Setting the Stage
Think about children’s stories or fables
that you have heard or read. When
you look deeper, are there underlying
messages - more than just mere
“themes”? In other words, the story
is this but really it is talking about that.
Think and write about one.
Word of the day! Write it!

Allegory is a form of extended metaphor, in
which objects, persons, and actions in a
narrative have a second meaning that lies
outside the narrative itself.

The underlying meaning has moral, social,
religious, or political significance, and
characters are often personifications of
abstract ideas as charity, greed, or envy.

Thus an allegory is a story with two
meanings: a literal meaning and a symbolic
meaning.
A
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What you’re reading
A 2nd underlying meaning
The underlying messages of
Dr. Seuss
You should already realize that the literature you
read in school conveys themes and lessons that
apply to various life situations and experiences.
 It may surprise you, however, that young
children's stories also impart important themes
and lessons.
 The Dr. Seuss books are particularly good
examples of this.You will discover some of the
themes of Dr. Seuss's major books.
 By listening to a Dr. Seuss story, you will see how,
despite being written for young children, Dr.
Seuss' books contain powerful messages about
important themes in American history and
society.

ASSIGNMENT

Watch the video presentation of The
SNEETCHES. What is this allegory really
about? In other words, what is the story
beneath the story?

Once you figure out the story beneath the
story, ask yourself, “What aspects of The
SNEETCHES mirror/symbolize events, people
or ideas of the 2nd story?”

Think of as many as you can and record your
allegorical components on the graphic organizer.
The Sneetches
(click here)
Take your notes as
you watch.
 This video is about
12 minutes long, so
pay attention! You
will have time after
viewing to work on
your assignment.

https://goo.gl/H5h4JV
The Sneetches is an Allegory of…?


When we peel back the superficial dynamics between
the star-bellied Sneetches and those without stars, we
can't miss the ramifications of social discrimination
that may be perpetrated in a place as familiar as a
playground, a classroom, or a school cafeteria, or the
life-threatening consequences that it held for Jews in the
Holocaust.
Genocides and the Holocaust, in particular, are
phenomena that students study extensively, and we
might point out that, ironically, the Jews were made to
wear a star on their clothes to exclude them from the
rest of the German population, and ultimately single
them out for extermination.
The Sneetches provided an insight into Seuss'
own personal beliefs on a turbulent period of
time in American history.
 The Sneetches begins by stating the setting in
which the story took place: it was a blatantly
segregated (racist) territory with two classes
of Sneetches.
 One class had stars on their bellies and the
other did not.
 Therefore, the "star-bellied Sneetches"
believed in their superiority merely because
of their added stars.

One interpretation…




The Sneetches described Dr. Seuss' stance on the
American Civil Rights movement of the 1960's. Obviously,
Dr. Seuss believed in the senselessness of racism and saw
it as a blemish in an otherwise-powerful American society.
The star-bellied Sneetches represented the white
Americans while the plain-bellied Sneetches represented
the African Americans.
The message of the story is not meant to completely
parallel the exact outcome of the segregation problems;
at the time the book was published, segregation was at its
peak and an accepted facet of society.
Dr. Seuss instead wrote the book to cure the new
American generation of the sad sickness of racism and to
express his opinion on the situation American society was
in at the time.