Harrison Bergeron" and "the Pedestrian:" a Cause and Effect Comparison

"Harrison Bergeron" and "The Pedestrian:" A Cause and Effect Comparison

How would you feel if you weren't allowed to express yourself? This topic is very prevalent in the stories "Harrison Bergeron" and "The Pedestrian." Even in today's society, people can lose their individuality. Individuality is important in any society, and when individuality is lost, people are negatively affected. When every person starts to lose their individuality, the world is boring because everything stays the same and nothing will ever change.

In both "The Pedestrian" and "Harrison Bergeron," the causes of losing individuality both have something to do with the government. In "The Pedestrian," nobody is allowed to be different, and since everybody is inside watching TV, Leonard gets in trouble with the police car for going outside because he is doing something different. Also, people lose their individuality due to their lack of a social life. Everybody in the city is inside all of the time, so the only people they get to talk to are their families and nobody else. Ultimately, people lose their individuality because they watch too much TV. Bradbury hints this by using phrases such as "sudden gray flickers manifest on inner room walls," or "whisperings or murmurs in a tomblike building." This connects to the reason there is a lack of individuality in "The Pedestrian." In "Harrison Bergeron," people lose their individuality because the government does not want to go back to the dark days. That was when everybody wasn't equal and is why the government passed laws to make each and every person equal. Mostly, the government does not want one person to be better than any other person. The key moment was when the government passed the 211th, 212th, and 213th amendments to the constitution. This law made every person in this society the same and was the main reason individuality was lost in this story. In conclusion, the losses of individuality in "Harrison Bergeron" are ultimately centered on governmental control.

In "The Pedestrian" and "Harrison Bergeron," consequences for losing individuality both make the people unable to freely express themselves. In "The Pedestrian," the entire society has to do something every day and cannot change anything. Also, the society has to have the same viewpoints on everything, which is why Leonard gets in trouble for doing different things. Lastly, when the police car asks Leonard for his profession, he responds by saying he's a writer. But since everybody watches TV, there is no need for writers. That makes the police car think he has no profession because nobody is allowed to be different in this society. In "Harrison Bergeron," the whole society is not allowed to express their own