Opposites
The subtitle for some versions of this book is “Dr. Seuss’s Wacky Book of Opposites.” That is, in fact, just as appropriate a title and maybe even more so. While “foot” is in the title because it is easier for young children to learn than the world “opposite” (as well as for a more substantially thematic reason to explored later), the real subject that this educational book teaches is the concept of opposites. Seuss unifies all the various concepts through the recurrence of feet: left and right foot transforms into sophisticated opposites like slow and quick, wet and dry, high and low, etc.
Metaphor
On a more sophisticated level, the utilization of feet as the means by which to introduce the concept of opposites is also a way of introducing children to the idea of metaphor. Ultimately, the very last page of the book reveals that “feet” is metaphor for anything with feet. The message the reader is left with on that last page is that no matter where you go, you meet people with different “feet” which really means you meet people so different from one another as to sometimes be the complete opposite. This difference is subtly implicated to be what makes them worth knowing rather than judging.
Adjectives and Antonyms
As far as pure educational curriculum goes, this book essentially boils down to two. Thematically speaking, what the child is going to learn either consciously by instruction or unconsciously through repetition is the fundamental nature and use of adjectives and antonyms. Feet become the subject to which a litany of adjectives refer and—because the overarching subject is the concept of opposites—these adjectives are always antonyms to each other: front/back, well/sick, his/her.
Different but Not Opposite
However, the above is only true for part of the book. About halfway through, Seuss introduces into the oppositional scheme the concept of things which are different, but are not necessarily opposites. “Clown feet,” “pig feet,” and “fur feet” are chosen in order to complete the rhyme, but other than that they have no oppositional relationship. Instead, they are inserted into the structural framework to introduce the idea expressed at the end about never knowing “how many different feet you meet.” Thus, the child is encouraged to associated opposites with being different from each other, while intuitively comprehending that things can be different without being the complete opposite.
