Book Review: The Cat in the Hat, by Dr. Seuss

When the narrator and his sister, Sally, are stuck home alone in the rain, The Cat in the Hat walks into their house and insists on showing them how to have lots of good fun that is funny even though the sun is not sunny. The fish loudly, and futilely, protests the Cat’s offer. Sally and the narrator say nothing at all, and so the Cat in the Hat commences to have fun.

The Cat in the Hat’s idea of a good time is to ignore the fish in the pot’s protestations that he should not be in the house when their mother is out, and that the fish does not like his games, not one little bit. Instead, the Cat bounces merrily up and down on a ball while balancing a cup and a cake on the top of his hat, then adding books, a toy boat, a rake and, most precariously, the fish himself. Inevitably, the Cat in the Hat comes down with a bump from up there on the ball, and Sally and the narrator see all the things fall.

Undeterred by the mishap, the Cat in the Hat continues to ignore the fish in the pot’s orders to get out of the house and fetches his friends, Thing One and Thing Two. The two Things share the Cat's ideas about fun; they ignore all warnings and proceed to make a complete mess, flying kites in the house, bumping them down the wall in the hall.

Finally, the fish in the pot sees that mother is on her way home. The wrath of mother is about to befall them all. The narrator, heretofore a silent observer of the Cat’s depredations, springs into action, trapping Thing One and Thing Two in a net, and throwing the Cat in the Hat and his Things out of the house.

In The Cat in the Hat, Dr. Seuss illustrates archetypal attitudes about fun. The Cat in the Hat believes fun is dangerous, destructive conduct carried out in spite of the warnings of a stick in the mud or, in this case, a fish in the pot. The Cat personifies those people who believe fun is possible only if one risks life and limb, and makes a huge mess. The Cat is insensitive to the idea that perhaps not everyone finds such activities enjoyable.

The fish in the pot can’t understand why the Cat finds enjoyment in irresponsible behavior that will undoubtedly require someone else to step in to either heal an injury or clean up a mess. Surely it is more enjoyable to have fun in a way that does not risk health, and that does not involve equating the amount of fun experienced to the size of the mess produced. Sadly for the fish, he does not have hands, or any other way to enforce his standards. Without any authority in the household, the fish in the pot is reduced to simply shouting at the Cat to get out of this house, an order the Cat ignores.

The narrator and Sally do not appear to be having fun at any point in the book. If the Cat wished to entertain them, he fails miserable. But neither child protests the Cat’s activities until the narrator’s burst of responsibility towards the end of the book. Unable to join in the Cat’s games, they are also unable to articulate their discomfort with the Cat.

The Cat, surprised that no one but himself and his cronies like his games, leaves with a sad kind of look. The fish in the pot, the narrator and Sally gaze at the mess that is so big and so deep and so tall that they cannot clean it up, there is no way at all.

At this point, the author resolves the problem of the mess by having the Cat in the Hat break character and return to clean up his mess. While the Cat's return certainly solved the problem of the big mess, the reader is left wondering if someone as devoted to irresponsible fun as the Cat would really come back just to pick up all the things that were down. While this action may hint at an unexplored complexity in the Cat’s character, it may also be nothing more than the author finding an easy way out of a tricky situation.

The book certainly buys into the popular notion that irresponsible conduct is fun. In the end, no permanent damage is done, and the narrator and Sally do not even get in trouble. The fish in the pot is returned to his bowl. The Cat in the Hat picks up his mess, but no mention is made of him straightening out the rake he bent, or repairing the cake that has had a toy boat sunk into it. Thing One and Thing Two simply disappear back into a box, ready for their next foray into fun at someone else’s expense. No one suffers any long-term consequences from the Cat’s depredations in the name of fun.

In his book, Dr. Seuss creates four categories of attitudes about fun: (1) The Cat in the Hat’s thrill-seeking drive to have a good time; (2) Thing One and Thing Two’s participation that enables the Cat’s bad behavior; (3) the fish in the pot’s nervous, yet powerless, protests against irresponsible fun; and (4) the narrator and Sally’s unwilling participation as a silent, yet still disapproving, audience.

The character I identify with the most in The Cat in the Hat is the fish in the pot. This may simply be a reflection of my current occupation, because moms are typically expected to clean up the mess and take care of the injured. The Cat in the Hat, on the other hand, exemplifies the childish tendency to go hog-wild and think about the consequences later.

In the end, only half the characters in the book have fun. The reader is left wondering if there is a way to have fun that involves all four categories of characters. Perhaps the Cat’s willingness to pick up his mess signals some remorse on the Cat’s part, and a possibility that he may be willing to have fun in a way that encourages the more cautious characters to join him in his games, rather than alienating them.

Which character best personifies your idea of fun?