Lake Winna-Bango

Lake Winna-Bango may sound like a place littered with motor homes, but it is a surprisingly camper-free setting for Thidwick the Big-Hearted Moose. Which is good, because let's be real—Thidwick's antlers are full enough as it is.

This setting is pretty unique in terms of Seuss settings in that it feels like a place we could all pack up and visit if we wanted. So though sadly you will find no Lake Winna-Bango on any map, unlike, say, a land filled with Truffula Trees, this is a place that feels familiar even if it's made up.

Picture Perfect

Lake Winna-Bango is a peaceful lake surrounded by rolling hills, in an area loaded with forest critters from foxes to turtles, bears to Zinn-a-zu birds. And, of course, there's plenty of moose-moss to munch if you happen to be a moose or are just looking for some inspiration for your next salad.

We're guessing this fictional lake is located in northern North America—either in Alaska, Canada, or somewhere in the upper Continental U.S. like Minnesota—since moose only live in those areas and in certain places in north Europe and Russia. But "Winna-Bango" doesn't sound very Russian, does it? Maybe if it was called Винна-Банго or something like that….

The landscape is minimally drawn in the background—a couple trees here, a bush there. There are a few exceptions to this rule, though, such as when the Harvard Club Hunters are chasing poor Thidwick around the lake:

Up canyon! Off cliff! Over wild rocky trail!
With bullets bang-bouncing around him like hail!
Up gully! Through gulch! And down slippery sluice (40.1-3)

Along with this description, we get an illustration that is very detailed in terms of setting, one showing Thidwick being chased through the precipitous landscape. We can also catch a glimpse of Seuss's penchant for curvy, rounded style in this natural scenery.

As such, Lake Winna-Bango is not as abstract as, say, Hop on Pop. Yet it still stays far in the background for most of the poem, only coming to the forefront sparingly and in certain scenes. Why is this? Is it just Seuss's style, or is there something else going on?

It's Called Background for a Reason

We say it's both.

It's often Seuss's style to have very minimal backgrounds in many of his works. Hunches in Bunches, One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish, and Marvin K. Mooney, Will You Please Go Now! all take place in realms represented by geometric shapes and simple scenery.

But the other reason the setting stays in the background for most of the poem is because it's not the focus. Instead, it's the characters that take center stage. Some of Seuss's books can be as much about the place as the characters—see The Lorax and The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins as examples—but Thidwick is all about that big-hearted moose.

We can see this in the illustrations as much as the poem. The characters are often large and in the center of the page, drawing your eye to them instead of encouraging it to wander over a detailed landscape.

But what about those exceptions we mentioned earlier? You know, when the settings ramps up its visual presence? Well, let's look at another example for that one:

But now it was winter and that wasn't easy,
For moose-moss gets scarce when the weather gets freezy.
The food was soon gone on the cold northern shore
Of Lake Winna-Bango. There just was no more! (27.1-4)

Although we're seemingly discussing the setting, it's really Thidwick we're talking about there. A lack of moose-moss is going to be a real problem for the big-hearted moose, so it's less about Lake Winna-Bango changing and more about Thidwick encountering another problem. The same can be said for the scene where the Harvard Club is chasing Thidwick around the lake. The setting is shown more, then, when it directly impacts our main moose.

In short, Lake Winna-Bango mostly hangs in the background in Thidwick and the Big-Hearted Moose. So when it pops to the fore, pay attention to how it's affecting Thidwick himself.