Ofure Musa-Agboneni

Discourse 200

Desiree Long

Political Cartoon Essay

April 14, 2016

The Head Eats… The Rest get Milked.- Dr. Seuss

Theodor Seuss Geisel was an American writer and illustrator best known for authoring popular children's books under the pen name Dr. Seuss. He was also a political cartoonist for the New York Newspaper. Seuss illustrated a lot of cartoons about the Nazi occupied Europe time acting as a voice for some of the countries that were bullied by Adolph Hitler. Out of the numerous political cartoons Seuss illustrated that time, one that stands out is “The head eats, the rest gets milked”. This cartoon evokes so much thought and reaction because it clearly relates to the countries that suffered during the Nazi regime through the images and its representation in the illustration of this particular cartoon.

The illustrated cartoon shows a smiling cow; embedded with a swastika, with a prolonged loin in 12 places, on these spaces had 11 countries written on them namely France, Czech Slovakia, Poland, Norway, Denmark, Holland, Belgium, Yugo-Slavia, Romania Greece and Austria. The last loin just had the sign “?”. It also shows a man dressed in uniform with several pails smiling and ready to milk these various loins of all that they had. It also had a barn in the background with “Consolidated World Diary- A Hitler Production”, written on it. This illustration reminds me of a saying “…a picture worth more than a thousand words.” This cartoon is so powerful in its choice of representation; every single detail stands for something in the cartoon.

The cow plays an important role in trying to decipher where Seuss was heading with his cartoon. The fact that Seuss used a cow for this illustration could not just be random. Cows are usually referred to as dumb animals who just want to be led to where to eat and drink from. They usually have a herdsman guiding their path because they are useless without leader. This is how I have interpreted the Nazi soldiers to be, they were just like morons following orders like they were cows with no individual principles of their own. Seuss deliberately tried to evoke anger and other emotions from his readers/viewers using a cow for this illustration. This cow in this cartoon itself represents the Nazis; Hitler’s army to be precise and the nations Hitler has conquered. The smiling cow is fattened by taking from other countries; this is not news that Hitler robbed these countries off their resources and even killed their citizens. The cow and its 11 loins attached to it gives me as a reader of Seuss work a window to think about Hitler’s true ideas behind all his propaganda schemes. The last loin of the cow shows “?” which could possibly mean who is next? What country he was going to milk of next off their resources and of their freedom.

About two years after, February 16, 1942 to be exact, The Nazis attacked Pearl Harbor. Few months after the attacks on Pearl Harbor, Geisel drew another cartoon that featured a cow. In this particular cartoon, the cows were stolen by Nazi burglars from farms labeled, “Pearl Harbor,” “Singapore,” and, “Maginot Line” (Minear, “Funny…”). The cartoon is called- “Funny… some people never learn to keep their barn doors locked” (Geisel), This cartoon insinuates that countries did not protect themselves from Hitler’s army and also became victims of circumstance to stupid people. The cow still represents the resources of Singapore, Pearl Harbor and Maginot Line. In both cartoons, the cow represents the resources the Nazi’s have stolen from these countries they invaded.

 “The head eats…” , part of the sentence written on this political cartoon evidently refers to Hitler taking all from other countries. Seuss makes this obvious by making sure every little detail accounts for it. In this Political Cartoon Hitler is placed right at the center of the action. Dressed in his usual uniform, he is placed at the scene sitting comfortably around buckets and gallons of milk, which is a synonym for these countries resources. It is like they are milked of their assets literally. In terms of understanding this cartoon it is important to reflect on when Hitler invaded these 11 countries during World War II. Germany invaded these countries betweem 1930-1941.

By spring 1941, Hitler controlled most of Europe. In this cartoon, he is the proprietor of "Consolidated World

Dairy," with 11 conquered nations making up the body of one single cow. Hitler is personally involved in every single invasion, and every battle that goes into confiscating the resources and power over these countries. The cow had the swastika on it and this goes to show that even if Hitler doesn’t do the thieving and invasion with his own hands, his army represents him. They do the dirty job, while Hitler keeps his hands clean.

As plain and basic as this cartoon may look, it is important to look carefully and read meaning to every single item written or drawn in this cartoon in order to fully understand the message that Seuss was trying to pass across. Liberating these countries that Hitler and his Nazi Soldiers had invaded made Hitler to loose his authority and power. Out of cowardice and defeat Hitler committed suicide; after Hitler died of course the Nazi soldiers became redundant. I love how all these tie into this cartoon; the cow becomes useless and even more stupid when there’s no herdsman to guide and order them around. This closely ties with how after Hitler died there was no longer Hitler’s army because there was no guidance anymore from their all mighty Hitler.

German Chancellor Adolf Hitler is the prime subject of Dr. Seuss's World War II cartoons. In Dr. Seuss & Mr. Geisel: A Biography (Random House, 1995; p 100), Judith and Neil Morgan recount the story of how Dr. Seuss and PMjoined forces in 1941:

Ted [Dr. Seuss] was haunted by the war in Europe, and one evening in Manhattan he showed an editorial cartoon he had drawn to his friend Zinny Vanderlip Schoales, the brilliant, hard-drinking intellectual... (Random House, 1995; p 100). It is very obvious that WWII was very important to Seuss, as he stopped doing any other thing during that period; but write, draw, and create movies and documentaries about this horrendous time. Seuss should have had a bigger audience; his cartoons have so much meaning if they are carefully scrutinized.

Work Cited

"Dr. Seuss." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Web. 13 Apr. 2016.

Minear, Richard H. "Funny... Some People Never Learn to Keep Their Barn Doors Locked." Dr. Seuss Went to War. University of California-SanDiego, 2012. Web. 13 Apr. 2016.

Minear, Richard H. "The Head Eats... the Rest Gets Milked." Dr. Seuss Went to War. University of California- SanDiego, 2012. Web. 13 Apr. 2016.

"Which Countries Did the Nazis Occupy?" Which Countries Did the Nazis Occupy? Web. 13 Apr. 2016.