Similarities Between The Lottery And Harrison Bergeron

A persons’ preconceived notion that their authority has their best interest at hand can often lead to a corrupt society. According to Septima Poinsette Clark, “The greatest evil in our country today is...ignorance...We need to be taught to study rather than to believe.” In other words, people are taught to blindly believe what they are told without questioning whether it is right or wrong. This quote is valid because if the masses of a society believe in a corrupt authority then the few who rebel will be dismissed and thought of as outcasts. Two literary works that support this quote are “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson and Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. In both story’s the societies believe in an unjust authority which ultimately

The lottery happens once a year, and consist of everyone in the village. The archaic lottery had been around since the village was first establish. The villagers never knew a time when the lottery was not around. The kids were the first to show up “… Selecting the smoothest and roundest stones” (Jackson). They were accustomed to the routine they had been taught. After the children came the men then the women who all flocked in like sheep. The man in charge of it all was Mr. Summer he had no family and was the only one “Who had time and energy to devote to civic activities” (Jackson). One man oversaw the lottery that decided the fate of one “lucky” contestants’ life. No one spoke up about this normalized lottery expect for Mr. Adams. Without support from anyone he mentioned “that over in the north village they’re talking of giving up the lottery” (Jackson). “Pack of crazy fools” was the response he got from the oldest man in the village who had been in the lottery for 77 years (Jackson). No else spoke out because the of the old saying “Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon” (Jackson). This implied the lottery was held as a ritual for good crops to come and no one wanted to starve so they never preached against it. The general view from the people was that the system was in place for a reason, that’s what they had been taught since they were

They are taught to believe that the handicaps placed upon them make everyone “… equal every which way” (Vonnegut). The two main characters Hazel and George had recently had Harrison, their 14-year-old son, taken from the by the H-G men the policy of their era. They could not sob over this for long because “Hazel had a perfectly average intelligence, which meant she couldn’t think about anything except in short bursts” (Vonnegut). As for George “while his intelligence was way above normal, had a little mental handicap radio in his ear” (Vonnegut). This was required by the law and caused frequent extremely loud noises to occur in his head which disrupted his thought train. This kept him and people like him “from taking unfair advantage of their brains” (Vonnegut). Everyone in this society had some sort of handicap so that nobody was better than anyone else. The government had total control over how the society was run “… due to the 211th, 212th, and 213th Amendments to the Constitution, and the unceasing vigilance of agents of the United States Handicapper General” (Vonnegut). It seemed to be like the only people without handicaps were the people high up in the government. There were also laws put in place so that no one would tamper with their handicaps. “Two years in prison and two thousand dollars fine for every