YMMV / The Sneetches and Other Stories

• Accidental Aesop:
  • Alongside its allegories to prejudice, The Sneetches can also be a Aesop about wasting time and money appealing to fickle fads.
  • Sylvester McMonkey McBean's actions towards the Sneetches also provide an Aesop about how there are people in the world who will seemingly provide help to discriminated groups (as well as the groups doing the discriminating for that matter) for the purpose of taking all their money, then go ahead and betray their trust once a more profitable opportunity comes along.
• Crosses the Line Twice: In the Animated Adaptation, the Star-bellied Sneetches support their children bullying a plain-bellied child, and even join in insulting the poor kid, through a whimsical little number. The prejudiced child even contributes to the song by grumbling back insults.
• First Installment Wins: While not as iconic as How the Grinch Stole Christmas! or The Cat in the Hat, The Sneetches is still a very popular story (to the point where almost all the examples on this page are dedicated to it), and The Zax is somewhat well-known as well (no doubt since both of them received Animated Adaptations). The other two stories in this book? Not so much.
• Magnificent Bastard: Sylvester McMonkey McBean, the self-styled fix-it-up chappie, desires profit above all else. McBean first notices the plain-bellied Sneetches moping about being excluded from the star-bellied Sneetches' various frankfurter roasts, picnics, and other parties, then offers to let them use a contraption which adds stars onto their bellies for a small fee. Upon noticing that the star-bellied Sneetches are upset by having their supposed superiority threatened, McBean offers to give them plain bellies using a different contraption. McBean repeats this process multiple times until he has successfully fleeced all of the Sneetches of their money, driving off into the distance while commenting on their gullibility.
• Memetic Molester: Sylvester McMonkey McBean has become one thanks to the YouTube Poop "Sneetches Get Steetches", which changes his name to Sylvester Molester McMonkey McSpanky and has him wanted for touching Sneetch ass and feeling good about it.
• Memetic Mutation: WOOMF!^explanation One lyric of The Cat in the Hat's opening song in the Animated Adaptation of The Zax is "Beyond the last woomf bush, the very last WOOMF bush". The humorous way the Cat emphasizes the last "woomf" has led to it becoming a meme, with YouTube Poop maker SneakiestChameleon often using it as a sound effect.
• Nightmare Fuel: "What Was I Scared Of?" is one of Seuss' only forays into scary stories, and it shows, as the protagonist is repeatedly scared by the living pants and is screaming for help by the end. Thankfully, the story ends on a happy note as the pants are then revealed to be scared of him, which causes the protagonist to befriend them.
• The Woobie: The plain-bellied Sneetches bought into McBean's scam only because they wanted to be treated equally by the star-bellied Sneetches, who ostracised and flaunted their superiority over their plain-bellied kin for years. The latter fall into Jerkass Woobie territory by the end of the story, since their desperation to alter their pattern and remain the "best" Sneetches cost both sides their money and left them humbled.

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