The plot of Green Eggs and Ham is notoriously simple. The book is actually the result of a wager made between Dr. Seuss and his publisher over whether the author could tell an entire story using no more than fifty words. As a result, Green Eggs and Ham is a book whose popularity lies within the fun of its repetition rather than as a result of even the appearance of intricate plot.
To wit: an unnamed first-person narrator informs the reader that he knows and does not like this strange little fellow named Sam-I-Am. Immediately, Sam-I-Am appears and asks the narrator if he likes green eggs and ham. This is all Sam-I-Am wants to know and continues to pester the narrator with the question throughout. What changes, however, is the structure of how the question is asked and the narrator’s reply.
Sam-I-Am asks if he would like them here or three and the narrator replies he would not like them here or there. Each new phrasing of the question of how he might possibly prefer green eggs and ham is answered to the negative using the exact same phrasing: when asked if he would like them in box or with a fox, he replies he would not like them in a box or with a fox.
Sam-I-Am asks the narrator about green eggs and ham in so many different ways that finally, fed and frustrated at about to explode, he finally breaks down and asks if this bizarre little tormenter will leave him alone if he agrees, finally, to give green eggs and ham a try. He eats them and is immediately transformed into a fanatic, repeating now that yes—he would—eat them in each of the many varied ways Sam-I-Am had asked him before.
