''Marvin K. Mooney Will You Please Go Now!'' is a 1972

children's book Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. In addition to conventional literary genres, modern children's literature is classified by the intended age of the reade ...

by Dr. Seuss. Written as a book for early beginning readers, it is suitable for children who can not yet read at the level of more advanced beginning books such as ''

The Cat in the Hat ''The Cat in the Hat'' is a 1957 children's book written and illustrated by American author Dr. Seuss. The story centers on a tall anthropomorphic cat who wears a red and white-striped top hat and a red bow tie. The Cat shows up at the house ...

''. The book presents, in short and funny fashion, Dr. Seuss's nonsensical words, rhymes, and illustrations. It is not entirely clear where Marvin is being told to go but is known to have a similar ending to Green Eggs and Ham. One popular interpretation of the story, given Marvin is wearing purple pajamas, is that he is being told to go to bed by his parent, though the story was designed to be ambiguous in nature.

Story

Marvin K. Mooney, a young dog boy wearing purple pajamas standing in the middle of a rug, is asked to "go" by an unseen individual because "the time has come" for him. The individual, who is depicted with a large arm and pointing finger and is also the narrator, tells him to "go". The narrator suggests wacky and bizarre ways for Marvin to leave (even though the narrator has no preference for the method), but all suggestions conclude with the narrator repeating the directive. After all the suggestions are listed, the individual points their finger very close at Marvin to firmly confirm that they order him to leave the room. Marvin finally complies, choosing to exit on foot. The individual waves goodbye to him.

In political culture

At the height of the

Watergate The Watergate scandal was a major political scandal in the United States involving the administration of President Richard Nixon. The scandal began in 1972 and ultimately led to Nixon's resignation in 1974, in August of that year. It revol ...

scandal, in a July 1974 collaboration with political humorist

Art Buchwald Arthur Buchwald (; October 20, 1925 – January 17, 2007) was an American humorist best known for his column in ''The Washington Post''. At the height of his popularity, it was published nationwide as a syndicated column in more than 500 newspape ...

, Dr. Seuss took a two-year-old copy of his book, crossed out "Marvin K. Mooney" wherever it occurred and wrote in " Richard M. Nixon". With Dr. Seuss's consent, Buchwald and his editors reprinted the markup as a newspaper column, published on July 30. Nixon resigned ten days later on August 9. In

Maureen Dowd Maureen Brigid Dowd (; born January 14, 1952) is an American columnist for ''The New York Times'' and an author. During the 1970s and early 1980s, Dowd worked for ''The Washington Star'' and ''Time'', writing news, sports and feature articles. ...

's column for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', "Wilting over Waffles", dated April 23, 2008, she suggests that Democrats in the 2008 presidential election might take a cue from this book in their approach to

Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, lawyer and diplomat. She was the 67th United States secretary of state in the administration of Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, a U.S. senator represent ...

's prolonged campaign against

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

, asking her to "just go. I don't care how". MEP

Daniel Hannan Daniel John Hannan, Baron Hannan of Kingsclere (born 1 September 1971) is a British writer, journalist and politician. A member of the Conservative Party, he was a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for South East England from 1999 to 2 ...

quoted the book in reference to

Gordon Brown James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2010. Previously, he was Chancellor of the Ex ...

after the

2009 European Parliament election The 2009 European Parliament election was held in the 27 member states of the European Union (EU) between 4 and 7 June 2009. A total of 736 Member of the European Parliament, Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) were elected to represent s ...

. The same idea has also been applied to

Hosni Mubarak Muhammad Hosni El Sayed Mubarak (; 4 May 1928 – 25 February 2020) was an Egyptian politician and military officer who served as the fourth president of Egypt from 1981 to 2011 and the 41st Prime Minister of Egypt, prime minister from 1981 to ...

during the

2011 Egyptian Revolution The 2011 Egyptian revolution, also known as the 25 January Revolution (;), began on 25 January 2011 and spread across Egypt. The date was set by various youth groups to coincide with the annual Egyptian "Police holiday" as a statement against ...

and

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

during and after both the

2016 United States presidential election United States presidential election, Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 8, 2016. The Republican Party (United States), Republican ticket of businessman Donald Trump and Indiana Governor, Indiana governor Mike P ...

and the

2020 United States presidential election United States presidential election, Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 3, 2020. The Democratic Party (United States), Democratic ticket of former vice president Joe Biden and California junior senator Kamala H ...

References

{{Dr. Seuss 1972 children's books American picture books Books by Dr. Seuss Watergate scandal Cultural depictions of Richard Nixon Random House books Children's books about dogs