A young boy residing in a polluted, grim world visits a strange
creature called the Once-ler. He asks the Once-ler why the world is in
such a run-down state. The Once-ler explains to the boy that he arrived
in a beautiful, cheerful world containing happy, playful fauna that
spent their days romping around blissfully among "Truffula trees." The
Once-ler begins to cut down the truffula trees, thinking they will help
him craft "Thneeds," his invention that he thinks everyone will need.
The Lorax, a small orange creature, appears from the stump of a
truffula tree. He "speaks for the trees" and warns the Once-ler of the
consequences of cutting down the truffula trees, but the Once-ler
ignores him. Soon the once beautiful land becomes polluted and the fauna
flee to find more hospitable habitats. Eventually the final Truffula
tree is cut down, leading to the closure of Once-Ler's factory and the
disappearance of the Lorax. The book then returns to the present, ending
on an ambiguous yet optimistic note where the Once-Ler, in a sense of
remorse, gives the boy the last Truffula seed and encourages him to
plant it so that Truffula trees can return as well as the fauna, and so
would the Lorax.
