No Matter HOW Small
The message of the story is that a person is a person no matter how small. And let’s be frank about this: the Whos are very, very, very small. Just how small is revealed through a metaphor by the disbelieving sour kangaroo:
“And the young kangaroo in the pouch said `Humpf!’ too.
`Why, that speck is as small as the head of a pin.’”
Crazy Ol’ Horton
Poor Horton. He keeps finding himself in awkward situations where his sanity is questioned. First, he’s squatting on an egg trying to hatch it for a runaway mother and now he appears to be talking to people who aren’t there. Several metaphors are available for describing the actions of a person seemingly crazy. One involves bats and their relation to belfries while another popular choice references the peculiar strain of madness in the hat industry. When it comes to Horton, however, the best choice is the simplest:
“He’s out of his head!”
Monkey Metaphor
While the kangaroo dismisses the very concept of life existing at such a microscopic level and some of the other animals believe that Horton believes it is possible, but is insane for doing so, the monkeys who make up the Wickersham Brothers view the situation in the worst possible light of all. They not only are assured that no life exists on the speck, but they don’t even buy into the idea that Horton believes it. They think he’s lying and have a special metaphor of monkey-level vernacular to describe it:
“`What rot!
This elephant’s talking to Whos who are not!’”
Can You Hear Them Now?
Nevertheless, in spite of the assaults on the status of his sanity and veracity, Horton is a true-believer and committed to a cause. And so he keeps trying to get everyone else in the jungle to hear what he hears, fully confident that what he hears is real and now some delusion. Simile indicates the level of this confidence:
“The elephant smiled: `That was clear as a bell.
You Kangaroos surely heard that very well.’”
But, of course, the reality is that a bell is not always quite so clear.
The Churchill Moment
The Mayor of Whoville channels the spirit of Winston Churchill to rightly project the gravity of the moment. Horton has tried his best to convince the jungle of their existence and they in turn have done all that seems possible. The moment of good or die—disaster or triumph—is at hand and, recognizing the emotional intensity that comes with the right metaphor at the right time, the Mayor puts everything in perspective:
“`This,’ cried the Mayor, `is your town's darkest hour!’”
