* for the majority of this post , i’ll be talkin abt the species within the seuss series as races and species interchangeably— the ones in specific being the Whos , the Knoxes , & the Whats.
most people would simply assume the Grinch’s race is , well , a Grinch. standing next to the Whos , it’s more than obvious he’s far different from them all. from green fur to simply his visage , it’s clear he is no Who. but standing next to another species , the Knox , one would begin to notice a few striking similarities.
the Grinch is not entirely a Grinch ——— in fact , the ‘ grinch ’ species isn’t scientifically ( within the world of the Whos ) a real race. look in your textbooks , you won’t find a single mention of a Grinch anywhere. what you will find , however , is a different race that — depending on whom in particular you’re looking at — may resemble what you’d assume a Grinch is : a What.
in the Jim Carrey adaption of the Grinch , there’s a conversation between Cindy Lou and her father about the Grinch. the father says “ you see , Cindy , the Grinch is a Who who — well , he’s actually not a Who , he’s ... he’s more of a — ” and Cindy responds , “ a what ? ” , and her dad replies finally with “ exactly , honey. ” now , while my portrayal of the Grinch has hardly anything to do with the 2000 film , i do want to take the implied race of the What and apply it to what the Grinch is.
let’s take a moment to look at the Whos ; they’re all very humanlike. their coat colors are more skin - toned , and they have hair and body shapes more like a normal person’s. it’s worth noting that the Whos don’t necessarily have fur —— while they have hair in places a human would , it’s not long nor thick enough to be considered fur , just normal people hair that’re a bit longer than the average person’s. this comes to support the fact why Whos wear clothes , their hair isn’t long enough to obscure their privates / genitalia so they have to wear something to cover it up.
now , Knoxes have more animalistic features —— animal - like noses , noticeable ears , fur , neck fluff , and proportions far from a human’s , like shorter legs and a longer body. we’ve also seen they can be many different colors in the Netflix adaption of Green Eggs and Ham. since their fur is noticeably thick , they don’t have to wear clothes since their hair covers up their junk for them.
and let’s look at the Grinch. he certainly resembles a Who in the face —— nubby nose and round features , no visible ears , and rather thin fur. but what’s similar with a Knox and he is the fact he has thicker fur on the rest of his body , the neck scruff ( albeit hardly , it being more frizzy and spread out to his shoulders , but it’s clearly there ) , the strange body , and the little stringy hairs on the top of his head ( while that’s not entirely exclusive to knoxes — since we’ve seen knoxes with full heads of hair — there is that sort of case. )
i know , you may be asking , why on god’s green earth does the Grinch have all these features , but is neither a Who nor a Knox ? well , you moron , if you didn’t come to the conclusion already , the Grinch is nothing other than a WHAT. Whats are not Whos , and they are not Knoxes , and they aren’t anything else. they are simply ... Whats.
a What is something you would look at and can’t help but wonder , what exactly is that ? they are normally made through interspecies / interracial mating , the genes not lining up quite right and creating a brand new , particularly unique baby. there isn’t anything that will make a baby What instantly recognized as a What , if their fur coat isn’t strangely colored at least. they can have a number of dominant and recessive traits taken from both parents —— for instance , a baby What can have thick or thin fur , they can have full heads of hair or maybe just stringy hairs , so on and so forth. the possibilities of a baby What are endless.
the Grinch has multiple traits and genes taken from Whos and Knoxes , and the reason is fairly simple : his mother was a Who , and his father was a Knox. while he doesn’t know this for himself , a simple DNA test will confirm he is half Who and half Knox , and thus the mixture making him a What.
i’m not sure how to segue into showing this but here’s a punnet square :
expanding on his parents for a moment —— his mother was a simple , young Who , who just so happened to fall in love with a male Knox ... in which was rare to see in a place like Whoville. back then , interspecies / interracial relationships weren’t exactly ... supported. they were deemed as unnatural , and when they tried being open about their relationship , the two would be bashed on. it wasn’t a great time to be in , but they couldn’t help their love.
