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Fox in Socks
Fox in Socks is a children's book by Dr. Seuss. It was published by Random House on January 12, 1965. The book features Mr. Fox as he tries to convince Mr. Knox to repeat tongue twisters about the things happening around them while Knox becomes increasingly frustrated with Fox's efforts. The wording of Fox in Socks emphasizes the sounds and structure of the words more than their intended meanings, leading the book to include many nonsense phrases and complex arrangements of similar-sounding words. Seuss was working on Fox in Socks when he met his future wife Audrey Dimond, and he found she was able to repeat the tongue twisters that others could not. In 2001, Fox in Socks was listed as the 31st best-selling hardcover children's book in the United States. SummaryFox in Socks begins with a note that the book is dangerous and should be read slowly. It then introduces Fox and Knox, who interact with socks and a box. Fox sees chicks with bricks, blocks, and clocks. He suggests that he and Knox do tricks with them, and he stacks them in different arrangements while speaking in rhyme. Knox complains that his tongue can not manage the rhymes that Fox is asking him to say. Fox tries a new rhyme about Sue and Slow Joe Crow sewing, but this too frustrates Knox. Fox then rhymes about chewing goo with a Goo-Goose, but Knox refuses to chew the goo or repeat the rhyme. Fox rhymes about Ben and Bim fighting with brooms and accompanying a pig band, but this further upsets Knox. Knox also rejects Fox's rhyme about Luke Luck and his duck licking a lake, and then about fleas, cheese trees, and a freezy breeze. When Fox describes tweetle beetles battling with paddles in a bottle on a poodle eating noodles, Knox expresses his anger by shoving Fox into the bottle and giving his own rhyming description of Fox's predicament. Knox then leaves, thanking Fox for the fun. The book ends with another note asking whether the reader's tongue is numb. Writing and publicationThe main characters Seuss created for Fox in Socks were Mr. Knox and Mr. Fox—the latter is also being described as Mr. Socks Fox.[1] Other named characters include Ben and Bim, Luke Luck, Slow Joe Crow, and Sue.[2] They are accompanied by several animals, including chicks, a duck, pigs, and a poodle,[3] as well as the fictional animals of a Goo-Goose and tweetle beetles.[4] Seuss met Audrey Dimond while he was working on Fox in Socks, and she was the only one of the adults who could read the tongue twisters aloud.[5] He married Dimond in 1968.[6] To test his editor Bennett Cerf, Seuss added the inappropriate line "Moe blows Joe's nose, Joe blows Moe's nose" to his manuscript of Fox in Socks. This followed a similar incident two years prior, when he added the word "contraceptive" to his manuscript of Hop on Pop.[7] Seuss also published his book I Had Trouble in Getting to Solla Sollew while he was working on Fox in Socks.[8] Fox in Socks was published by Random House,[9] on January 12, 1965.[10] Seuss dedicated the book to Audrey Dimond and Mitzi Long, describing them as members of the Mr. Soledad Lingual Laboratories despite no such place existing.[9] AnalysisFox in Socks was one of two tongue twister books written by Dr. Seuss, alongside Oh Say Can You Say? (1979). In both cases, Seuss prioritized the sound and structure of the tongue twisters over coherence, resulting in heavy use of nonsensical phrases.[11] In one instance, Fox in Socks describes a "tweetle beetle noodle poodle bottled paddled muddled duddled fuddled wuddled fox in socks".[12] Such phrases retain appropriate word order. When describing a "tweetle beetle puddle paddle battle", Seuss couples paddle and battle to describe a "paddle battle" within the larger phrase. The word puddle then describes the setting of the battle, and tweetle beetle adds a descriptor for the type of "puddle paddle battle".[13] In the story, Mr. Knox describes the tongue twisters as "blibber blubber".[14] Fox in Socks presents readers with different uses of words in different contexts.[15] This includes how a list of stacked items is harmless when stacked on the ground, but that they indicate a negative consequence when stacked on a character's head.[16] The book expresses a common Seuss theme of optimism. The phrase "you can make" appears as a refrain at the beginning of several sentences.[17] It also features Seuss's respect for manners, having Mr. Knox refer to the Fox as "Mr. Fox, sir".[18] Like many books by Dr. Seuss, Fox in Socks includes joyous feasting, in this case portrayed with the Gooey Gluey Blue Goo being chewed on by the Goo-Goose.[19] Philosophy professor Sharon Kaye comment on the relationship of the characters Sue and Slow Joe Crow, suggesting they are an example of a friendship of utility as described by Aristotle, as they have little in common but both benefit from sewing one another's clothes.[20] The book is one of several by Dr. Seuss in which younger characters teach older ones, as Mr. Fox is more skilled with tongue twisters and tries to instruct Mr. Knox.[21] The end of the book subverts this theme when Mr. Knox grows frustrated with Mr. Fox and strikes back at him. The literary scholar Philip Nel likened this to the moral of Sam and the Firefly by P. D. Eastman and Seuss's earlier Private Snafu cartoons.[22] Nel considered Fox in Socks to be an example of a book that is avant-garde for adults but not for children. Under his reasoning, the deconstruction of language present in the book only works for those familiar with more typical linguistic structure, but young children lack the literary experience to be confused by this. Conversely, adults will expect the simple words to be easily read and be taken by surprise. A child will read the tongue twisters more carefully then adults, causing the book to be easier for children in a relative sense.[23] Reception and legacyFox in Socks ranked 31st in a 2001 list of best-selling children's hardcover books in the United States by Publishers Weekly, and it was the 8th best-selling book by Dr. Seuss.[24] The Oxford Companion to the English Language (1992) cites fourteen lines of Fox in Socks in its coverage of "compounds in context".[25] The journalist Jonathan Cott listed Fox in Socks among Dr. Seuss's best examples of books that balance entertainment with educational value.[26] The children's literature professor Francelia Butler praised the book as having the best examples of Seuss's nonsense rhymes.[27] The children's literature professor David Rudd commented on the use of words' construction in Fox in Socks, likening it to its contemporaries The Wonderful O by James Thurber and The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster. He described these works as successors of Lewis Carroll and Edward Lear in the genre of literary nonsense.[28] Kirkus Reviews considered it an "amusing exercise for beginning readers" as it requires focus on each word, but it said that the tongue-twisters made little sense when removed from the context of their illustrations.[29] Notes
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