 Philip Nel places the book 's title character in the tradition of con artists in American art , including the title characters from Meredith Willson 's The Music Man and L. Frank Baum 's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz . Nel also contends that Geisel identified with the Cat , pointing to a self portrait of Geisel in which he appears as the Cat , which was published alongside a profile about him in The Saturday Evening Post on July 6 , 1957 . Michael K. Frith , who worked as Geisel 's editor , concurs , arguing that " The Cat in the Hat and Ted Geisel were inseparable and the same . I think there 's no question about it . This is someone who delighted in the chaos of life , who delighted in the seeming insanity of the world around him . " Ruth MacDonald asserts that the Cat 's primary goal in the book is to create fun for the children . The Cat calls it " fun that is funny " , which MacDonald distinguishes from the ordinary , serious fun that parents subject their children to . 
