Anthem And Harrison Bergeron Comparison

Equality comes when each person has the same opportunities and rights as every other in their country, state, et cetera. Some authors in their writing like to challenge the idea of equality and the boundaries of how far some governments, fictional or not, are willing to go for their own idea of equality. The societies in Anthem and “Harrison Bergeron” can be compared in their “successes” by making everyone think they are equal, and their failures in which they are not able to keep everyone contained. The novella Anthem provides a better criticism of government because it goes into more depth about how the citizens are not held back physically by the state, but mostly by their own upbringing and beliefs. These societies, which do differentiate in many ways, successes’ compare in that they are both able to complete the task of making everyone think they are equal. The term “successes” is used sparingly in this case, because one would not consider making humans equal in this way a “success.” In “Harrison Bergeron” the speaker states that every person who is above the average in beauty, intelligence, or strength has their own handicap to level out humankind. Harrison’s father even “had a little mental handicap radio in his ear” (1) to restrain his brain from thinking due to his above average intellect. The government went to extreme measures to make everyone the same, even “[requiring] by law to wear it at all times” (1). As with beauty and other ways people are required to