The Lorax Lines 237-264 Summary

Back to the Future

• Whew. The long stroll down memory lane is over. The Once-ler tells the boy (remember him?) that ever since the Lorax left, he's been desperately trying to figure out what the Lorax meant by UNLESS (shouted, no less!).
• Until the boy came and asked about the Lorax, the Once-ler couldn't figure it out. But now it's "perfectly clear" (247): 
• He tells the boy, "UNLESS someone like you/ cares an awful lot,/ nothing is going to get better./ It's not" (248-251).
• With that, the Once-ler drops something down to the boy: the very last Truffula Seed in existence. 
• The Once-ler's last words to the boy: "Grow a forest. Protect it from axes that hack./ Then the Lorax/ and all of his friends/ may come back" (264).
• Words to live by.