hole in my cheek.

It's Not Easy Being Green: The Grinch as Fascist Allegory

For fifty years, Theodore Geisel’s children’s story “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” has been a holiday staple for American families, uniting generations with its seemingly innocuous tale of a reclusive curmudgeon inspired to appreciate Christmas after a failed attempt at holiday sabotage. This ironic interpretation of what is clearly an allegory of much deeper meaning has nonetheless become an accepted reading of the story, but to continue to view this piece in such a light would be fallacious and disrespectful of the author’s true intent. Geisel, known to most by his pen name of Dr. Seuss, was a veteran of World War II. His distaste for the fascism espoused by dictators like Hitler and Mussolini was by no means hidden, and he was particularly disgusted by the idea of state-sponsored religion. Inspired in part by the war and in part by the success of his earlier children’s fiction, Seuss penned one of the most poignant anti-Fascist allegories to ever grace American bookshelves.

The first lines of “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” immediately establish the competing ideologies of the Grinch and the town that borders his secluded home. “Every Who down in Whoville liked Christmas a lot... But the Grinch, who lived just North of Whoville, Did NOT!” The denizens of Whoville, it is worth noting, are all blonde-haired and blue-eyed. They live in identical houses, smile incessantly, and are, without exception, Christians. The homogenous nature of Whoville is undoubtedly intended to mirror Adolph Hitler’s genocidal concept of a master race, and one can only speculate as to what kind of unspeakable eugenics shaped Whoville into the Aryan community that Seuss describes. The Grinch is described as physically inferior to the Whos, possessing a heart that is “two sizes too small,” as well as a coat of green fur, which, along with his atheistic tendencies, separate him markedly from the Whos.
The bias of the story’s narrator is immediately apparent; the narrator declares that the Grinch’s distaste for Christmas is inexplicable and can only be rooted in a hatred of all things good in the world. By aligning the narrator against the Grinch, Dr. Seuss has created a means of satirizing the Whoville theocracy by enthusiastically agreeing with its misguided and authoritative ideology to the extent that any educated reader will immediately see the outlandishness of the Who community.

The reasons for the Grinch’s seclusion on a mountain outside of Whoville are unclear; he may have been outcast from the town in a pogrom of sorts (in which case, one wonders where the other green, fuzzy, small-hearted exiles now reside.) More likely, however, is that the Grinch simply enjoys living by himself. It is clear that he is a man of science; his ingenuity becomes apparent in the latter half of the story when he crafts a large and sturdy sled out of household materials. As Christmastime nears, however, the Whos down in Whoville do not wish to quietly celebrate their holiday in the confines of their homogenized community but rather intend to proselytize loudly and assimilate dissenters into their theocratic ranks. The narrator describes shrill singing and noises of all kinds emanating from Whoville, and these noises preclude the Grinch from continuing to pursue science in the quiet of his secluded residence. The proselytizing of the Whos acts as a catalyst for the Grinch, who realizes that he must “stop this whole thing!” and thereby put an end to the misguided Whos and their state-sponsored religion. The Grinch resolves that the best way to thwart the Whos would be to remove all gifted belongings from their homes, because he believes that their coveted holiday is more strongly rooted in materialism than in religious fervor. This idea is decried by the narrator as “awful,” and while the Grinch’s intentions here are noble, his idea is doomed from the start. The Grinch does not realize the extent of the Who’s religious convictions; Christianity is not about material possessions but rather functions as a vehicle for the Whoville government (the existence of which is implicit in the story) to assert control over neighboring regions in a bold attempt at nothing less than world domination.

As the Grinch, cleverly disguised as Santa Claus, sets about to removing the material evidence of Christmas from Who houses, his physical and mental prowess becomes clear. It is no easy task to successfully force an entire Christmas tree up and out of a chimney, and to do such a thing without waking up the houses’ occupants is truly remarkable. In one particularly suspenseful passage in the story, the Grinch encounters a Who sentry, named Cindy-Lou Who. (All Whos have the same last name, perhaps implying sordid incestuous practices indicative of a closed community like Whoville.) Cindy-Lou demands an explanation from the Grinch as to his intent: “Why are you taking our Christmas tree? WHY?” Confronted with a potentially disastrous situation, the Grinch utilizes the girl’s youthful naivety and, claiming to be Santa Claus, assures that “there’s a light on this tree that won’t light on one side. So I’m taking it home to my workshop, my dear. I’ll fix it up there. Then I’ll bring it back here.” Even the narrator concedes that “old Grinch was so smart and so slick,” and Cindy-Lou returns to bed satisfied with his explanation.

Despite his enormous efforts and abundant skill, the Grinch is ultimately unsuccessful in thwarting the Whoville religious menace. The Grinch views the Christmas morning celebration of the Whos as a “shocking surprise,” and he experiences the heart-wrenching disappointment of a man who has fought for his convictions and lost. Overcome with anguish, the Grinch resigns himself to the inevitability of Whoville domination and resolves to join their ranks lest he be eliminated by any future aggression. Seuss paints a dystopic view of the Whoian future in his story in hopes that it will serve as a cautionary tale against the dangers of a fascist theocracy and of a homogenized culture where difference is systematically removed. If the Grinch, a principled man of science, can be reduced to a menial kitchen laborer at the Whoville Christmas feast, then the threat fascism poses to the average American is frighteningly tangible.