Wherein the Grinch gets a wonderful, awful idea.
"Every Who down in Who-ville liked Christmas a lot...
But the Grinch, who lived just North of Who-ville, did NOT!
The Grinch hated Christmas! The whole Christmas season!
Now, please don't ask why. No one quite knows the reason.
It could be his head wasn't screwed on just right.
It could be, perhaps, that his shoes were too tight.
But I think that the most likely reason of all
May have been that his heart was two sizes too small."
But the Grinch, who lived just North of Who-ville, did NOT!
The Grinch hated Christmas! The whole Christmas season!
Now, please don't ask why. No one quite knows the reason.
It could be his head wasn't screwed on just right.
It could be, perhaps, that his shoes were too tight.
But I think that the most likely reason of all
May have been that his heart was two sizes too small."
A classic 1957 children's book written and illustrated by Dr. Seuss, telling the story of a mean-spirited, cave-dwelling creature called The Grinch who can't stand Christmas. Disguising himself as Santa Claus, he proceeds to pilfer all of the presents, foodstuffs, and other Christmas paraphernalia from the perky citizens of nearby Whoville in an effort to, well, steal Christmas from them. While he succeeds, the Whos happily sing their big Christmas song anyway. Now realizing the True Meaning of Christmas, the Grinch has a change of heart, and returns all the loot as the Whos cheerfully welcome him into their community.
This plot has become an oft-recycled Stock Parody.
In 1966, the story was adapted into a very popular television Christmas Special by animator Chuck Jones. In 1998 it became a stage musical that played Broadway in holiday engagements over 2006–07. In 2000, Ron Howard made a live-action feature film, starring Jim Carrey as a Large Ham version of the title character. Illumination Entertainment released their own computer-animated version of the tale in 2018, with Benedict Cumberbatch in the title role. The story also has its own dedicated annual event at the Universal Studios parks, known as Grinchmas.
On February 23, 2023, Random House and Dr. Seuss Enterprises announced that a sequel to the book would be published. The sequel in question, How the Grinch Lost Christmas!, was published on September 5, 2023, nearly 66 years after the original book's release.
Includes wonderful, awful examples of:
- Affectionate Gesture to the Head: The Grinch pats Cindy Lou Who on the head before he gives her a drink of water and sends her back to bed.
- Ass in a Lion Skin: The Grinch dresses his dog, Max, as a reindeer to help disguise himself as Santa.
- Author Avatar: Dr. Seuss explained in interviews that the Grinch was heavily based on himself. At the time, Seuss lived in a hilltop estate that offered a clear view to a nearby suburban neighborhood, whose residents would put up extensive lights and decorations for Christmas — a sight that irritated him to no end, due to a combination of stress from his wife's health problems and general disdain for the commercialization of Christmas. Notably, the Grinch mentions that he's put up with the Whos for 53 years; Seuss was 53 when he wrote the book.
- Bad Santa: The Grinch disguises himself as Santa while stealing all the gifts and decorations from the town of Whoville, so that people don't suspect him as he does it.
- Central Theme: The power of the holidays and how it gets the best out of everyone.
- Cheshire Cat Grin: The Grinch's face breaks into one of these when he first hits on his scheme to impersonate Santa.
- Children Are Innocent: Cindy Lou-Who, who is no more than two, innocently believes that The Grinch is Santa Claus when he's stealing things from her house.
- Christmas Carolers: The one thing the Grinch hates most of all is when all the Whos down in Whoville gather together, and start caroling around the Christmas tree. This is carried over into the animated adaptation as well as the live-action film adaptation, the latter of which includes a song on the subject by Ben Folds called, "Lonely Christmas Eve."
- Consummate Liar: Implied by the narrator's line of: "But you know that old Grinch was so smart and so slick, that he thought up a lie and he thought it up quick." The animated special makes the validity of this claim more ambiguous, though, with the Grinch obviously unnerved for a moment.
- The Defroster: The role of Defroster could rightly be said to belong to ALL of the Whos down in Whoville, who still clasp hands and sing joyfully after the Grinch stole all of their belongings causes him to realize just what Christmas is all about, and return the things he's taken.
- Disproportionate Retribution: The Grinch's only motivation for ruining the holiday is being disturbed by the noises of the Christmas celebration.
- Dreaming of a White Christmas: It's always snowing around Christmas in Whoville. note
- "Everybody Helps Out" Denouement: When the Grinch listened for wailing and misery after stealing Whoville's decorations, however, what he heard instead was the regular Christmas caroling in the town square. It was this focus on the meaning of Christmas that triggers the Grinch's Heel–Face Turn, and compels him to return the loot to the townsfolk. This sequence is faithfully depicted in Chuck Jones's Animated Adaptation.
- Evil Old Folks: The Grinch's line about having put up with Christmas for 53 years means he is at least 53 years old when he decided to steal Christmas.
- Extremely Short Timespan: The entire story, as told in the book, takes place over the course of just one day. The Grinch decides to steal Christmas on Christmas Eve, spends the early night preparing, steals Christmas for the rest of the night and early morning, and returns everything after his Heel–Face Turn that same morning. The book ends with Christmas dinner later that evening.
- Foil: In an inversion of Santa's normal routine of leaving gifts at every house he visits, the Grinch steals all the presents (and just about everything not nailed down) from all the homes in Whoville.
- Food End: The story ends with the reformed Grinch carving the roast beast at dinner, with Cindy Lou and Max alongside.
- Fun-Hating Villain: "The Grinch hated Christmas! The whole Christmas season! Now please don't ask why, no one quite knows the reason", although the following verses suggest it's mainly because of all the noise from the celebrations in town and from all the children playing with their new toys.
