As soon as the cold breeze of the -ber months finally whip through the air, people are feeling the spirit of Christmas with each passing day. Christmas decorations are taken out from their storage and an assortment of garlands and Christmas lights are hung. Eventually, topping it all off with the prettiest Christmas tree one can find.
It is indeed safe to say that everyone loves Christmas, right? Well, that may not be the case for the Grinch because he hated Christmas with all his heart. So much so, that he even decided to stop Christmas from coming!
Who is the Grinch anyway?
In the fictional world of Dr. Seuss, a town named Who-ville was filled with Whos who loved Christmas- a lot. However, in a cave above the town, there lived green and furry creature known as the Grinch who hated the Whos and the jolly and noisy celebration that always takes place during the Christmas season. One might say that maybe the Grinch hated Christmas because he was alone. In a way, he wasn’t because he always had his trustworthy dog, Max, with him. So why did he hate the most beautiful time of the year?
Reasons why the Grinch hated Who-ville and the Christmas Season
Even Dr. Seuss, in his book How the Grinch Stole Christmas, stated that nobody was sure why the Grinch hated the season. It must have been because his head wasn’t screwed on correctly, or it could be because his shoes were too tight. However, the author proceeds to say that maybe the real reason was that the Grinch’s heart was two sizes too small. And it is indeed evident in the book how the Grinch hated the Whos and the whole of Who-ville because of all the preparations they were doing for Christmas.
He cringed as he imagined all the children waking up and opening their toys accompanied by all the noise. He also despised the idea of them feasting on Who-pudding and Who-roast-beast, as well as every Who holding hands and doing the Who-Christmas-Sing. After putting up with all these Who-ville traditions for fifty-three years, the Grinch has finally had enough and decided that he was going to stop Christmas from coming.
Although there wasn’t a clear reason as to why the Grinch hated Christmas in the book, his backstory was delved into in the 2000 live-action film adaptation of the same name. Here, we see how the Grinch eventually decided he hated Christmas, and it all stems back from his childhood.
Before living in his cave on Mount Crumpit, the Grinch was adopted by two elderly sisters and he lived among the Whos in Who-ville. His childhood wasn’t easy though as he was bullied and teased. Eventually losing his temper because of one incident, he eventually declared that he hated Christmas, and fled to Mount Crumpit, where he continued to live his life with resentment for the town below. After a few years, in the film, it was seen that the Grinch started to have a change of heart regarding Christmas when a young girl from Who-ville decided that the Grinch should also celebrate it with them. Due to some events, however, the Grinch was enraged by the Whos for their materialism and their love of gifts during Christmas that he went on a rampage before finally coming up with a plan to stop Christmas from coming.
What did he do to stop Christmas?
In both the book and the film, the Grinch decided to stop Christmas from coming by stealing everything from Who-ville. He pretended to be Santa Claus and together with Max, his fake reindeer, they went from house to house, taking everything that might give the Whos their Christmas joy! They took the stockings hanging by the fireplace, the presents by the Christmas tree, all of the Who-feast, the Christmas tree itself, and even the logs left in the hearth.
The Grinch left nothing for the Whos. Because of this, he was confident that he finally stopped Christmas from coming and finally retreated to his cave while humming happily.
Did he stop Christmas from coming, though?
Although the Grinch had every reason to hate Christmas, it wouldn’t be a happy and lesson filled tale if he continued to live his life sulking in his cave and hating the Whos of Who-ville.
Proud that he was able to steal everything from the town, he was expecting the Whos to cry in sadness and despair upon waking up and realizing that Christmas would not come this year because they had no food nor gifts. The Grinch was in for a surprise though, because instead of sobs, he was able to hear the Whos singing together like they always do each year. This confused the Grinch for hours until he eventually realized that maybe Christmas means more than just material things and even without it, people can still be happy as long as they have each other.
Still astounded by this discovery, the Grinch returned everything to Who-ville and decided to celebrate the holidays with them. In the book, it was even noted that the Grinch himself carved the roast beast!
So, in conclusion, why did the Grinch hate Christmas?
Looking back to the aforementioned reasons on why the Grinch hated Christmas, although his childhood may have contributed to it, maybe it was indeed because his heart was two sizes too small.
In the book and the film, it was noted that after his realization, the Grinch’s small heart grew three sizes on that fateful Christmas day. The Grinch’s tale became so popular that people who love to sulk during the holidays were eventually called Grinches.
After everything that is happening in the world right now, there’s a possibility for us to be like the Grinch. We might be angry and sulking during the holiday season, but hopefully, we can also realize that Christmas is more than just gifts and food. It’s about being together with your loved ones and celebrating the happiest time of the year together.