Similarities Between The Lottery And Harrison Bergeron

In the popular novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus Finch once said “you never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view-until you climb into his skin and walk around in it” (Lee 3). The easiest behavior to adapt from this quote is to sit quietly and keep words and thoughts to oneself. “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut Jr., “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, and the movie The Hunger Games, directed by Gary Ross, all feature societies that blindly obey sick and twisted social traditions. In “Harrison Bergeron,” the main character, Harrison, escapes from the debilitating social lifestyle of wearing exhausting handicaps to make a point of how physically draining and incredibly pointless their social tradition

is. “The Lottery” shows an innocent woman, Tessie, meeting her death day as a result of the revolting practice of her society.

Finally, in The Hunger Games, Katniss Everdeen volunteers in place of her sister and enters an overwhelmingly displeasing, deadly arena to fight for her life. Despite the fate of the victims of these social traditions, their greedy, self-centered societies still do nothing to save an innocent individual’s destiny. By blindly blending in with the crowd and its society’s traditions, people’s daily lives become impacted tremendously.
Sometimes, people follow social traditions out of fear. Whether it is fear of their life, the law, or the consequences, a community may mindlessly follow a social tradition regardless of the purpose of it. In “Harrison Bergeron,” the whole country of America in the year 2081 tunes into the news bulletin while it interrupts the daily programming. An under-handicapped prisoner, has escaped his jail cell and begins removing his handicaps over national television. The narrator says “Harrison tore the straps of his handicap harness.” Startling and leaving “the ballerinas, technicians, musicians and announcers cowered on their knees before [Harrison], expecting to die” (Vonnegut 5). As a result of the 211th, 212th, and 213th Amendments, the entire country was ordained to total

equality for all. These Amendments instructed that every superior person would be required to wear some sort of or many different types of handicaps. Handicaps existed to weaken certain qualities of individuals; so their appearance and mental capabilities were ‘fair’ and as exceptional as anyone else’s. As a result of the Amendments being added to the Constitution, Harrison’s actions of removing his handicaps is thought of as illegal. The society in “Harrison Bergeron” chooses to ably by these new, mindless policies without question. Despite how ludicrous or nonsensical the Amendments are, the nation still obeys them because it is illegal not to. After Harrison releases his physical incapabilities, he vows to select a mate, one of the ballerinas, to join him to his apparent path of freedom. “A moment passed, and then a ballerina arose … the Handicapper General, came into the studio with a double-barreled ten-gauge shotgun. She fired twice, and [Harrison] and [his ballerina] were dead before they hit the floor” (Vonnegut 6). When Harrison announced that he will select a mate, there first was a short, blank moment where nobody voluntarily stood to join him. This is because the entire group of people that are in the studio, along with the entire country, is aware of the consequences of removing handicaps. Also, everyone is aware of how ruthless the Handicapper General is; her merciless nature is put on display after she kills Harrison and the ballerina on live television. Nobody present in the studio stood to defend or even warn Harrison nor the ballerina as their lives were about to end. This is because the entire nation knows what will happen to them if they disobey the law; so everyone chooses to keep quiet and save themselves from danger. This is a case of mindlessly following a tradition to satisfy the society; regardless of how dangerous it can be. When fear drifts into a social tradition, it is impossible to violate the current lifestyle. People begin to worry about themselves rather than the necessariness of the tradition itself.
Following a social tradition can sometimes be thought of as rather selfish.

