Similarities Between The Lottery And Harrison Bergeron

A virtue is when a person behaves in a moral manner. Certain virtues that societies should possess can be harmful. Typically, good virtues, such as honor, courage, and compassion. are commonly used by people as a way of living. Every society should live by the good virtues and strive to ensure that all citizens are treated equally. Shirley Jackson's "Lottery" and Kurt Vonnegut Jr.'s "Harrison Bergeron" both discuss the issues of equality, empathy, and tradition being misused that led to a detrimental society.
The people of the societies in each story show a great disconnect between having empathy and mercilessness. In Jackson's story “Lottery,” the lottery was held yearly and the person who wins gets the grand prize of being stoned. This

For an example, the text states "The whole lottery took less than two hours, so it could begin on time" (Vonnegut Jr. 236). This shows how much empathy the villagers expressed towards the value of a human life; citizens were happy if stoning a person to death did not interfere with lunch time. A person would only show disgust with the lottery when their name was picked. Mrs. Hutchinson is a prime example, she states "It isn't fair at all" (Jackson 243). She did not oppose the lottery until her name was drawn. On the other hand, Vonnegut Jr. uses his story "Harrison Bergeron" to illustrate the lack of empathy people in society shows towards one another. In this society, people with strong attributes such as beauty, intelligence, and strength are forced to lower themselves by wearing handicaps, so they will not be a threat to other people. For an example, one character named George is very intelligent therefore he had a mental handicap in his ear, unlike his wife Hazel. Her intelligence was average, so she could only think in short burst. For an example, the text states, "Every twenty seconds or so, the

Some have a specific purpose and those that participate know exactly what the meaning behind it is. However, there are some traditions that people participate in blindly conforming to what their society deems an important tradition. For an example, many Christians celebrate Christmas because it is Jesus's birthday, but there are presents, Santa Clause, and a Christmas tree involved. Those activities have nothing to do with the birth of Christ, but people still do those actions because it is a tradition. Vonnegut Jr.'s "Harrison Bergeron" and Jackson's "Lottery" share two examples of this type of behavior. In the civilization illustrated in Vonnegut Jr.'s "Harrison Bergeron," the government forced equality on every citizen. Although the handicaps were involuntarily given to certain people who were harmful no one protests the idea. Carl Mowery wrote an informed overview agreeing to this. Mowery states, "Hazel and George are symbols of good people. They obey the laws and they try to live their "equal" lives without complaining" (Mowery). The citizens are labeled as good because they did not question what was happening in their society. George and Hazel were the parents of Harrison Bergeron, and he is handsome, intelligent, and strong. The text depicts how dangerous it is to bear those attributes, "Harrison Bergeron…has just escaped from jail, where he was held on suspicion of plotting to overthrow the government, he is a