The Cat in the Hat full rein to their destructive impulses without guilt or consequences." For a 1983 article, Geisel told Jonathan Cott, ""The Cat in the Hat" is a revolt against authority, but it's ameliorated by the fact that the Cat cleans up everything at the end. It's revolutionary in that it goes as far as Kerensky and then stops. It doesn't go quite as far as Lenin." Donald Pease notes that "The Cat in the Hat" shares some structural similarities with other Dr. Seuss books. Like earlier books, "The Cat in the Hat" starts with "a child's feeling of discontent with his mundane
The Cat in the Hat going to have the exciting experience of learning that they "can" read after all." Polly Goodwin of the "Chicago Sunday Tribune" predicted that "The Cat in the Hat" would cause seven- and eight-year-olds to "look with distinct distaste on the drab adventures of standard primer characters". Both Helen E. Walker of "Library Journal" and Emily Maxwell of "The New Yorker" felt that the book would appeal to older children as well as to its target audience of first- and second-graders. The reviewer for "The Bookmark" concurred, writing, "Recommended enthusiastically as a picture book as well as a reader". In contrast,