Dr. Dolittle is the main character in a series of fifteen books published between 1920 and 1952. He is able to speak animal languages and goes on various adventures with his animal companions.
The stories have been adapted into films on a number of occasions. You might be familiar with this one:
However, other than the name and the language skill, there is not a lot in common with Lofting’s original stories.
More recently, Robert Downey Jr. has donned Dr. Dolittle’s top hat in a rendition that captures a bit more of the original book’s adventure feeling.
The character of Dr. John Dolittle first appeared in letters that the author Hugh Lofting illustrated and sent to his children from the trenches of World War I. Dolittle is a physician who feels uncomfortable with humans and prefers his animal companions whose language he learns to speak.
Read: The Story of Doctor Dolittle – chapters 1,2, 5,6, 10,11, and 12
The next book in the series, The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle published in 1922 won the second Newberry Award Medal ever given out. In this book, nearly five times as long, a young boy meets the Doctor and goes on an adventure looking for a missing naturalist, Long Arrow, an example of the noble savage stereotype.
The Dolittle stories were out of print for a while but were reissued in 1988, changing the illustrations that you saw in the above and removing some language.
Philip Nel gives a rundown of this and questions it raises here. (please read)
While I have not yet looked through this, it appears that another edited and newly illustrated version was recently released.
Response: How did you feel reading through the first couple of chapters here? What about the next few? What do you think of attempts to ‘fix’ this text? What about the Kipling texts? Do you think that you can separate a text from its author and original context such as with colonialism?
9 thoughts on “Dr. Dolittle”
I remember coming across a story with Dr.Dolittle when tutoring a past student of mine and noticing a short story mentioning him in her SHSAT book. I think the first chapters were quite a simple read and I found them to be interesting/enjoyable to read. By the 6th chapter, I did notice slight hints of racial implications. For instance, the illustration that was under the “Polynesia and the King” chapter pictured the King and Queen in an odd/almost mocking manner. They had large features (ears, head, lips, face, jaw) and were illustrated in a way to mock black people. Also, the link “But do not forget that although I am only a bird, I can talk like a man—and I know these darkies.” was definitely racist. I think it is important to create diverse literature and especially with our current knowledge on these topics in today’s society, I do not find it wrong if someone wants to rewrite an old piece of childhood literature to make it more suitable and appropriate. Yes, children may likely not understand racist remarks if they are being read stories at young ages, but nonetheless, I think that we as a society can do better. Stories such as this one and Kipling texts may hold meaning and tradition in that we as children could have read/heard these stories with innocent minds. However, now that we have learned the truth behind certain aspects, I think we can use it as learning opportunities to both understand that writers wrote for the time they lived in, and, as learning opportunities to do better. I think it is possible to separate an author from their work, yet it is not always easy to do so. We may enjoy reading a piece of literature but if the author is a horrible person, we may not allow ourselves to like their work as much. Especially because we understand that authors include certain details or plots in their stories for a reason, because they possibly resonate with them or are expressing their mindset/view on something. Thus, a poor or “wrong” mindset can be reflected in their work. It really depends on if the person is willing to look past the poor context of an author and focus on their strong writing abilities, or, if they are simply unable to do so. In certain cases, I can understand and think it is perfectly okay to not be able to read certain books because of strong dislikes for the author for valid reasons.
I agree with Laura, at first the story was enjoyable and interesting. I was looking foward to how the story was going to turn out. However on chapter 6 the illustrations of Queen Ermintrude and the King were deffinetly racist. Chapter 11 and 12 made me extremely uncomforatble because of how the prince was describe. Which, he wanted to be white so bad that he would do anything. Even the animals were mocking him, calling him a “coon”, ugly , and discribed his eyes as “mud colored”. The prince staying white is supposedly “a good thing”. This story also gives me white savior vibes where Dr.Dolittle goes to Africa to save the animals and also is potrayed as a good person despite him giving the prince un-tested medicine to change his skin color. I think the attempts to “fix” the text shows that people know its racist, so there some sort of acknowlegement. However, these “fixes” don’t erase colonial ideologies, which is problematic. I do not think we can seperate a text from its author and original context, especially if it’s rooted in colonialism. I think these texts should not be earased either but should be used for educational purposes.
