Dr. Suess, Durkheim, and Du Bois: Exploring Common Essence
This image is from Dr. Suess's book, The Sneetches. The premise of this book is that there are two groups of creatures, the Sneetches, half with stars on their bodies and half without. Although they are otherwise identical, the Star-Bellied Sneetches believe themselves to be superior, and discriminate against the Plain-Bellied Sneetches. However, upon the discovery of a machine that can take off and put on stars, a scramble ensues to keep some sort of distinction between the two groups. As soon as one group gains stars, the other group removes them to ensure there is always one group that can be identified as superior by having stars. This exemplifies Durkheim's point in the Field's reading, that while individuals can be very different or very similar, what makes them alike is the "abstract notion of common essence" (438). While the difference between having stars and not is very obvious to the reader, and the divide may seem logical, it is also as trivial as what color eyelashes one has. There are tiny differences between individuals, and choosing which feature to divide by creates this a false sense of common essence. Durkheim also states that having the same name is a large factor in deciding these arbitrary divisions, and because of this, the Star-Bellied Sneetches and Plain-Bellied Sneetches are named based on this division in order to identify it.
Furthermore, "special affinities and moral obligations of various kinds derive from [the divide]," which is definitely true for the Sneetches, who hold those with stars as morally superior than those without, and exclude them from their activities (438). In the image here, the Star-Bellied Sneetches are having a frankfurter roast and are all smiling, noses turned up to signify their superiority. A white light surrounds them, further driving the superiority of this group. In the distance watch the Plain-Bellied Sneetches, heads down in sadness as they long to be in the other group. The physical distance drawn between the two groups highlights their division, though the actual difference between the two groups is minimal.
It is not only one's perceived similarity that creates a group, but the difference of others that reinforces it. Du Bois adds here by claiming whoever "cannot lay claim to 'fellow-feeling' is available for designation as society's 'It'... at whose expense that fellow-feeling is affirmed" (447). The Plain-Bellied Sneetches are the outcasts by which the in-group, Star-Bellied Sneetches, define themselves by. Once the machine to move stars onto Sneetches disappears and the groups are all mixed up, they all become one large group, forgoing their previous differences. This demonstrates how once there is no longer a clear outsider to identify oneself by, arbitrary group differences can lose the meaning that was once attributed to them.
Fields, Karen. “Individuality and the Intellectuals: An Imaginary Conversation ... - JSTOR.” JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/3108512.
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