"Horton Hears a Who" is a children's book written and illustrated by political cartoonist Theodor Seuss Geisel under the pseudonym Dr. Seuss. The book tells the story of Horton who is responsible for protecting all Who from multiple dangers. The book often states the moral statement "A person is a person, no matter how small" and represents that one person can indeed make a big difference when they join with all their neighbors and friends. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay While the “who” could have represented children or any minority population, Dr. Suess most likely represented the “who” as Japanese people. This book is often seen as a sort of "sorry" from Dr. Seuss for supporting the internment of the Japanese during World War II. During the war, Japanese-American citizens were sent to internment camps because they were considered a "threat" to the security of the United States (Shmoop editorial team). According to the Shmoop editorial team, Japanese Americans were represented by the "Whos" and jungle animals by the United States. Throughout the book, the statement "A person is a person, no matter how small" most likely refers to this small population and sends a moral statement to society to consider them a part of the American population. Thus, the book aims to restore peace even though the small population has done nothing wrong. According to Richard Minear, Dr. Suess's views on World War II changed dramatically and became very favorable toward Japanese America (Minear). In fact, he wrote this book after returning from Japan and influenced by his visits to Japanese schools (Sailsbury). Dr. Suess even dedicated the book to a certain Mitsugi Nakamura, a Japanese. During World War II, most cartoons viewed this small, underage population of the United States as latent traitors, while Dr. Suess's approach was very different. Reviewers also consider this book's most interesting message to be pro-life. The kangaroo character is fanatical about killing the Whos simply because they are not visible and the kangaroo cannot hear their voices. According to an article by Melanie Mazzei, kangaroo can be compared to kangaroo court, a term used to describe the Supreme Court's crucial decision on severe punishment (Melanie Mazzei). Interestingly, another influence of the statement "A person is a person, no matter how small" is that pro-life advocates have used this statement to express their views against abortion..