How the Grinch Stole Christmas is one Seuss story that receives considerable critical attention with regards to its message of morality. Most studies on it, however, finds that Seuss subtly skirted the religious implications of the widely celebrated holiday, instead focusing on commercialism, the community, and the thankfulness that Christmas promotes. But although How the Grinch Stole Christmas does not contain any overtly Christian messages, the book, extended and intensified by the animated television special, does employ Biblical imagery. This imagery serves to characterize the Grinch and the Whos and to create parallelism between Seuss's Christmas story and the Book of Genesis story of the loss of innocence.
History
Journal
The Looking Glass : New Perspectives on Children's Literature
ISSN
1551-5680
Volume
14
Issue
1
Publisher
La Trobe University
Section Title
Emerging Voices
Author Biography
Julia Pond is a doctoral student at Illinois State University where she teaches children's literature and writing classes. Her dissertation spans both fields of children's literature and Southern (USA) literature by considering how Southern adolescents are acculturated through literature of multiple genres into Southern identities.
Date Created
2010-02-26
Rights Statement
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Data source
OJS data migration 2025: https://ojs.latrobe.edu.au/ojs/index.php/tlg/article/view/170
