How The Grinch Stole Christmas Analysis

Dr. Seuss’ poem, “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” can be analyzed using many different schools of criticism, however, the psychoanalytical school of criticism holds allows us to truly understand the “true meaning” behind the poem. The poem begins with a socially isolated character, the Grinch, who loathes Christmas and wishes to completely destroy it. He wants to completely eliminate Christmas from “Whoville.” The Grinch gets irritated whenever when he hears the singing from the children and sees families feasting together in the holiday season. However, as the poem progress, the Grinch starts to feel the love and happiness involved with Christmas and ends up correcting his wrongdoings to ultimately enjoy Christmas with the “Whos.”

The problems of the Grinch can be interpreted in many ways, as there are many possibilities as to why the Grinch ended up so “grinchy.” He seems to have some deep-rooted issues. The reasoning behind it is not known, but the possibilities are

These thoughts driven by the ID are the most predominate thoughts in his mind leading him to his acts of trying to ruin Christmas. His Id is his animal-self wanting the destruction of Christmas with such a great desire that he doesn’t take into account the feelings of the Whos. His superego seems to be “agreeing” with the Id and completely overlapping his conscience. By the end, he says, “Maybe Christmas doesn't come from a store,” which is a sign that he understands the true meaning of Christmas. As he gained insight into his wish for destruction, his unconscious motives became conscious. His superego goes back to taking on the proper conscience role taming his destructive desires, which result in all the people down in Whoville to be happy again. Perhaps he also developed a stronger superego, which led him to correct his wrong doings by returning all the