Sleepers vs. Sleepless | Sanctuary | Yagaiism
Beggars in Spain gives the thrilling story of a battle between individuals genetically engineered to be sleepless and those who were not. The sleepless in the United States are attacked, harassed, and assaulted out of jealousy. The achievements of the sleepless are considered unfair because they have more working hours of the day. However, the sleepless do manage to build some alliances with the sleepers. The most important would be Alice Camden's help in getting Stella Bevington out of her home where she was being abused and back to Sanctuary. However, Richard notes while traveling the world that sleepless in developing countries are not subject to this backlash. He attributes this to the strong individualism of the United States and Yagaiism.
It is inevitable that if (or more likely, when) faced with the issue of genetic engineering of human beings that those who are not modified will fear those who have been "protected." The lack of need for sleep gives the sleepless 1/3rd more time in a day to get things accomplished. Sleepers could not compete with this even if they wanted to, and therefore it creates a two-tiered system. The natural reaction is to lash out in an attempt to limit the power of the sleepless, as occurs in this story.