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Compare And Contrast Harrison Bergeron And The Lottery

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Aarti Patel Mrs.Singh ENG 3U0 07/07/2015 Maintaining an Utopian Society: Harrison Bergeron and The Lottery Utopia is drawn as a place, a situation, or a condition which is absolutely perfect in terms of laws, customs, and politics. If individuals in the society have different perspectives, then can the society be ideally perfect? Even though laws and customs, made by the governing people, may not seem fair to the people who are bound to them, they will still continue to follow them regardless, for the sake of obedience. In the short stories "Harrison Bergeron" by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. and "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson, the antagonists aim to achieve an ideal society; however, the protagonists suggest that it is maintained unfairly through …show more content…

In the short story, "Harrison Bergeron," the protagonist is Harrison Bergeron who represents rebellion and individuality. This is shown when, "Harrison [plucks] the metal handicap from [the ballerina's] ear, [snaps] off her physical handicaps with marvelous delicacy. Last of all, he [removes] her mask. She [is] blindingly beautiful," (Vonnegut Jr. 4). This suggests that even though people are forced to wear handicaps to encourage equality, Harrison Bergeron fearlessly takes his and the ballerina's handicaps off. He rebels against the societal rules because he wants people to show their natural talent and not be controlled by the government. Furthermore, the protagonist in the short story, "The Lottery," also symbolizes distinctiveness and rebellion as she stands up for the unfairness of the lottery. When her husband is chosen to get stoned Ms. Hutchinson says, " 'You didn't give him enough time to take any paper he wanted. I saw you. It wasn't fair'," (Jackson 4). Therefore, Ms. Hutchinson opposes fearlessly since she thinks that it is unfair that a random person gets selected to sacrifice his or her life for the benefit of others. Both, Harrison Bergeron and Ms. Hutchinson, symbolize mutiny and distinctiveness by not supporting their communal

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