- Grim Up North: The Grinch lives "just north of Whoville," and his lair is pretty icy (although that may just be because it's winter).
- The Grinch: Trope Namer and Trope Maker. You don't get much more antagonistic towards Christmas than committing grand larceny just for the purposes of ruining the holiday for an entire community.
- Grumpy Old Man: Seeing as The Grinch has "put up with it now" for 53 years, as he claims, he seems to fit.
- Heel–Face Turn: After The Grinch hears the Whos singing a joyous Christmas song instead of crying because he stole their presents and trees, he realizes that Christmas means more than presents and feasting. His heart grows "three sizes that day" and he's asked to attend the feast after giving back everything he stole.
- Help, I'm Stuck!: Subverted. The Grinch gets "stuck only once, for a moment or two" in the first chimney he enters.
- The Hermit: The Grinch lives alone in his cave, and very much likes it that way.
- Holiday Pardon: After the Grinch learns the True Meaning of Christmas and returns the presents he stole, the Whos don't punish him for stealing them in the first place.
- How the Character Stole Christmas: Trope Namer and Trope Maker; the story is about a character so upset by the "noise" of Christmas that he tries to ruin it for everyone, but then rescues it when he finally understands the "true meaning of Christmas".
- Intangible Theft: Attempted when the Grinch tries to steal Christmas by taking away all the material trappings of the holiday. It doesn't work; the spirit of Christmas remains intact.
- The Killjoy: The Grinch hates Christmas and wants to steal it. When he steals the Whos' Christmas-related things, he is even happy to anticipate hearing them cry. When they don't cry, however, he changes his tune and decides to bring Christmas back.
- Monsters as Cuisine: The Whos in Whoville eat something called Roast Beast for Christmas.
- Neologism: Like "Scrooge," the word "Grinch" has entered the language to describe an antisocial, mean-spirited person, particularly one who hates Christmas. However, whereas a Scrooge merely expresses his contempt for the holiday and refrains from observing it himself, a Grinch is one who actively attempts to ruin it for everyone else.
- Never Trust a Title: The title How the Grinch Stole Christmas is a bit misleading, considering the entire point of the story is that the Grinch fails to steal Christmas, because it isn't a material thing that can be stolen in the first place.
- Non-Human Sidekick: Max the Dog is this for the Grinch, and is the only living creature besides himself that the Grinch seems willing to tolerate.
- Paper-Thin Disguise:
- This ugly cave creature puts on a red coat and Santa hat. Boom! He automatically looks "just like Saint Nick." The only person who actually sees him is a two-year-old girl.
- The Grinch ties a single antler to a dog with bright red thread to create a "reindeer."
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: The Grinch is shown with these in color versions of the book.
- Riddle for the Ages: The narration specifically tells the reader to "please don't ask why" the Grinch hates Christmas, because "no one quite knows the reason" and it's ultimately not important why.
- "Running Out of Time" Warning: How the Grinch Saved Christmas (a licensed game), when the timer goes below two minutes, the narrator will say, "Only two minutes left! Hurry and keep filling the Grinch's bag!".
- Santa Ambiguity: The Grinch dresses up as Santa but in the book, Santa's existence is never proven or disproven. note
- Santa Clausmas: No mention of any sort of religious iconography anywhere; it's all about Santa and presents in the Grinch's story. Seuss mentioned that he deliberately made an effort to keep the story secular, which apparently caused some difficulty in writing the ending without the message sounding too preachy. His solution was to focus on the feast and everyone getting together for it on the final page.
- Saving Christmas: Inverted; in fact, the inversion of this trope is essentially the whole premise of the story. And by the end, the Grinch discovers that Christmas cannot be stolen.
- Shrunken Organ: The Grinch's heart, which is "two sizes too small." Inverted later, when it grows three sizes.
- The Strength of Ten Men: Technically, The Strength Of Ten Grinches Plus Two when the Grinch lifts his sled over his head.
- Stuck in a Chimney: Downplayed when the Grinch, pretending to be Santa Claus, sneaks into houses via their chimneys and gets "stuck only once for a minute or two".
- Thief Returns the Loot: The premise of the story is that The Grinch, with a strong hatred for Christmas, decides to go to Whoville and steal all the decorations and presents in an attempt to put a halt to the holiday. After witnessing the Whos celebrate even without the stuff he stole, the Grinch undergoes a change of heart and goes back to Whoville to return everything he stole. This can also be applied to every adaptation of the book.
- True Meaning of Christmas: Seeing the Whos still celebrating without their decorations and presents causes the Grinch to think: "Maybe Christmas ... doesn't come from a store... maybe Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more." note
- Turn the Other Cheek: After the Grinch returns everything he took, the Whos bear no grudge towards him for taking all of their stuff and even let him carve the roast for their Christmas feast.
- Villain Protagonist: The Grinch, up until the end, is the bad guy who wants to steal Christmas because he's a Fun-Hating Villain.
- When He Smiles: The Grinch starts to look much more pleasant when sporting a genuine smile following his Heel–Face Turn.
- Wouldn't Hurt a Child: When two-year-old Cindy Lou-Who catches The Grinch in the act of shoving the Christmas tree up the chimney, he's the one who seems more unnerved by her before he quickly spins a lie to fool her, then goes so far as to pat her head and send her off to bed again with a drink of water while never making any threatening moves.
- Xanatos Speed Chess: The Grinch disguising Max as a reindeer was an improvisation on the Grinch's part because he couldn't find any reindeer (and the narration implied that he did a lot of searching for reindeer before coming to that conclusion).