Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Tao of Pooh, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Taoism, Nature, and Happiness
Knowledge vs. Wisdom
Self-Acceptance and Personal Growth
Western Culture and Eastern Wisdom
Summary
Analysis
Hoff asks Pooh what he thinks about The Tao of Pooh. But Pooh still doesn’t know what Hoff is talking about. Hoff reminds Pooh about P’u (the Uncarved Block), Wu Wei (the Pooh Way), and so on. Pooh comes up with a song about doing what’s “there in front of you,” not trying too hard, understanding oneself, and finding the Way (Tao). Pooh says that’s what he thinks the book is about, but Hoff says Pooh knows it—which is “the same thing.” “So it is,” Pooh replies.
While Pooh expresses his philosophy through song and Hoff explains his through Taoist terms and Chinese parables, both of them are really just saying “the same thing.” Pooh never understands Hoff’s abstract lessons about Taoism, but he still embodies its truths, and that’s what really matters. In fact, after using the previous chapter to make an abstract intellectual argument for Taoism, Hoff uses this concluding chapter to remind his readers that wisdom trumps knowledge. Truly following Taoism requires understanding it through instinct, not through reason or intellect.
Themes
