The Lorax Assignment

1. The Truffula Trees were scarce, valuable natural resources. What made the

valuable and scarce?

They were valuable and scarce because they were the only trees who had tufts that were softer than silk
and they smelled like butterfly milk.

2. Why did the Once-ler chop down the first Truffula Tree?

The Once-ler chopped the first Truffula Tree down because he had never seen trees like the Truffula
trees before anywhere.

3. What benefit did the Thneed have for consumers?

The Thneed had many different uses, it could be a sock, a glove, a hat and many other uses beyond that.

4 . The Lorax did not think anyone would want to purchase a Thneed. Was he

correct?

He was wrong, the first person to come along and see the Thneed bought one, and after that the Once-
ler called in his family so he could produce more Thneeds quicker.

5. What new capital resource did the Once-ler invent? How did this help his

business?

He invented the Super-Axe-Hacker which whacked 4 Truffula Trees per one smacker. This helped speed
up the chopping process of the trees so they could make Thneeds faster.

6. Who was harmed as more and more Truffula Trees were chopped down and

they became more scarce?

The Bar-ba-loots were the ones harmed as more trees were being chopped down since they used the
trees as resources for food and shelter.

7. Was it wise of the Once-ler to chop down all the trees?

It was not wise, by chopping all of the trees he ran the swans and hummingbirds and all of the Loraxs
friends out of town and soon there was nothing left for anyone to use.

8. In the story, all the trees were chopped down. In the modern U.S. economy,

why would this not happen?

This would never happen in the modern U.S. because we have laws in place preventing people from
taking all of our valuable resources such as trees with no limit.

9. What situation or condition would promote the cutting down of all trees or the
overuse of natural resources?

A situation that I can think of that would promote the cutting down of trees would be to expand
property and land to build houses, factories, stores, etc. to make more capital.

10. When a good, service, or natural resource becomes more and more scarce,

what happens to the price?

The rarer or harder to find that a good, service, or natural resource is, the price goes up because of the
difficulty of finding, distributing, etc. is.

11. Compare the Once-ler's attitude toward the environment at the beginning of

the story with his attitude at the end.

At the beginning, all the Once-ler cared about was making Thneeds from the trees and creating profit, at
the end he realized that he destroyed everything and cared about the last Truffula Tree being planted
and preserved.

REFLECTION QUESTIONS

1. Both the Onceler and the Lorax were passionate about their goals. Discuss several reasons to explain
why the Onceler succeeded while the Lorax failed.

Even though they were both passionate about their goals, only the Onceler succeeded because he
actually did something about his goal. He wanted to make more Thneeds quicker, so he called his family
to come help him, he wanted to chop down the trees faster, so he built a machine to do so. While the
Lorax wanted the Onceler to stop chopping trees but all he did was talk about it rather than try to do
something to stop him.

6. The Lorax says that the Once-ler is greedy. Greed is defined as a selfish desire for food, money, or
possessions over and above what one needs. What are some of the ways that the Once-ler proved his
greed? He says, "I biggered my money which every needs." Is it true that everyone needs money? How
much money do people need? Is it right to make a ton of money while destroying the environment?

The Onceler shows his greed by the very first purchase of his Thneed. As soon as someone bought it he
immediately thought about how he could get rich quick and called his family to come help with the
same premise. His main focus was always on growing his business as fast as possible and nothing else
mattered. I would say yes, everyone needs money, but they dont need an abundance of money rather
enough to survive, of course depending on where you are in the world as there are some tribes who
dont use money at all. It is immoral to make money and destroy the environment, especially since it is
everybodys environment not just your own personal one you get to destroy.
7. What did the once-ler mean by "UN-LESS"? What responsibility does he seem to think "someone like
you" needs to take? What kinds of things can we do today to ensure that natural resources will be
available for purposes in the future?

By using this word in the end, he means that it is not too late to save the environment and preserve
what is left. He wants the someone like you to plant the Truffula Tree seed and take care of it and
preserve it so no one makes the same mistake he did of destroying it. In order to ensure we have natural
resources in the future I think we need to just take what we need and not try to exploit natural
resources solely for maximum profit.

8. The Once-ler explains his actions by saying, "If I didn't do it, someone else would." Is this a good
excuse for doing what he did?

While his excuse may be true. It is not a good excuse for doing something that is wrong. He single
handedly caused the fall of all of the Truffula Trees and destroyed the environment. The trees were
there long before him, so you cant say with full confidence that if he hadnt done it someone else
necessarily would have.

9. The Lorax says he speaks for the trees. What does this mean to you? What is the Lorax's attitude at
the end of the story?

When the Lorax says he speaks for the trees, to me this means he speaks for the environment and all of
the benefits that the trees have for the environment. He is trying to save not only the trees but
everything the tress provide and protect as well. At the end of the story, the Lorax is sad and defeated,
but by leaving the word UNLESS, to me that shows that he also still has hope that something can be
done.

REFLECTION

One of the biggest skills I left this class with was the ability I learned to communicate effectively. When
we had class discussions, there were controversial topics and we would be required to reply to our peers
with not just agreeing with them, but creating conversations, asking questions, and adding on to what
they already said. Even if we disagreed with the original posters opinion, we were encouraged to build
on that and respectfully get our own points across as well. In addition to learning to communicate
effectively, I also learned how to think critically and creatively. We recently had a discussion topic on
trophy hunting with is very controversial, especially at the moment. We were provided with evidence
supporting both sides of the topic and encouraged to think critically and creatively and see both sides
before choosing one and building on that.