Horton Hears A Who! By Dr. Seuss: An Investigation on Human Behaviors

Abstract

Children’s literature is a creative way of introducing the world to young minds, it is explaining phenomena and behaviors in a way that they understand. This genre of the art is not only a gateway to subconsciously prepare children to be a part of the society, but it also equips them with knowledge and ideas that may help them to become effective members of it. Works like Dr. Seuss’s Horton Hears A Who! provides a creative representation of a community, and how people within that community move and interact with each other. This research aims to reveal the human behaviors that are embedded in the books characters and settings, and correlate that to events that happen in the real world to explain how Horton Hears A Who! and therefore, children’s literature promotes the understanding of complex human behavior to children. Related literature and studies support the study’s claim. The research will be following a qualitative research approach, specifically a discourse analysis method. The data gathered will then be analyzed in relation to Sigmund Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory, Martin Fishbein and Icek Ajzen’s Theory of Reasoned Action, and the Mimetic Theory according to Erich Auerbach.