“Just tell yourself, Duckie,
you’re really quite lucky!”
Duckie is a young boy who does not truly understand the hardships that come with life. The Old man tries to teach him this by singing the songs of those that are far unluckier. Figures such as Ali Sard and Gucky Gown are sharply contrasted against the happy-going Duckie. Seuss’ overlying message is for people to take a moment to appreciate their life.
“Some people are much more…
oh, ever so much more…
oh, muchly much-much more
unlucky than you!”
Seuss repeats these lines at multiple times throughout the story as if to hammer home the message. After every tale of an unlucky person, he follows it up with this sing-song message. This not only regurgitates the message to young children reading the book, to be grateful, but also makes it a way of living life.
““When you think things are bad,
when you feel sour and blue,
when you start to get mad…
you should do what I do!”
This quote is expressing the attitude that one should have in the face of bad luck or adversity. The old man who lives his life with this philosophy in mind. Whenever he feels “sour and blue” he reminds himself and that others are far worse off than he. This is what stops him from being “mad” as he lives his life being grateful for the things he has.
