The Lorax

The Lorax is a children's book written by Dr. Seuss and first published in 1971. It chronicles the plight of the environment and the Lorax, who speaks for the trees against the Once-ler. As in most Dr. Seuss works, most of the creatures mentioned are original to the book.

The book is commonly recognized as a fable concerning the danger corporate greed poses to nature, using the literary element of personification to give life to industry as the Once-ler and the environment as The Lorax.

The Lorax was Dr. Seuss' personal favorite of his books. He was able to create a story addressing economic and environmental issues without it being dull. "The Lorax," he once explained, "came out of me being angry. In The Lorax I was out to attack what I think are evil things and let the chips fall where they might."

Plot

A boy living in a polluted town visits a strange isolated man called the Once-ler "at the far end of town where the Grickle-grass grows... [on] the Street of the Lifted Lorax", who never appears fully in illustrations; only his arms are shown. The boy pays the Once-ler fifteen cents, a nail, and the shell of a great-great-great grandfather snail to explain why the area is in such a run-down state. The Once-ler explains to the boy (shown in flashback) how he once arrived in a beautiful, pristine valley containing happy, playful fauna (Brown Bar-ba-loots, Swomee Swans, and Humming Fish) that spent their days romping around blissfully among "Truffula trees". The Once-ler proceeded to cut down the Truffula trees to gather raw material to knit "Thneeds," a ridiculously versatile invention of his, "which everyone needs". Thneeds could be used as a shirt, a sock, a glove, a hat, a carpet, a pillow, a sheet, a curtain, a seat cover, and countless other things.

Lorax (disambiguation)

Lorax may refer to:

Lori Black

Lori Black (born April 9, 1954), also known as Lorax, is an American musician born in Santa Monica, California. She is the daughter of Shirley Temple and Charles Alden Black. She played bass for Clown Alley and for the Melvins. She has since stopped performing, and has become a photographer.

Melvins

After Matt Lukin left the Melvins and joined Mudhoney, the group replaced him with Lori Black as the bassist. At the time Buzz Osborne was dating Lori Black; so the idea developed to have her play bass for the band. The first album she played on was Ozma, and then eventually Bullhead. She is also credited with playing on major label album Houdini, but it was said by Buzz Osborne and Dale Crover that her credit is false, as she was forced to quit in order to deal with her struggle with heroin addiction around the time of the production for the album.

Discography

With The Melvins