6
The Cat In The Hat Is About Finding Our Moral Compass In A Godless Universe
Despite having been turned into a feature film full of boner jokes and regret, Dr. Seuss' The Cat In The Hat continues to endure as one of the most-read children's books ever. And what's not to like? After all, it's the whimsical story of a talking cat who owns a goddamn hat. And! It also works as a treatise on modulating your sense of moral value in the absence of a god.
You see, the book finds two kids being left alone by their mother, who presumably had a gig in another children's book across town. So, the girl (Sally) and the unnamed boy (Tyler Durden?) just sit there and stare out the window.
Random House
All the calamitous events of this story could have been avoided with a good old-fashioned TV set.
In strolls the Cat in the Hat, a figure of anarchy and moral decrepitude. He promises meaningless frivolity to Sally and her brother, encouraging them to disregard their mother's rules -- if she's not here, what does it matter? Only the family's pet fish tries to remind the kids that adhering to a code of conduct is important, the freaking killjoy. This is a good point to mention that the image of a fish has traditionally been used to represent the church.
Random House
This explains why he asks the kids to drop money in the bowl after each sermon.
Of course, authority figure or not, the fish is still a goddamn fish. He can preach all he wants, but can't ultimately force the kids to do anything. So the Cat's shenanigans are allowed to continue, but then it turns out the fish had a pretty good point -- the house does get totally effed up. These dumb kids may as well have invited Led Zeppelin to crash there.
Random House
We'll skip over whatever gross conclusions one could draw from kids playing with their "Things."