"The Star": A Short Story By Alasdair Gray

In his story, Alasdair Gray touches upon the neglected children in poor environments and their social reality.

The story revolves around a boy who escapes his troubled reality by using his vivid imagination. Cameron lives in poor social and economic conditions with his distant parents, who are oblivious to their child's needs. His name, Cameron, means "crooked nose," which might be due to trauma or violence he suffered. The author may have initially selected the name to reflect his circumstances. However, it is not confirmed.

He symbolizes all the children in the world who are neglected and raised in bad conditions. He lives a very gloomy and negative life, but he attempts to color it with his imagination. His joyless, colorless, and lonely life is enlivened by the star he discovers in the tenement's backyard.

Cameron is a very lonely little boy. He is left out at school, possibly because of his economic situation, and is being bullied by his unfair teachers, who do not allow any creativity in their class. His parents are quite irresponsive towards him; they don't pay the slightest attention to him. It is clear that they are a low-income family living in a tenement with their clothing hung on a clothespole. The wife is solely shown doing domestic tasks, and the father is anxiously awaiting the results of a football bet. Even when Cameron goes out at night, they don't seem to care. He finds a marble in the garden and believes that it is a star, takes it with himself and hides it from everyone. The star symbolizes many things, such as happiness, positivity, renewal, and protection. Star provides him comfort and protection when he feels insulted or neglected. It brings a little happiness and warmth into his life. The star holds tremendous importance in his life—hope and comfort—but means nothing to others. 

At the end of the story, when he is in school, he feels alone and left out. He pulls the marble from his pocket to give himself some consolation. The teacher sees the marble, confronts him, and immediately yells at him. He gets so terrified that he eats the marble. 

He dies, but escapes this dreadful earth to join other stars in space, where he will never feel alone again.