Hitler the Turtle
It is absolutely beyond refutation to argue that Yertle is an allegorical stand-in for Adolf Hitler. Seuss was not shy about assigning this symbolic status to him and it is easy to figure it out even without an official mandate. Yertle the Turtle’s mad quest for power is, symbolically speaking, a retelling of Hitler’s mad quest for world dominance.
The Pill-Berries
“Gertrude McFuzz” has a problem that can’t addressed through any sort of quick fix. And yet, miraculously, somehow it is. Even though, of course, in realty, it is not. The Pill-Berries are a symbol for any quick-fix that seems to solve a problem but turns out actually to have been anything from a simple placebo to pure snake oil.
The Worm
The Worm who has eyes like angry marbles in “The Big Brag” is poised against the youthful strength and agility of the bear and rabbit. Both could stomp him like a grape, but he winds up easily overpowering them both through his wisdom. A wisdom that comes with experience of which he is the book’s primary symbolic incarnation.
The Seven Deadly Sins
It has often been pointed out that the main character in “Gertrude McFuzz” displays behavior that collectively makes her a symbolic embodiment of the Seven Deadly Sins. Gertrude’s story originates out of jealous of another’s tail (Envy) which leads to her pursuit to acquire such a tail herself (Greed) which produces a tantrum (Wrath) that results in the secret of the pill-berry vine on which she is overzealous in her consumption (Gluttony) but which finally produces a tail she loves a bit too much (Lust) which instills an overactive sense of accomplishment (Pride) but which also inhibits her actual physical ability move (Sloth).
The Moon
Yertle has become so powerful that he has physically assumed the highest spot on the land. He towers far above all the other turtles and everything else as far as the eye can see. As long as the eye is looking downward, that is. Upon looking upward, the moon sits in the sky not like a big pizza pie, but like an annoying winking eye reminding Yertle he isn’t quite the loftiest thing in existence. The moon is a symbolic reminder that no matter how powerful one becomes, somewhere out there is always going to be an object that resists acquisition or destruction.
