Whoville: Cozy Christmas Community or Cold-Blooded Cult?

Photo from WNDU

Sage Osesek

Cult noun: Unquestioned devotion directed toward a particular figure or object. They generally consist of a small group of people who hold intolerance toward other ideas. They have a sacred location, often in a secluded area. Members have no lives outside of the group. 

Does this sound familiar? A particular town perfectly fits this description: a secluded town named Whoville. 

You may see Whoville as a nice village that only seeks to spread Christmas cheer. That is precisely what they want you to think. Their town is masked with cheer. Whos from all around Whoville gather around their Christmas trees, happily singing Christmas songs. They have little families and a charming town. Their decorations light up the colorful village. They seem innocent. 

They are not. 

Note that The Grinch is told from the point of view of a Whoville sympathizer. He warmly describes Whoville, creating an image of a cute town: “Every window was flocked, every lamppost was dressed and the Whoville band marched in their Christmasy best. Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas!” Based on this description, we can conclude the narrator is biased. Clearly, he has been swept up in their cult. He supports Whoville, so his perspectives are invalid. 

The biased narrator starts his story with cruel speculations about the cause of the Grinch’s bitterness. “It could be his head wasn’t screwed on just right. It could be, perhaps, that his shoes were too tight. But I think that the most likely reason of all may have been that his heart was two sizes too small.” 

The narrator, like most of Whoville, has formed a twisted view of the Grinch. They perceive the Grinch as evil and deformed as a result of his hostility. It seems that if someone does not have the same opinions as Whoville, they are shunned, detested, and criticized. They hypothesize that someone’s “head isn’t screwed on right” if they hold different views. The narrator describes the Grinch using the following offensive phrases: “your heart’s an empty hole,” “your soul is an appalling dump heap,” and “you're the king of sinful sots.” Does this fit the loving image crafted by the brainwashed narrator? No; with every word we hear from the Who brain, we see a clearer glimpse into their warped thoughts. They created horror stories about the Grinch only because he was different from them. They scared their children about his unacceptable actions to ensure their dedication and a living legacy to the Whoville cult. 

Cindy Lou Who is a vital character in the uncovering of the Whoville cult because she was an outcast. In a happy Whoville mood, her father says, “Boy, nothing beats Christmas, right?” and Cindy Lou Who responds, “I guess…” This response lacks the enthusiasm for Christmas that the sheep of Whoville hold. She doesn’t follow the norm, much to the dislike of Whoville. Cindy Lou Who eventually meets the Grinch, and she doesn’t understand Whoville’s irrational hatred of the Grinch. "If the Grinch was so bad, then why did he save me?” she asks. Because she was too young to have Whoville’s warped ideologies engraved in her head, she held tolerance toward the Grinch. She symbolizes hope for the next generation - hope for acceptance of differences, as seen with the Grinch. This sharply contrasts with Whoville’s cultish and blatant bigotry. 

Whoville is a little village that is a prime example of masked cruelty. They seem warm and carefree, but underneath that fake layer of Who skin, they are inhumane. They hold malice toward those not following their Whoville ways. They loathe the very concept of difference. The Grinch is the victim of a classic example of Whoville’s pressured conformity. The Grinch dared to defy the norms, leading to his downfall. 

Lyrics derived from: You're a Mean One Mr. Grinch Dr. Seuss 

Quotes derived from: “How the Grinch Stole Christmas”