First Name Last Name
Miss Iatarola
10th Grade Honors English
Block One
4/6/15
The Butter Battle Book Outline
Prompt: Describe how The Butter Battle Book is an allegory by selecting three characters from the book and explaining the underlying historical, social, or political significance they have, and what abstract ideas they personify.
Be clear about why Seuss would choose those particular characters and how he uses them to express a larger message.
Thesis Statement: Dr. Seuss’s The Butter Battle Book is an allegory created to show the self-destructive nature of the arms race of the Cold War. Through the grandfather, Boys in the Back Room, and the Chief Yookaroo, Seuss shows how blind obedience to one’s country, indulgence in reckless experimentation, and reliance on intimidation tactics assures mutual destruction for any countries involved.
I. The grandfather symbolizes the mentality of blind obedience that people felt for their country during the Cold War. This mentality not only enables the government to commit horrific atrocities in the name of patriotism, but it also endangers the citizens themselves, making them feel self-important while really using them as pawns in a larger game.
a. The grandfather accepts new weapons he does not understand and is prepared to fire them on the enemy regardless of his ignorance. This shows how blindly obedient citizens enable their country to do horrible things, and shows how willing they are to engage in battle. “This machine was so modern, so frightfully new, no one knew quite exactly just what it would do!” (18).
b. The Chief Yookaroo talks to the grandfather condescendingly, constantly appeasing him and praising him in order to make the grandfather carry out dangerous tasks in the name of the country. “You just run to the wall like a nice little man. Drop this bomb on the Zooks just as fast as you can” (21).
c. The grandfather’s view of the people who are fleeing the land to go and hide in a whole has been warped due to what he has been told by the Chief Yookaroo and his fellow countrymen, “They were all bravely marching…down a hole! For their country!” (22)
d. The grandfather believes so blindly in the goodness of his task (assigned to him by the Chief Yookaroo and his government) that he is willing to risk the life of his grandson so that someone might bear witness to the Yook “victory”. “You should be down in that hole, but you’re up here instead! But perhaps this is all for the better somehow. You will see me make history!” (23).
II. The Boys in the Back symbolize reckless scientific experimentation, especially in the development of weaponry. The national leaders praise scientists who push boundaries to create new weapons with unheard of destructive abilities. Seuss’s language implies that even the scientists themselves are incapable of knowing the destructive inventions they have created.
a. The scientists take pride in their creations and do not worry about the men that are handing these weapons to or even the impact these weapons could have. The pride in their work comes from their ability to create a new weapon, regardless of the effects it has on the world. “This machine was so modern, so frightfully new, no one knew quite exactly just what it would do!” (18).
b. The scientists design their weapons without any human empathy for the enemy by create weapons made from mysterious materials in order to utterly destroy an entire people. “It is filled with mysterious Moo-Lacka-Moo and can blow all those zooks clear to Sala-ma-goo” (21).
c. Even after the scientists have created a weapon that their own country fears, they are praised for their work and encouraged to take pride of the progress they have made by creating weapons of mass destruction. “My Bright Back Room Boys have been brighter than bright…they’ve invented the bitsy big boy boomeroo!” (21).
III. The Chief Yookaroo represents the flawed mindset of government leaders who feel confident that intimidation tactics will be an effective way to combat the enemy.
a. There is a mentality, throughout the story, that as long as our gun is bigger, we are safe. “Slingshots…are not modern enough. All we need is some new fangled kind of a gun” (13).
b. “If you sprinkle us Zooks, you’ll get sprinkled as well” (19). This quote shows that intimidation tactics largely end in a strand off. It shows that the leaders of the Cold War were misguided in their competitive efforts, and that bigger guns don’t produce a safer world, but rather, a more dangerous one.
c. “We’ll dress you right up in a fancier suit! We’ll give you a fancier sling-shot to shoot…he came back the next day in a spiffier suit with a big new machine” (12). This favoring of intimidation policies seems to perpetuate dangerous situations rather than actually addressing the issues. Although a people might feel safer, seeing its soliders in impressive uniforms, toting impressive weapons, if it encourages enemy forces to develop their armies and weapons, the leader in charge of those decisions is making a poor choice.