“The Sneetches” by Dr. Seuss is about discrimination. These yellow bird creatures called Sneetches live on a beach faced with discrimination every day. Some Sneetches have a green star on their bellies, and in the beginning of the story the absence of a star is the base for discrimination. These green stars became the symbol of discrimination between one another. For example, the ones with stars have all the enjoyable stuff, friends, fun, laughter, and acceptance. Then there are the Sneetches without the stars who are being left out, abandoned, despised, depressed, and discriminated against due to the fact of not having a star on their belly. For instance, there was a mother telling their child not to talk to any sneetch without a star because
The theme of Harper Lee's To Kill a Mocking Bird is the existence of racism and prejudice in the 1930 – 40's. Harper Lee succeeds in presenting the topic in a manner that is not overly simplistic and thus achieves the task of allowing the reader to fully appreciate the complex nature of unjust discrimination. Harper Lee's inclusion of characters such as Tom Robinson, Boo Radley, Dolphus Raymond and many others, aid the reader to grasp the concept of racism and its central role in the town of Maycomb.
“The Sneetches” is one of Dr. Seuss’s best known stories. In “The Sneetches,” the Star-Belly Sneetches claim they are the best Sneetches and leave the Plain-Belly Sneetches out of their fun activities. Therefore, the Plain-Belly Sneetches become sad and mope on the beach. Then, one day, Sylvester McMonkey McBean arrives with a machine that gives the Plain-Belly Sneetches stars. The new Star-Belly Sneetches are happy that they can now join in the original Star-Belly Sneetches’ fun; however, the original Star-Belly Sneetches claim they are still the best and seek a way to distinguish themselves from the new Star-Belly Sneetches.
Comparing the 1960’s to the world we live in today, people who are “different” in society are treated poorly. There are many ways over the years people who are divergent have been acted towards. From wide ranging of racial, religious, and sexual to minimizing as simply wearing the same clothes for 2 days. The book The Curious Case of Benjamin Button takes place in a summer of 1960 Baltimore. Roger Button and his wife were a very rich couple who owned a Hardware Company. Henceforth, having a 70-year old baby was not a word you wanted out. People who are wealthy and well-known always have a reputation to uphold. In this 1960’s scenario it would be “Whose son went to the best university” or “Whose son scored more points in the football game”.
In the short story “Brownies” by Z. Z. Packer a young girl that goes by the name of Snot realizes that the world is a harsh place. Not only does Snot have a realization about the world, but she also realizes that everyone around her is contributing to the harshness and meanness and Snot cannot do anything about it. The harshness and meanness in the world that Snot cannot do anything about is racism. All throughout the story, racism is a huge factor, but the main character realizes that racism comes in all different ways including age and color.
“The Sneetches” is about two types of creatures, divided by having or not having stars on their bellies. Symbolic interaction theory examines society by approaching the subjective meanings that people set on things, events, and conduct. A few important features of our social knowledge and character, is race that was brought out in the video. By showing injustice, the star belly sneetches wouldn’t allow their children to play ball with the plain belly sneetches children. While the star belly sneetches had picnics and parties, they never invited the plain belly sneetches, and would always keep them away year after year. The sneetches with stars are not considered bourgeoisie because, they didn’t own any means of production such as machinery.
Sometimes, people discriminate one thing, but strongly oppose the discrimination of another thing. In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, this issue is very much expressed throughout the story. This thought-provoking story takes place in Maycomb, Alabama during a time when there’s a rape trial against a falsely accused African American named Tom Robinson. There is also a discrimination, of sorts, towards a man named Boo Radley, by three young children named Jeremy “Jem” Finch, Jean Louise “Scout” Finch, and Charles “Dill” Baker Harris. Both Boo Radley and Tom Robinson are similar in their own ways through their inherent goodness.
Its oppressive force lurks everywhere you go. Burning behind the eyes of one, lapping up the souls of another. Starting wars. Destroying lives. You can try to run, but you can’t hide. It is lethal, and you can’t escape. We are all victims.
Imagine a world where anyone who was born with brown hair got to give orders to anyone born with blonde hair. If you're born with brown hair, you could have better careers and the better education whereas the blondes wouldn’t even been given a fair court trial. If something like this happened overnight, there would be a huge uproar, but what if it happened over time and generations grew to accept it? Eventually, people would start to argue that brown haired people were naturally superior to blondes. If you were living in a tiny town in the Deep South, such as Maycomb, you’d have even less of a reason to question the status quo. Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird is trying to teach his kids, “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view- until you climb in his skin and walk around in it.” Furthermore, the largest forms of discrimination in the novel are racism and classism.
