Existing comment:
Geisel and the Japanese:
In contrast to Geisel's obvious depictions of Hitler and Mussolini his Japanese characters do not generally represent the Japanese Emperor Hirohito or any other prominent Japanese leader. Geisel caricatures his Japanese characters with piggish noses, coke-bottle glasses, and grotesquely-slanted eyes -- as was commonly done throughout the United States.
In his book, "Dr. Seuss Goes To War," Richard Minear writes of Geisel, "Perhaps it is no surprise that American cartoonists during the Pacific War painted Japan in overtly racist ways. However, it is a surprise that a person who denounces anti-black racism and anti-Semitism to eloquently can be oblivious of his own racist treatment of Japanese and Japanese Americans."
Today there is still much debate over the internment of more than 110,000 Japanese and Japanese Americans in the United States during WWII. During the war, none of Geisel's cartoons took issue with that internment policy. |