It's all about the Benjamins for Sylvester McMonkey McBean, star of "The Sneetches." Dr. Seuss would tell you that with money comes power, and that's how you know we're talking about class. The Sneetches who have enough money to buy a star (or pay for them to be removed) will be top frankfurter. The rest? Not so much. Ah, class inequality, the meat of every good children's book.
Questions and Answers
Q: Why did McBean have a Star-On Machine?
A: He didn't have one originally. He built one lickety-split, so he could profit from the Sneetches' situation.
Q: Why didn't he just leave the Sneetches alone after giving them all stars?
A: It's called the rule of repeat business. If you really want to make money, you need customers to come back again and again. McBean needs the Sneetches to come back, so he can take all their money.
Q: Why did McBean want all their money? Why couldn't he just take a little?
A: Greed is funny like that. No matter how much McBean has, he'll always need more. In fact, that line "They never will learn" (Sneetches.91) makes us think that McBean has done this to other Sneetches before.
Q: What's going to happen to McBean?
A: No one can say. He may lose all of his money, or he could scam freely his entire life. All we can say is he won't trick these Sneetches again.