Comparision of 'After You, My Dear Alphonse' and 'Harrison Bergeron'

These two short stories displays two different types of discrimination, one story presents an environment hostile to a racial group of people due to their ethnicity whilst the other reveals a world obsessed with equal rights for everyone that they slowly dissolve our right to express ones self. ‘After You, My Dear Alphonse’ by Shirley Jackson shows an extreme form of racial prejudice and bigotry shown through the discriminatory messages sent subtly in the guise of a casual conversation by a white mother to an African American child but unknown to him were its true meaning for he saw then merely as an innocent conversation. ‘Harrison Bergeron’ by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. depicts a future where the entire of the world’s populace is average in every sense, all are forcefully impaired by devices to prevent the person from “abusing” their smarts or strengths to better their neighbor intellectually or athletically. ‘After You, My Dear Alphonse’ shows a world when a people who were once oppressed rose from servitude, although despite their triumphs against their oppressors they were still looked down upon. Jackson put this idea through the context of a domestic situation where a place that is supposed to be safe is hostile towards one who is only a child for the only reason of skin colour. In ‘Harrison Bergeron’ the world’s nations began a crusade to cleanse the world of discrimination of any kind so they began a purge of all the characteristics that makes Man different and “above satisfactory” thus perpetuating a society that praises the average, worships mediocrity and calls originality heresy. One lies in a world heavy with prejudice and the other heavy with equality.

In the universe of ‘After You, My Alphonse, racism towards African-Amer...

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... situations but to tread with caution. “Harrison Bergeron” shows us that there is no more costly a price and no more better a reward than the ability to express ones self through ones own will, without fear from the censor. Individuality is a trait that makes Man original and unique from one another. Humans are made genetically unequal in talents and abilities however hard work and dedication makes up for these missing genes, traits that are fueled by the want to be the best they can be through competition, the desire to excel or the desire to be different. The true meaning of an equal world is where Man is seen and judged under God and law without bias towards occupation, social status, wealth nor talents. We are imperfect, we are flawed beings, we are held by only one hindrance to perfection that of which is free will. Are you willing to trade this for perfection?