prejudice in the great valley

rosie · **on:** August 06, 2008, 05:56:37 PM

Is there? Why did they put chomper in the caves for away from the others? :cry2 Not a good idea. When chomer is older and when old redclaw find a way in , it will be through those caves. He will have the best place in the valley to live,hunt, smell out and spied out prey.

I know Rudy hid him there to protect him from Redclaw but wouldn't he be more protected with other dinos around? Those caves aren't the safest places and that is the first place old blood claw searched. I got the impression they were segregating from the others. Or, the concept that it is okay for him to visit but not to live there.

Clawandfang · **Reply #1 on:** August 06, 2008, 05:59:00 PM

There is prejudice...which LBT often tries to combat, showing to show how wrong it is. Fails just a little when the prejudice is prefectly understandable and under the circumstances I think more than fair to Chomper.

Kor · **Reply #2 on:** August 06, 2008, 11:42:24 PM

There is prejudice in the Great Valley. It was more prevalent, I think, in the early sequels then in the latter ones or the tv series. As for why Chomper sleeps in the caves, maybe he wants to. Maybe he prefers sleeping in caves the way Littlefoot and the others, except for flyers it would seem, or at least Petrie's family, prefer sleeping in the open. Just personal preference. Ruby may prefer it also. For all we know her family may routinely sleep in caves. Maybe Chomper is use to sleeping in caves also. I don't think they show him or his parents sleeping in the 5th movie so we don't know for sure.

Serris · **Reply #3 on:** August 06, 2008, 11:44:11 PM

The fact that Chomper is isolated could also be seen as for his own safety. I do believe there was one TV episode where a Longeneck nearly killed him.

And besides, there could be openly speciest dinos who are either visiting or living in the Great Valley. And those dinos wouldn't think twice about killing Chomper.

EDIT (8/7/08 - 13:33) - Reworded

Explorer · **Reply #4 on:** August 07, 2008, 01:17:14 PM

Yes, probably Chomper is away from the others for his own safety.

Other dinos in the valley might not agree with his company, with him being near them for belonging to the species he belongs.

Noname · **Reply #5 on:** August 07, 2008, 01:50:00 PM

In this case, we have to ask, is keeping Chomper apart from the rest of them really prejudice? Prejudice would indicate that they would judge him before knowing about him... in this case, they know for a fact that when he gets large enough, he WILL have to eat other dinosaurs in order to survive... he WILL have to eat creatures like them and their children... it isn't a matter of skin color or ethnicity, it is a definite matter of fact...

landbeforetimelover · **Reply #6 on:** August 07, 2008, 02:15:37 PM

We see that he's not widely accepted in the valley so that's why he's where he is. I'm sure he likes it better there seeing as it makes *almost everyone happy about his presence.

Kor · **Reply #7 on:** August 07, 2008, 11:22:19 PM

There are some of the key adults that do accept him. Littlefoot's grandparents, Petrie's mother, among some others.

Malte279 · **Reply #8 on:** August 14, 2008, 05:45:28 PM

There is no doubt that prejudice and reservations against other kinds do exist in the Great Valley. However, I would rather see Chomper's treatment in the Great Valley as a perfect example of how prejudices are overcome rather than fostered there.
Think of it, knowing what Chompers is and what he is bound to become and with the awareness of that he won't be able to live on "buzzing stingers" for the rest of his life it would not even be a mere prejudice if the GV inhabitants decided not to permit him there. Such an action would be based on solid information and sad but necessary risk calculation rather than mere prejudice.
Unless the GV inhabitants are tolerant enough to allow Chomper to eat the corpses of those of them who die a natural death (always "hoping" that they will die on a basis regular enough to sustain Chomper), the day was bound to come on which Chomper would either starve to death (unwilling to act upon his nature and attack anyone), leave the Great Valley for good (to hunt those whom he doesn't know), or (least likely in my opinion) attack anyone with his natural instincts winning over his friendship.
Some species seem to hold less prejudices than others (e.g. Ducky's family accepting Spike without any question) while Threehorns seem to hold particularly strong prejudices (here is a thread which may also be of interest in this context). In some cases the prejudices may be justified to some degree (at least nobody ever contradicted the claim that clubtails are smelly; an estimation expressed even by open minded Ducky).