Rights Citizens Have to Rule
Making their own laws/traditions
Thesis Statement
Citizens should be allowed to rule based on the diversity of the community creating laws that help people to be equal without the governments consent and make their own traditions within their group of family and friends.
"Harrison Bergeron" by Kurt Vonnegut and "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson
Quote/Analysis "Harrison Bergeron"
Quote: “It was tragic, all right, but George and Hazel couldn't think about it very hard. Hazel had a perfectly average intelligence, which meant she couldn't think about anything except in short bursts. And George, while his intelligence was way above normal, had a little mental handicap radio in his ear. He was required by law to wear it at all times. It was tuned to a government transmitter. Every twenty seconds or so, the transmitter would send out some sharp noise to keep people like George from taking unfair advantage of their brains” (Vonnegut 1).
Analysis: The handicaps were a bad idea for above average citizens because they are painful to them and they restrict them from diversity in society. The citizens should have freedom of thought because everyone has the right to express their ideas and they are entitled to freedom, so the government should not take that away. Diversity, intelligence, and many other things are missing from society because people are restrained or just average everyone thinks the same and they don’t have the ability to have an open, creative mind.
Quote/Analysis "The Lottery"
Quote: “‘First thing you know, we'd all be eating stewed chickweed and acorns. There's always been a lottery,’” (Jackson 4).
Analysis: Old Man Warner is saying that the lottery keeps people in place and gives them order. Since there has always been a lottery people had no choice but to participate in it, not even thinking if its right or wrong because it’s tradition. Citizens should be able to get a choice in what traditions and laws they want to have, but they should also erase anything immoral from society that’s happening within those traditions and laws created or already there.