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The Theme Of Prejudice In 'Mary Moon And The Stars'

Decent Essays

Mary Moon and the Stars” is a short story written by author Janice Galloway. The story is told from the point of view of an anonymous narrator who gradually becomes friends with The central character, Mary moon, of whom the short story is based on. The narrator uses techniques like word choice and symbolism to tell the story of Mary moon and the narrator and her struggle with prejudice and neglect.

The theme of prejudice is thoroughly examined through out the short story "Mary Moon and the stars". This hard hitting theme conveys the idea that young adults have to make tough decisions even before hitting their adolescent years. These decisions are mostly based on the judgments they choose to make on the people surrounding them. The narrator …show more content…

In this short story, the character of the Narrators Gran, helps convey the old prejudice views of her generation. The narrators grandmother has the belief that you should be friends with people based on where they come from and how they look, unfortunately for Mary Moon, she does not fit in with the character description of a person the Gran would appreciate her granddaughter being friends with. The quote "the lassie takes the milk in when she comes back at night" allows us to understand that the narrators Gran has appallingly judged Mary on the acts that she has to do to live. The narrator also goes on to describe the area where Mary comes from as a "bomb-site" which shows that the grandmothers views have sadly 'rubbed off' on her own opinions. This creates a tough decision having to be faced as the narrator originally doesn't want to annoy the grandmother by being associated with someone like …show more content…

It becomes known in the start of the short story that Mary has to sit next to "George Dickie" who is known for pinching people, this unfortunately adds to her run down appearance, as it leaves "marks on her arms" to which people judge her on, however although people judge Mary on her appearance, nobody intervenes to help her and they just accept the horrible way they treat her because of where's she comes from. This adds to tough decisions having to be made by the narrator as again she doesn't want to be associated with someone who has people constantly looking and judging them. This is a decision that is hard for the narrator as she knows being friends with Mary could have tough consequences on her own life. People would automatically assume that they must have the same way of life if the two of them are seen hanging out together around town and in the neighbourhood. Being a teenager is hard enough sometimes and the idea that Janice Galloway portrays in this short story, that sometimes you have to listen to yourself rather than other people, really comes across in the way that the narrators character handles the decisions she is faced

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