Equality In Harrison Bergeron's First They Killed My Father

Equality is a known struggle amongst most governments. Governments often find themselves struggling to make everyone equal, and in the systems, someone always comes out on top. People are forced to be equal when their privileges and rights are taken away. In First They Killed My Father, the chief tells the people of his camp, “In Democratic Kampuchea, we are all equal and do not have to cower to anyone. When the foreigners took over Kampuchea, they brought with them bad habits and fancy titles. The Angkar has expelled all foreigners so we no longer refer to each other using fancy titles. From now on, you will address everyone as ‘Met.’” (60) People are forced to be equal when stimuli is added to them. This way, they are forced to be equal

In Harrison Bergeron, as previously stated, George Begeron is forced to have a metal handicap and wear a 47 pound bag of birdshot. This metal handicap consistently transmitted a sharp sound every 20 seconds. This was to stop him from “taking unfair advantage of their brains.” The forty seven pound bag of birdshot was made deliberately to slow him down. His wife, Hazel, had none of these handicaps. In the short story she, “had a perfectly average intelligence, which meant she couldn’t think about anything except in short bursts.” Everyone in the entirety of the United States was made equal. This was through adding bags of birdshot, forcing people to take away their looks, adding handicaps, and arresting those who don’t abide by the laws. Their son, Harrison Bergeron, is an extremely intelligent and athletic man. In the short story, he is described as handsome and is seven feet tall. After people alert the crowds about his escape, Harrison takes over the news station. He screams that he is their new Emperor, that he controls the world. He calls out to the crowd for an Empress, in which a ballerina stands up and dances with him. However, the Handicapper General, who controls the sounds and handicaps, shot Harrison and the ballerina to the floor. Quickly enough, the TV blacked out. Hazel and George could not recall what had just