Seeing is Believing
- Ah, the joys of sensory experience! Look at all there is to see from such great heights. A cow munching away on grass, a house, a blueberry bush. Why, this would almost seem like some sort of eye-opening study abroad experience if it weren't for just one thing.
- '"All mine!' Yertle cried" (25).
- Aha, there we go. That me me ME mentality.
- Yertle can't be happy unless he owns everything and everyone… and he probably won't be happy then, either. The closest to happiness a turtle like Yertle can get is when he praises himself loudly without anyone agreeing. '"I'm Yertle the Turtle! Oh marvelous me!"
- Let's not forget the fact that Yertle wouldn't be able to see such wonders if he weren't standing on the backs of his subjects. And how did they even get to be his subjects in the first place? We're betting this throne was the kind that was invented and then seized. What a turtle, that Yertle.
- Shmoop analysis alert. FYI, there's a lot going on here with imperialism and fascism. We'll comment more on it in the "Meaning" section. Click away, and then hop on back.