soon enough , the two of them fell so deep in love that they wanted a family. having a child between two species is quite dangerous ——— there was a high chance of a What being born , rather than a Who or a Knox. and you may ask , why dangerous ? well , say you wanted to have a child , but the race your child was most likely to be born as was shunned upon the community you live in , and you weren’t able to decide what sort of race your child is born as. it’s a big roll of the dice , a risky roll , at that , but you were determined to have a baby.
now apply it to the Grinch’s parents. Whats , in Whoville , were mostly shunned and disliked among the community. they were seen as monsters —— unnatural beings. they were a mix of two species who shouldn’t be together in the first place. to top off the dishonor the Grinch’s mother and father already brought Whoville and their own families with just their relationship alone ——— they had a child. and the child came out ... green , when neither of the parents were green. there was a mixture of several Whoish and Knoxish features , no even balance between the two. it was a good thing they decided to take precautions and birth the baby at home , because with all these factors taken in , it only could mean one thing :
the mother had birthed a What.
it was like a scary dream — not quite a nightmare — to see the creature in their hands. it was clear it was a What , there was no in - between. but the two weren’t cruel people — they were loving , and compassionate. they really wanted to take care of this baby the best that they could ... but they knew they couldn’t help it grow properly. they would have to be forced to shield the poor thing from the outside world until society decided Whats weren’t as horrible as they saw them as. but ... the mother and father didn’t know when this would be. it would be a leap of faith to bring the baby out with them , but ... it could very well be a leap of death too.
for just a few years did they try to raise the boy. there was no name given to him , as they were afraid to grow attached in such way , knowing they’d have to give him up. they helped him grow until the age of four ——— right before they would have to send him to school. that’s when they knew it ; they would have to put him in an orphanage. there was no other way. they couldn’t send him to school with no people skills , and on top of that , being a What.
the Grinch didn’t have a name nor memories of his family while at the orphanage. it was a ragged , untrustworthy place , but it was the only orphanage in all of Whoville. there he was dumped , alone and confused , with merely a scarf as a sort of ... remember me gift from his parents. that was the last and only thing he has of his mother and father —— and while he doesn’t know this , he kept it nevertheless.
being such an outcast among the rest of the Who - filled orphanage could really only end up with one result ——— the Grinch was the sole target of bullying. none of the caretakers cared for him , and all the children harassed and beat him so very often ... they purposefully would exclude him from fun activities , and most importantly , holidays.
ever since he’s ran away from Whoville and the orphanage , the society there has gotten more accepting of Whats , and now simply doesn’t mind them at all. there are very , very few that live there now , and whether or not there’s a lot , they’re there and accepted. non - oppressed , and loved. the Grinch isn’t aware of this acceptance yet —— his casualness about coming into town for whatever reason simply being because he just stopped caring about what looks people would give him. at least , that’s how it was at first , when he’d come down to shop. but now people give him smiles and treat him like a normal person ! while that doesn’t aid him in his trust issues at all , it’s something that’s improved for him and all Whats alike.
——— * @piiqucd said :
ANGEL I LOVE UR LA BRAVA SHES SO BABIE SHES SO CANON AND SHES SO UNDERAPPRECAITED THANK U FOR MAKING ME AND SO MANY OTHERS CARE ABOUT THIS WONDERFUL YOUNG LADY AND PORTRAYING HER AS THE ABSOLUTE BEST GAL THAT SHE IS ILYSM
how’s my portayal ? / pls send
FLASHYYYYY.................. YOURE SO SWEETTTT .............. DON’T THANK ME YET I’VE STILL GOT A LONG WAYS TO GO BEFORE I CAN OFFICIALLY SAY I’VE MADE MORE PEOPLE CARE ABOUT HER , IT’S MY MISSION !!! I LOVE YOU SO MUCH THANK YYOU BABY !!! I’LL KEEP DOING WHAT I DO BEST <333
madirphs replied to your post: Hi Rigby! I remember you mentioned doing movie...
solution for rabbit; get chrome extension netflix party, lets you easily watch netflix together. there’s a text chat built in or you can do voice chat over discord! this is what i do with all my friends
this is so useful to know! thank you so much! i’ll try that out on our next movie night!
