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Similarities Between Harrison Bergeron And The Lottery By Shirley Jackson

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Blind conformities towards customs: The death of all peace? An intelligent being once said "Living in this modern toxic world, we are all slowly being poisoned to death" Carrie Latet The Great Chain of Being, a perception of the universe held by Westerners, touches on this saying by personifying the olden days as a great period in history, but as we move more and more away from the date of Creation we start to get worse and worse. However, society in previous generations are not as great as they are depicted. In the olden times, traditions are often followed by blind obedience; In other words, people follow societal norms without much reasoning. In the short stories "Harrison Bergeron" by Kurt Vonnegut and "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson, …show more content…

To begin with, both "Harrison Bergeron" and "The Lottery" portray blind conformities through the use of harsh methods to keep order with society. In the story "Harrison Bergeron", the character Harrison, a 14 year old child, was depicted to be better superior than others and for this reason was given hundreds of pounds of extra weight to his body in order to keep him equal to everyone else, " In the race of life, Harrison carried three hundred pounds" (Vonnegut 2). Society believed that there should be a law that suppresses Harrison as this would make it fair for everyone. Harrison, like all other members of the society, was not allowed to take off any of the handicaps given or they would pay the consequences of, "Two years in prison and two thousand …show more content…

The old custom was to bring a good "harvest" for future seasons but every year someone from the village gets stoned to which no one questioned the validity of, "Although the villagers had forgotten the ritual and lost the original black box, they still remembered to use stones." (Jackson 6). The villagers were blindly obeying the old custom and only really remembered the stones which shows the primitiveness of the custom and the violent actions shown because of this as

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“They were not simple folk, you see, though they were happy. But we do not say the words of cheer, much anymore”. The authors Vonnegut and LeGuin expresses the importance of individuality in the stories “Harrison Bergeron” and “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas”. “Harrison Bergeron” is about how the government makes society “equal” by using gadgets known as handicappers to stop the people from thinking freely. But there’s one person who rebels against the government and he has to face the punishment.

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There are so many similarities and differences between the stories "Harrison Bergeron" and "The Lottery". But basically, in "Harrison Bergeron" everyone is equal, nobody is smarter than anybody else, nobody is better looking than anybody else, and nobody is stronger or quicker than anybody else. This is because everybody wears handicaps to make everyone equal to each other. But basically, one boy named Harrison Bergeron takes matters into his own hands and goes against the government. The government basically makes all these people wear their handicaps all the time.

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On the other hand, "Harrison Bergeron" portrays the detrimental effects of conformity. The story follows the character Harrison, who rebels against the handicapping system in an act of defiance. His actions reveal the oppressive nature of conformity and the inherent desire for personal expression. The story concludes tragically with Harrison being killed by the government, highlighting the consequences of challenging societal expectations. Unlike "Ponies," "Harrison Bergeron" emphasizes the negative impact of conformity on individuals and the suppression of personal

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860 Words | 4 Pages

Individuals are the building blocks of society, but they can’t dictate the way society flows. In the short stories “The Lottery,” by Shirley Jackson and “Harrison Bergeron,” by Kurt Vonnegut, and the theories of enlightenment philosophers, individuals can not change society. Tessie Hutchinson from “The Lottery,” tried to persuade her village that the tradition was wrong, but she faced death. While, Harrison from “Harrison Bergeron,” tried to overthrow society's ideas, through atrocious actions. The philosophers believed that the governors of society should be responsive and secure rights for the people.

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368 Words | 2 Pages

In The Lottery his or her quality would be everyone has the same chance of dying. While in Harrison Bergeron they take equality to a much more literal sense where if someone is too smart they would be subjected to wearing a loud noise device that ever so often blasts music into his or her ears. Or if you were too athletic you would wear heavy weights to slow you down.

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Karissa Klaassens Mrs. Cruz English 10 11 March 2023 Getting the Point Across Many people have tried to figure out what the world would be like if everyone followed the crowd, and no one thought for themselves. " The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson, and "Harrison Bergeron" by Kurt Vonnegut are two examples of short stories that are depictions of what the world would be like if everyone followed the crowd.

