Green Eggs and Ham: Banned?
Basic Outline:
• Green Eggs and Ham is a children’s picture book
• Its is about a character called “Sam I Am”
• His goal is to try and get his grouchy roommate to try green eggs and ham in various locations, (like a boat or a house), with an assortment of dining partners (like a goat or a mouse).
• At the end, the roommate gives in to his Sam’s constant nagging and tries a bite of the Green Eggs and Ham, where he discovers that he actually likes Green Eggs and Ham.
Banned – Early Marxism:
• Green Eggs and Ham was banned between 1965 and 1991 in the People’s Republic of China because of a portrayal of “early Marxism”.
• The ban was only uplifted because of Seuss’ death
• Marxism is the political and economical theories of Karl Marx, which later developed into the basis for communism
• Karl Marx disliked capitalism, because it is a system in which everybody buys and sells to try and end up with as much money as they can. This ends up with people who have a lot of money who own the factories, and with poorer people who only have a little money and work in the factories.
• The general idea of Marxism is to have the people working in the factories, owning the factories.
• China thought the government should own and control everything, which goes against Marx’s ideas of the workers owning the factories.
• In Green Eggs and Ham, Sam “owns” his own eggs, and is almost selling his product to his friend. Sam is showing his independency and giving his friend “wealth” in the form of extra food.
Banned – Homosexual Innuendos:
• It was also banned in a school in California for having homosexual seduction.
• In the novel, Sam tries to convince his friend to “eat” the green eggs and ham
• The ham represents a phallic sausage
• Several of the lines, such as “Would you, could you, on a boat” and “Would you, could you, with a goat” is said to be proposing sexual locations.
Dr. Seuss:
• Dr. Seuss was a very politically aware author, and tried to
• Green Eggs and Ham is a children’s picture book
• Its is about a character called “Sam I Am”
• His goal is to try and get his grouchy roommate to try green eggs and ham in various locations, (like a boat or a house), with an assortment of dining partners (like a goat or a mouse).
• At the end, the roommate gives in to his Sam’s constant nagging and tries a bite of the Green Eggs and Ham, where he discovers that he actually likes Green Eggs and Ham.
Banned – Early Marxism:
• Green Eggs and Ham was banned between 1965 and 1991 in the People’s Republic of China because of a portrayal of “early Marxism”.
• The ban was only uplifted because of Seuss’ death
• Marxism is the political and economical theories of Karl Marx, which later developed into the basis for communism
• Karl Marx disliked capitalism, because it is a system in which everybody buys and sells to try and end up with as much money as they can. This ends up with people who have a lot of money who own the factories, and with poorer people who only have a little money and work in the factories.
• The general idea of Marxism is to have the people working in the factories, owning the factories.
• China thought the government should own and control everything, which goes against Marx’s ideas of the workers owning the factories.
• In Green Eggs and Ham, Sam “owns” his own eggs, and is almost selling his product to his friend. Sam is showing his independency and giving his friend “wealth” in the form of extra food.
Banned – Homosexual Innuendos:
• It was also banned in a school in California for having homosexual seduction.
• In the novel, Sam tries to convince his friend to “eat” the green eggs and ham
• The ham represents a phallic sausage
• Several of the lines, such as “Would you, could you, on a boat” and “Would you, could you, with a goat” is said to be proposing sexual locations.
Dr. Seuss:
• Dr. Seuss was a very politically aware author, and tried to