We love Dr. Seuss with the kind of devotion a kid has for his or her blankie, but that doesn't mean Dr. Seuss is untouchable. No sir-ee! Think of this text as a good way to stretch your newly-found postcolonial imagination. Sure, the story seems totally innocent and full of positive encouragement for kids and graduating seniors. But have you noticed how the boy in the story is a white boy who, in order to find his way in the world, goes off to strange lands with purple elephants who carry a canopy over him? Africa, anyone? Things to make you go "'hmmm,"' maybe?
So let's get poco. How do those elephants relate to the boy's journey in the book? If the elephants aren't a sign of the boy's imperialist power, then what is their purpose in the book? Why not less geographically specific animals, like unicorns or dodo birds, for example?
Okay, so maybe you're not convinced that Dr. Seuss' book just might have some colonialist impulses in it; or maybe you are. But ask yourself this: could there have been any alternative way for this boy to become a man? Why does it take travels to distant lands for the kid to arrive at adulthood?