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The famed author C.S. Lewis once said,”Of all tyrannies a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive.” This is a statement that many can agree or disagree on. To some, it means that a ruling power or government could enforce rules and regulations on its citizens that are thought of as helping them, but instead making everything worse and are hindering them from making the society better. A counter argument could be that the oppression is helping the society become better. Some examples of this type of dystopian society are Harrison Bergeron and The Lottery.

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The theme of tradition is prominent in both "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson and "A Rose for Emily" by William Faulkner. In "The Lottery," the villagers uphold the tradition of the annual lottery, despite its gruesome and horrific outcome. The lottery is viewed as a necessary sacrifice to ensure the prosperity of the community, and the villagers follow it blindly without questioning its origins or purpose. Similarly, in "A Rose for Emily," the townspeople uphold the tradition of respecting the Grierson family, despite their bizarre behavior and declining social status. The townspeople continue to honor the Griersons' legacy and respect their property, even after Emily's death.

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Harrison Bergeron Essay Claim: Being equal isn’t always fair. Intro: What if someone had to wear a handicap? Or what if someone had to be treated exactly like everyone else?

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“The Lottery” is a short story by Shirley Jackson. The story commences with a vivid description of the summer day in the town, giving us the idea that the day will be good. When the lottery begins, families begin to draw slips of paper from the black box. Finally, when Bill Hutchinson withdrew the slip of paper with the black dot, his wife Tessie starts yelling that it wasn 't fair. When the second drawing was held only among the Hutchinson’s family, Tessie gets the same piece of paper with the dot and is stoned to death.

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“The Lottery” is an realism/horror story written by Shirley Jackson. The story is about some villagers of a small New England town who follow the tradition of making a lottery every year. When it comes, they like to celebrate it with the correct rules and the correct objects so they can feel more comfortable. Everyone need to take a slip of paper from a small black box, and the paper with a black dot in it means that the family is the winner, then they raffle again; Bill Hutchinson, who was the husband of the protagonist Tessie Hutchinson picked a paper with a black dot in it, that meant that Tessie was the winner of the lottery, then she starts complaining because the drawing was not conducted properly. At the end, the townspeople moved off to a cleared spot outside the town and they begin stoning her to death (Jackson).

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Another antagonist thing from the story about the villagers went along with the tradition and didnt think about the consequences of the death that happens when they get stoned to death. The family is very heartless because they even stoned tessie to death and they even made sure that the little boy had little pebbles to throw at tessie. In the story there is no antagonist character or person in the story. The antagonist which is the family the familly turned there back on tessie and the villagers is agenst the protagonist who is tessie. \ Aother important literary device in this story is the theme, it defines the message about life or human nature that is “the focus” in the story that that the writer telles (Teaching....3).

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1033 Words | 5 Pages

“The Lottery”, by Shirley Jackson is a very suspenseful, yet very shocking short story. This story is set in a small village, on a hot summers day in June. Flowers are blooming, and the towns people are gathering for the lottery, which is a tradition the town does every year. As the reader reads the first paragraph they think this is a happy story. The title also says, “The Lottery” which is a word often used for winning something or receiving a prize.

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No matter how many handicaps you put on someone they aren’t going to change. It’s kind of like trying to cover up beauty with a mask or make-up. Handicaps have no value in making anyone equal. Although equality is needed, no one in “Harrison Bergeron” is solely based on appearance and how smart you are. Equality is treating everyone one with the same amount of respect so therefore, no one in this short story is

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809 Words | 4 Pages

The short story “The Lottery,” by Shirley Jackson is full of literary elements. The old and innocent, small town atmosphere creates the perfect stage for this ironic tale. Several literary elements are evident throughout the composition but three specific elements stand out the most. Jackson’s unique ability to use tone and style, symbolism, and theme are what makes this story so fascinating. Tone and style are critical literary elements in “The Lottery.”

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