Kory Gill

COMM 460

Reading Analysis #2

1. In the two articles, Harrison Bergeron written by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. and The ones who

Walk Away from Omelas written by Ursula Le Guin, the main topic is equality leads to

sacrifices. The sacrifices that were made to have everybody equal in Harrison Bergeron

are people who were smart had to have a disability to make everybody equal. This was a

sacrifice made because smart people had to give up their ability to think differently.

Furthermore, people who were beautiful had to cover up their face with a mask. This is a

sacrifice because good looking people had to give up their right to show their face

because it would not be fair to ugly people. In comparison, the sacrifice made in The

Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas so everybody could enjoy equality, was a child

suffering so all of the other people in Omelas could enjoy freedom and happiness.

2. The main theme of the two readings is equality to all is not fair and standing up for what

you believe in comes with great sacrifices. In Harrison Bergeron, equality to all cost

intelligent, beautiful, and athletic people their freedom. For example, George had to wear

a handicap radio in his ear so he could not take advantage of his intelligence. The

government controlled how George thought by sending him a loud noise through the

transmitter attached to his ear every twenty seconds. This means everybody being equal

cost George his freedom because he no longer had the ability to think, act, or speak

without restraints. The beautiful lost their freedom to show their face because it was not

fair to ugly people. For example the beautiful ballerinas had to wear mask to cover up

their face. Furthermore, athletic people had things hung on them so they would not be

faster nor stronger than anybody else. Because the athletic had this restraint, their

freedom was lost. For example Harrison Bergeron had scrap metal hung all over him

because he was extremely strong. In The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas, There is a

kid who lives in darkness so everybody else can be happy and enjoy their freedom. This

means for everybody else to be free, the child who lives in darkness has lost his freedom

to enjoy the sunlight and eat food. Furthermore, Harrison Bergeron sacrificed his right to

live when he took off his restraints and started to stand up to the government because he

disapproved what the government was doing. The people who went to see the child, who

lived in darkness, in The One Who Walk Away from Omelas, sacrificed their right to live

in Omelas by trying to interact with the child even though they knew they were not

supposed to. Also, the people going to see the child of darkness risked their happiness

because they knew Omelas is a good place because the child in darkness and by

interacting with the child, the city would no longer be a happy place to live.

3. Kurt Vonnegut and Ursula Le Guin accomplished their goals by illustrating how equality

to all is not fair. Kurt Vonnegut describes how people with higher than normal abilities

are punished in Harrison Bergeron. Kurt outlines this by describing what people with

“unfair abilities” have to wear to offset their abilities with “normal people.” Ursula Le

Guin reinforced the idea everybody being equal is not fair by explaining the happy town

of Omelas and then explaining the child who lives in the dark and the reason he lives in

the dark is so everybody else could live happy lives. The articles are logical and

reasonable. In Harrison Bergeron, things that have to be done in order for everybody to

be equal was outlined. For this reason, the article was logical. The article was reasonable

because it described a person who was unhappy with the government’s rules. In

comparison, some people in the USA standup against laws they do not agree with as well.

The fact people could relate on some kind of level is the reasons I say it was reasonable.

The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas was reasonable because the idea of someone

being sacrificed for the good of everybody else is a parallel to the bible in the way Jesus

Christ died for all of our sins. The article was logical because people could not explain

where people exactly went when they left Omelas. This is parallel to death in the fact

people cannot explain where other people exactly go when they die. In both cases, people

only could explain what caused a particular person to die or leave Omelas.

4. In Harrison Bergeron, I disagree with everybody having equal abilities. The reason why

is because this is unfair not only to people with extraordinary abilities but to the people

with disabilities as well. This is because the people with disabilities could benefit from

intelligent people. For example, some intelligent people become doctors. People with

disabilities, from my experience, go to see the doctor more often than people without

disabilities. So, people with disabilities count on intelligent people, like doctors, to make

them feel comfortable by improving their life. A good example is when electric wheel

chairs were invented. It provided a means for people who are unable to walk to get

around. If everybody had the same abilities, we would suffer as a human race.

Throughout history intelligent people have improved people lives by inventing products.

For example, Bill Gates created Microsoft which improved people lives by helping

people do their work more efficiently. Without intelligent people, nothing would be

invented, new jobs would not be created as a result, and our economy would be destroyed

because they would not be people who have enough intelligence to even run the

government effectively.

In contrast, I agree with the idea that there needs to be a sacrifice for everybody else to

live happy. This is because I was taught by my father nothing comes free. So, I have a hard time

living a life full of gifts if I did not sacrifice something to get that. Also, sacrifice is biblical. A

good comparison of this is when God died on the Cross for our sins and the child who was in the

dark so everybody else could live free and happy.