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This is a story about a brother and sister who are bored on a rainy day.
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There is a knock at the door and a Cat in a Hat walks in, a jovial character who is
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all about fun. He tells the children that they can still have fun even if it's raining
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outside.
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However, the pet fish says no because their mother is out.
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Despite the warning from the fish, the Cat in the Hat enters and they begin to play games.
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He introduces two little creatures, Thing One and Thing Two, who run around the house
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making a mess.
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The boy finally catches the Things and says that they should go. The Cat in the Hat leaves.
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The children see the mess and try to clean it up before their mother comes back home.
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However, it's too much.
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Fortunately, the Cat in the Hat returns with a machine that cleans up the mess before their
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mother enters the house.
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First, let's talk about names. Why is the cat in the hat? The cat is wearing the hat,
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not inside of it. Generally, to be "in" something implies that the object that is "in" is smaller
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than the object that is out. But we can clearly see that the cat is much larger than the hat...or
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is it?
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The physical hat is quite small, as it fits on the head of the cat. But the hat on his
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head can come to represent the imagination of the Cat in the Hat, which is seemingly
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boundless. So that everything, including the Cat, is within imagination.
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Readers can then be encouraged to use their imagination as much as the Cat in the Hat.
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That although the creation and manifestation of ideas and thoughts are physically limited
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to the body, the implications and ramifications can be enough to encompass an entire world.
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But what is the message that this story is telling children? To have wild fun and to
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let a stranger walk into the house? Not exactly.
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Readers are not necessarily supposed to relate to the children in the story, who really do
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nothing but observe the fun.
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The relatability and lessons come from the Cat in the Hat. Most importantly, the Cat
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in the Hat cleans up after himself. He takes responsibility for his actions. And it is
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this responsibility that children can take away.
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The ending proposes a question to the reader, as to what they would do. Would they tell
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their mother what happened or not? But does even posing this question suggest that children
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should lie?
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Again, not necessarily. But it does introduce the idea of withholding information, or the
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truth, for some non-mischievous reason. That maybe it's not always in the best interest
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to quickly tell the truth. That sometimes "truth" can be relative. Welcome to the complications
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of life.
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Life, unfortunately, isn't simply black or white, or in this instance, Red or White.
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Right and wrong aren't always designated by gaping borders.
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Sometimes, just sometimes, it's a little bit gray.