necessitated some toning down of the criticism of big businesses in the book, in order not to offend the program's commercial sponsors. Of all the Dr. Seuss books, The Lorax is the most strident and most thinly veiled of all the allegories, and its message, both to big businesses and young readers, is crystal clear. The Lorax is hard to describe. His appearance on the stump of the first Truffula Tree that is axed suggests that he is a nature spirit, living in the tree and liberated by the chopping. It also says that he needs a soapbox or a pulpit to get his message across. He is clearly some kind of messenger or supernatural guardian of living but defenseless things, for as he says, " I speak for the trees, for the trees have no tongues." The name calling and arguing between the Once-ler and the Lorax suggests that Dr. Seuss had very strong feelings on the issues he is discussing and the message that he is trying to convey. The Once-ler's goals sound like old adages and common sense. "Business is business!/ And business must grow" is a typical American attitude, adopted when the resources of our continent seemed limitless, and when a growth economy was the only way known to measure business success and prosperity. In opposition to the Once-ler, the Lorax points out the problems involved in the conduct of business, especially manufacturing industries-destruction of natural resources with no concern for replacing them, and pollution of the rest of the natural habitat, with the destruction of animals. The animals in the story do not die, but they do suffer: the Bar-ba-loots have "crummies in their tummies", the Swomee-Swans have smog in their throats, and the Humming Fish have gunk in their gills. But the Lorax is a good guardian, sending them off before they die; though it is not clear where they will go. Throughout the entire book you see only the Once-ler's hands. The lack of a body for the Once-ler allows the reader to ima...