The story tells about a group of creatures that seem to be the same in appearance. All of the creatures are yellow, shaped similar to a large bowling pin and basically identical. There is one difference that separates the Sneetches, some have a green star on their bellies and some do not. This small physical difference ends up dividing the community of Sneetches. The group of Sneetches with star-bellies thinks they are better than the group with plain bellies. The star-bellied Sneetches brag about their stars. They feel and act superior to the plain bellied Sneetches. They tease the plain bellied Sneetches and treat them horribly. The star-bellied ones do not include them in any of their events or activities. They teach their children to treat the plain bellied children this way also. Basically the star-bellied Sneetches look down on the plain bellied Sneetches and do not think of them as equal.
Seuss in 1961, speaks of two different types of creatures who are divided by either having or not having stars printed on their bellies. These very stars, despite us “...[thinking] such a thing wouldn’t matter at all”, serve as the identifying mark and clear contrast between the Star-belly and Plain-belly Sneetches; this mark is what allows one group to discriminate against another. By the end of the story harmony amongst these two groups is only achieved once the Sneetches no longer remember who is who, and they realise that they are in fact all exactly the same creature. This is an issue that stems far beyond having or not having a star on a belly, and although it seems to be an absurd form of prejudice it is one nevertheless. Within this story lies a very important moral; one which helps children better understand the nature of prejudice and discrimination through the Star-Bellied and Plain-Bellied Sneetches treating each other with disrespect. It provides a message that we should not allow the dividing line in society to be ethnicity or race and that humans, much like the Sneetches, are able to coexist once we realise we are all
Seuss in the midst of Civil Rights Movement. Discrimination was a nationwide issue and Seuss knew that his story would bring the attention of many different races and those from all walks of life. People of this era could relate with the misery the Plain-Belly Sneetches were in. As the Plain-Bellies were being stereotyped for not having stars on their skin, people in the fifties and sixties were being discriminated by their class, race, religion, and even their sexuality. In the story, the Plain-Belly Sneetches weren’t allowed to play with the Star-Belly Sneetches. As the story goes on, it declares “When the Star-Belly children went out to play ball, / Could a Plain-Belly get in the game...? Not at all. / You could only play if your bellies had stars / And the Plain-Belly children had none upon thars” (Sneetches 13-16). When this happens in the story, it alludes back to the civil rights movement. In the fifties and sixties, blacks were living a life barricaded from everyone else. For example, blacks had separate bathrooms they were expected to use. Back then, anything and almost everything segregated the blacks from the
The story To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee portrays many different scenarios of racial discrimination. Discrimination occurs in the book and many people are affected by the racial slurs and other occurrences. In the story, Jean Louise “Scout” Finch, Atticus Finch, and Tom Robinson are all people that are discriminated against or are affected by discrimination. Racial discrimination is a major part of To Kill a Mockingbird.
Imagine being discriminated against because of a preference or something that is unable to be changed. What would that feel like? Discrimination is happening all around the world, with all different kinds of people. People can be discriminated against by all types of things, such as age, sex, race, religion, sexuality, height, etc. I believe that discrimination is becoming a bigger cause in other countries as the United States (US) and that it should be addressed more than it is being. There are many types of discrimination going on throughout various places but, the three main ones happening are sexuality discrimination, race discrimination, and religious discrimination. The biggest one accruing right now is sexuality discrimination.
Discrimination and Prejudice in Killing A Mocking Bird Discrimination and prejudice were very common acts in the early and middle 1900's. Prejudice in this book is displayed by the acts of hate and misunderstanding because of someone's color. People of color were the majority that were treated unfairly. During this time in the southern states, black people had to use separate bathrooms, drinking fountains, sections in restaurants, churches, and even go to separate schools. Although much of the discrimination was directed towards blacks, there were plenty of accounts towards impoverished families by those that had money.
Many racial and ethnic groups are treated cruel, which contributes to the problem of discrimination. The inhumane treatment inflicted onto different racial and ethnic groups is provoking horrific violence around the world. The film The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, gives us an insight to the cruel treatment endured by Jewish people in World War II. Jewish people were taken from their homes, separated from their families, and placed in concentration camps where they were expected to die. They were exposed to extreme levels of abuse, such as starvation, physical beatings, and emotional torture. The fear and terrorizing the soldiers used on the Jews is shown in the scene when Lieutenant Kotler catches Shmuel eating a cookie: “Are you eating? Have you been stealing food?