Star Beast And Flight Of The Snow Bird Essay, Research Paper

?Star Beast? by Nicholas Stuart Gray and ?Flight Of the Snow Bird? by Jean Lively are short stories that incorporate prejudice as a theme. ?Star Beast? is about a beast looking like animal that crashes on earth. ?Flight Of the Snow Bird? is about a boy, Benjy, and his autistic sister.

Benjy was prejudiced against Sheryl because of her autism. Autism is a disease that slows down the mind so much that the person can?t react to things. He makes himself forget her name. He believes that it is her fault that she does not realize things around her. She needs help and yet Benjy refuses to help her and sees her as expendable. ?Why couldn?t she have a good baby instead of you? He looked at her as if she were something loathsome and hated himself for hating her. She was nothing to him but a barrier between him and his mother.? He thinks that it is her fault that their mom pays more attention too her. At the very end when she falls through the ice and he runs to her and ends up saving her; it is then he realizes that she does have something in her.

The Star Beast does not hold prejudice against anyone but is subjected to it. The people around him believe that he is an animal and does not think for himself. Even the priests, that teach open mindedness, are prejudice against the Star Beast. People believe that because it does not look like a man it must not be intelligent; it must copy all that it says. ?Then came the Priests, smiling kindly- except to one another. For with each other they argued furiously and loathingly regarding their own views on rule and theory. “Oh stop!” Said the creature, pleadingly. It lifted its hands towards them and its golden eyes were full of pity. “You make everything petty and meaningless,” it said. “Let me tell you of the Master-Plan of the Universe. It is so simple and nothing to do with gods or rules, myths or superstitions. Nothing to do with fear” The priests were so outraged that they forget to hate one another. They screamed wildly with one voice: “Wicked!? People were unreceptive to the idea that someone other than another man was smarter than them. The Star Beast ends up being sold to a menagerie and escaping, it was last seen in the woods on all fours like a ?proper beast?.

Although the Star Beast and Sheryl were both subjects of prejudice they managed to survive. Sheryl managed better than the Star Beast, but prejudice was still part of their lives. People can out live prejudice but it is hard to. Both characters were strong and survived prejudice.