Sympathy Pain

For those of you unfamiliar with the Seussian characters know as “The Sneetches“, here’s a little information thanks to Wikipedia…

“The Sneetches”
By Dr. Seuss

Sneetches are a race of odd creatures who live on a beach. Some Sneetches have a star on their bellies, and in the beginning of the story the presence or absence of a star is the basis for discrimination. Sneetches who have stars on their bellies are part of the “in crowd”, while Sneetches without stars are shunned.

In the story, a “fix-it-up chappie” named Sylvester McMonkey McBean appears, driving a cart of strange machines. He offers the Sneetches without stars a chance to have them by going through his Star-On machine, for three dollars. The old star-bellied Sneetches are furious until McBean tells them about his Star-Off machine, costing ten dollars. This escalates, with the Sneetches running from one machine to the next,

“until neither the Plain nor the Star-Bellies knew
whether this one was that one or that one was this one
or which one was what one… or what one was who.”
This continues until the Sneetches are penniless and McBean leaves a rich man. In the end, the Sneetches learn that neither plain-belly nor star-belly Sneetches are superior, and they are able to get along and become friends.

The story is an obvious parable for the cycle of fashion and how snobbery and insecurity drive consumerism to consumers’ own detriment. It contains the messages that all people regardless of race, class or clothing, are equal, and that the human temptation to judge people by their appearance or by the company they seem to keep is full of pitfalls. It may also have deeper connotations of racial discrimination.

There is a reference to The Sneetches in the Dead Kennedys song, “Holiday in Cambodia”

“You’re a Star-bellied Sneetch,
you suck like a leech.
You want everyone to act like you.”
“The Sneetches” is written in anapestic tetrameter, and – as is typical for Seuss books – follows the rhyme scheme and meter very strictly.

This story inspired The High-in-the-Sky Seuss Trolley Train Ride at Universal’s Islands of Adventure.

This is a great story and book. It’s a lesson for both children and adults. Sometimes I, after dealing with an unbending person, have to visit my inner Seuss and think…

“No you can’t teach a Sneetch…”

sneetch, Dr. Seuss