I have always liked the Dr. Dolittle movie. I watch it with my family and it never fails to be funny. However, I never read the original story. As I am reading the story chapter one seems just like any other chapters of the book. That you want to read more and want to know what this chapter is about. The next chapters for example chapter six Polynesia and the king. It talked about more serious things that have happened. For example ““You may not travel through my lands,” said the King. “Many years ago a white man came[48] to these shores; and I was very kind to him. But after he had dug holes in the ground to get the gold, and killed all the elephants to get their ivory tusks, he went away secretly in his ship— without so much as saying ‘Thank you.’ Never again shall a white man travel through the lands of Jolliginki.” The king has said something that has been happening in Africa. This story could be educational in a way and in a way it is not. This story should not be for children but for adults. I think as Adults we should know these things that have happened and what the king has said. This story does not erase colonialism. I think it was good that it was kept this way because it can be educational.
This was my first exposure to the Dr. Dolittle story and reading the first two chapters of the book I was almost confused to why this was seen as a controversial story. But as I read more and more the problematic nature of the story became more and more visible. But what I find odd is there seem to be multiple modern variations of the story and none acknowledge the problematic nature of the original, they just erase out the explicitly problematic details.
I really liked the reading at the start, I thought it was wholesome and nice. The next few is where it took a turn. I liked the bit about the black King saying he does not trust white people and mentioned a little bit of the colonization that took place, however it starts to enter racist territory once the white saviorism starts to show with Dolittle and making him out to be the hero of Africa. Then it takes a turn for the worst with the introduction of the prince. He hates being a black man and the animals contribute to that self-hatred by calling him a coon. Dolittle trying to “fix” his self hatred with what is essentially bleaching with “medicines” that were not tested is absolutely wrong. I think the fixes are necessary. Disney and a lot of childrens books separate the text from its author and change it to be more fitting for a younger or difference audience. I understand why they do that, but it raises the question, should writers, movie makers keep offensive plotlines in stories but change it in a way that is educational and makes people aware of the issues and teaches them to be anti-racist/colonial? Instead of scraping the whole original story and making something that doesn’t acknowledge the problematic nature of the original?
This is my first time ever learning about this story and reading it. As a young adult, I definitely found this book incredibly problematic, and comparing it our time and generation, this would never have been published now. A story like this where it portrays such harmful stereotypes where it has inherent racism in it, most kids would not be able to even grasp that concept, let alone understand how offensive and wrong it is. Publishing stories like this for a children audience is awful, kids should never be exposed to such stories when growing up, it can be incredibly harmful.
The book started off like any other book but took a weird turn. There were many uncomfortable instances of racism as the chapters continued and it’s very interesting to think that this type of racism found in books used to be normalized at a time. I think that efforts to change the text wouldnt necessarily make the story better because of the harsh racism seen in the original. White supremacy and idolization seems like a vital part of the story and I don’t think the story is the same without it.
I watched the Eddie Murphy’s Dr.Do little version when I was a kid but didn’t know about the original story until this class. I agree with Laura that it was interesting in the first few chapters but then took a turn. The photo introduced in chapter 6 is definitely racist. They often use to exaggerate features like lips and noses to mock black people. It’s very upsetting know know that books you read and movies you watched had a racist and disturbing original story. I really liked how Josabeth pointed out that Disney takes these awful stories and changes it into something new and if we should be happy or question it. I agree 100% with Josabeth and that they should bring awareness to these real life issues especially at these kids young age.
I never actually read or watched Dr DoLittle as a child. As I started reading the first several chapters, at first it seemed interesting to me. You could tell the book will have an interesting plot, and have an interesting perspective. However, as I started reading I started seeing how there are moments where the book is a bit racist. Even though I didn’t read the book before, I believe that had I read it before I wouldn’t have paid as much attention to several of the lines, or what was said that made it particularly racist. As I paid attention to the second trailer for Dr Dolittle , I thought it was a lot more capturing and interesting. It made me want to watch this movie and also consider reading the book. I felt that this movie would do a better job of capturing the action and adventure the book intended to have. I think its actually fairly impressive that the text was rewritten. I believe that if people are acknowledging that it was racist, it is a very good idea to attempt to rewrite and make the text appropriate for children.