Comparing The Pedestrian And Harrison Bergeron

Science Fiction is one of the most action packed genre’s out there. Portraying fears and informing people and entertaining people at the same time, no wonder it's a favorite of many. Authors that write these books always put in some type of concept of fear. Fears like advanced technology taking over, fear of war and controlling governments, fear of the unknown and even the fear of space, just to name a few, are the common concepts of Sci-Fi. Science Fiction however always raise a few brows when it's about controversial topics like controlling governments. Many people believe that controlling governments are good but controlling governments are actually very cruel, unfair, and they abuse their power.

Many people believe that controlling governments

In “The Pedestrian”, Mr. Leonard Mead, is just walking on the sidewalk when he gets interrogated by the police. In this time period, society is normal by day, but at night no one goes out side. Everyone watches TV and no one has any conversations with anyone. Mr. Mead was the only man on the block without a TV and he wasn't married. Because of these differences, Mr. Mead was “unknown.” The government was scared of him so just because he walked at night, he was taken to The Psychiatric Center for Research on Regressive Tendencies (Bradbury 2). This portrays a cruel government because a innocent man was sent to a research lab all because he was walking at night. This type of treatment is just absurd and the punishment was just unnecessary. In “Harrison Bergeron” Harrison Bergeron is a fourteen-year-old boy who was taken away from his parents, George and Hazel Bergeron, because he was smart. Just for being smarter, stronger, faster, or even more talented, you would be punished or handicapped. For example, George was very smart so they required him to wear a tiny radio that disrupted his thoughts every now and then. The radio would transmit ear piercing sounds like car crashes or gunshots. Along with the earpieces, talented people like ballerinas had to wear heavy lead balls that are strapped to their waists and taking them off would

In “China’s Brutal One-Child Policy” it basically says that there's a law that a couple can only have 1 child. However, it doesn't stop there. Like all laws, if broken, they can result in punishments or fines. The fine for a second child is 20,000 yuan (about $3,200).If you can't pay the fine, the government punishes you even more. In fact one pregnant woman that was 8 months pregnant was forced to have an abortion in very unsanitary conditions. “Family planning officers dragged her to the local clinic, bound her to a surgical table and [they] injected a lethal drug into her abdomen.” After the injection, her body ejected the dead fetus and she had to walk home with blood dripping down her legs (NY Times 1). This blatantly describes the way that the Chinese government abuses their power and how their cruel ways of oppression consist of violence, fear, and unnecessary punishments. Another example of controlling governments in today's world is North Korea. North Korea limits the freedom of religion. In “North Korean Defector Describes ‘life as hell’ for Christians” it tells us about a man named Choi Kwanghyuk and how he had to go through many hardships just to worship the religion of their choice. Kwanghyuk was targeted and persecuted because he was Christian. To keep