So, I had an amazing compliment (probably the best I've gotten in a long, long time) from my science teacher. Basically, my environmental teacher assigned a paper about the message the movie producers were trying to give out about The Lorax. Knowing that while being in an on-level class is beneficial if you don't exactly do well in science, you witness a lot of incompetent people who refuse to turn in papers and sleep in class so frequently that I doubt they even knew we watched The Lorax, I actually decided to spend some deep thinking on it. Of course, believing that my teacher wouldn't bother reading it because he's not a literature teacher, I sort of wrote more about symbolism embedded into the movie rather than the environmentalism. It only took about ten minutes, and I didn't bother looking it over twice, then I just shoved it into Edmodo without thinking about it a second time. The next morning, at about 7:30 , I got an email saying that it was the best reflexive paper he's ever read and that he had to put it through a plagiarism filter because (and I didn't know if this was a compliment or not) he didn't exactly believe I wrote it.

               I basically started my paper saying that one of the main character's clothing was what foreshadowed the entire plot. In the beginning, the Onceler takes up a good opportunity in using the trees (which are extinct now) to create this weird invention. He comes into the scene wearing a blue and white outfit. The blue - which was on the Onceler's jeans and vest - symbolizes cleanliness and unity. The white, which covers his arms and undershirt, symbolizes purity. Because the legs - a way of transportation - and the vest -which overlays the heart- are covered with blue (cleanliness and unity), it implies that when he enters the forest  he was innocent at heart and was only hoping to create a difference in the world. But later in the story, after he turns greedy and ignorant, he is shown in dark green outfit. Though the common connection between green is money and environment, it can also symbolize fertility, which brought on the climax of Ted (the original main character) having to enable the seed in which the Onceler gave him in order to give life to the trees. Basically, the Onceler let the trees live again. The colors were especially important in this movie because it showed not only foreshadowing, but how the characters can affect the story's plot and meaning so easily.

               Another large thing that effected what the plot implied about the environment was the variation of animals. The large majority of the animals in this movie were bears. Bears are, in a lot of stories like Native American Mythology and Celtic Mythology, seen as spirit walkers. In other words, the bears are seen as guidance between two worlds. The bears are the first to welcome the Onceler into the world he had never seen, full of trees and beauty, but there are also the ones to suffer when he betrays this new, abstract world. It is not until he sees the bears again at the end of the story, do the audience know that he has successfully redeemed himself because he had met the guidance of two worlds once again. His innocence and wisdom reunited him with the bears so he can rest in his original world in peace, without being haunted by the other world. The other animal which shows the importance between the environment and humanity is the fish. A fish in Christianity is often seen as a symbol of savior and faith. The fish, though they may be tricksters, do try to save the young bear, who in which is stuck in the Onceler's dark path of falling down a water fall, and brings back salvation. Though both of these animals are ordinary, they show the need for animals in the world in order to retain balance and humanity. The animals in Dr. Seuss' stories are saviors and are needed in order to truly be connected toward the earth because, mythological speaking, they are the only beings that can connect the populations to the environment. 

            I thought this would be a good thing just to add into my lit blog just because I'm very, very proud of it. And I guess it must connect to AP Lit somehow?