Stereotypes In The Lottery And Harrison Bergeron

Society is supposed to be a tranquil environment, instead it is portrayed as a controlling one that dictates the life of individuals in society. Individuals who have much greater potential in life are suppressed from moving on, because of the stereotypes society places on them in order to keep everything ‘equal’. In the short stories “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson and “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut, Society places stereotypes onto the characters inhibiting them from being modernly civilized. Which leads them to criticize each other and blindly follow rules. This can be shown through the different types of characters and symbolism. In “The Lottery” there are many stereotypes, and one of them happens to be gender roles. When the lottery started, Mr. Summers calls out names to make sure everyone is here. During that time, a tall boy is called, “I’m drawing for my mother and me”/ “Glad to see your mother’s got a man to do it” (Jackson, 3). This quote is implying that society views women much weaker then men. The son draws for the mother because society thinks its fair for the son to protect the mother, even though the mother is much elder then the son and has much more experience. Furthermore, many people in the crowd say positive things about the boy for filling in for his mother, “Several voices in the crowd said things like ‘good

Society is meant to be balanced, but that is not the case since people are tethered from their true potential. This is demonstrated when we get introduced to George. “And George, while his intelligence was way above normal, had a little mental handicap… from taking unfair advantage of their brains” (Vonnegut, 1). George is more intelligent then the average person, but he is restrained from using his brilliance. There are people who are daft, and people like George can help them, instead he is forced to scoop down to their level because the government wants everyone to be the