With this, people become more concerned with saving and benefiting themselves rather than helping others. “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson exhibits an ironic type of Lottery: the winner receives a slow and painful death of public stoning if they choose the black dot paper randomly out of a box. The story depicts the Hutchinson family as they draw the unlucky, black-dotted paper. After revealing their fate to the community, the whole town is silent. Nobody is particularly encouraged to speak up and say something. Yet, one of the Lottery ‘winners’, Tessie Hutchinson, tries to convince Mr. Summers, the head of the Lottery, to start over. Tessie’s husband Bill chooses to keep his mouth closed; even after the fact that his family is the unfortunate selected lottery ‘winners’. As Tessie’s efforts to save her family continue, Bill says “Shut up, Tessie” (Jackson 5). The silence and blank reaction of Bill and the town show that nobody wants to risk their safety to save someone else’s. Tessie views these actions as egoistic; though, she does not care because her begging continues. In addition to Tessie’s cries, the Lottery continues. The Hutchinson family is placed into the drawing to select the unlucky family member. Tessie is predictably the chosen one with the black-dotted paper, and her cries increase greatly. Nobody speaks up to aid Tessie as her unimaginable fate approaches. They simply do not know

what it feels like to be selected. Until one gets selected, the entire community lacks in empathy for the Lottery ‘winners’. Tessie soon realizes that despite her fighting and shouting, this social tradition will continue and her life will end today. “Tessie Hutchinson was in the center of a cleared space by now, and she held her hands out desperately as the villagers moved in on her. ‘It isn't fair,’ she said. A stone hit her on the side of the head. Old Man Warner was saying, ‘Come on, come on, everyone.’”(Jackson 8). Unphased by Tessie and her cries for help, the town carries on with the traditional stoning of the victim. There is not one word of empathy for Tessie. Nobody truly understands how Tessie is feeling, so everyone just ‘shrugs’ it off. The rest of Tessie’s family even includes themselves on the stoning of their mother. As seen in “The Lottery,” people are more concerned with saving their own fate as opposed to helping someone else’s fate.
With dark, deadly social traditions, they do not appear as awful when one has a higher chance or better advantages for staying alive. Societies with this upper-hand tend to enjoy the social tradition and praise it while societies without this leverage are more likely to oppose and dislike it. When Peeta and Katniss are brought to the Capitol after the Reaping, the first glimpse of District One is shown. It is the polar opposite of Peeta and Katniss’s home: District Twelve. People are dressed in bright, beautiful clothes, buildings are modern and clean, and people have wealthy wallets and lifestyles. Younger kids along with their families are excited to watch the 74th annual Hunger Games (Ross). Typically, tributes from District One are very highly trained and superior. District One is often proud of their tributes for they have a high chance of winning. This particular district enjoys viewing the Hunger Games for this very reason; so they continue to follow the terrible tradition; regardless of the lethality involved. On the other hand, throughout the movie, different districts are shown watching the Hunger Games in their districts. District Eleven and Twelve are viewed as miserable, desperate villages. People are wearing rags, living in small shacks, are filthy, poor, and malnourished. Their standard of living is rather low. Additionally, when Rue, a tribute from Eleven, gets killed, her District responds by destroying everything in the town center as an act of hatred toward the Hunger Games (Ross). It can be stated that districts of higher numbers like Eleven and Twelve are definitely inexperienced in the field of the Hunger Games. Rue was very unfit and unprepared to be a tribute for the Games. It is obvious that nobody from higher numbered districts want to participate in this deadly event nor are they prepared to. District One and its tributes celebrate the twisted tradition because of their unfair benefit; while the rest of the nation is inexperienced and vulnerable for the Hunger Games. When given a higher advantage during a fatal social tradition, people become selfish and egotistical.
With social traditions continuously living on and being repeated, people are compelled to become blind followers of the culture. Harrison Bergeron is brutally murdered over live television because he attempts to break free of a debilitating lifestyle. Tessie Hutchinson begs and pleads to save her and her family, while the town around her ignores and refuses to comply with her requests because of a fatal social tradition. Katniss Everdeen’s district, along with others, and its incapabilities push her into a deadly social tradition unprepared while another district with a higher advantage ‘takes it easy’ and observes with high confidence and higher superiority without worry. The egotistical and greedy mind of a human being always finds a way to show itself; this characteristic exists in all societies and all cultures no matter the situation, and no matter the location.