Harrison Bergeron

Overall, I liked this story. It seems plausible that everyone in the future could be suppressed into equality. Even today, we try to make sure no one feels inadequate. An act that is justifiable, but should never be taken so extreme. Everyone should feel confident in who he or she is, and be able to reach his or her full potential. I think it is ridiculous to stifle a person’s abilities in order to keep someone else from feeling bad. It is also dumb that in some elementary schools they have a “graduation” from one grade to the next. It makes graduating from high school or college seem like no big deal. If we lived in the world portrayed in the story, we would never move forward as a society. We would stifle anyone who could make a real difference in the world, like Harrison Bergeron. He was willing to fight against everyone to help the nation as a whole. He probably could have thought it out better, but he was only fourteen. In addition, I would think having weights and multiple handicaps on you would just be a sign to everyone else that you are smarter or prettier. Then everyone would try to get more handicaps to prove how much “better” he or she was. True equality in that way would never be met. There never will and never should be true equality and the short story shows a great example of why this is so. Our nation needs distinction between people. How could you ever learn from someone else if they are just like you? No one would be able to rule if they as smart as everyone else, well maybe. I thought the shooting of Harrison and his girlfriend was harsh. I also do not believe that the parents would forget what happened that suddenly. Bye.

Saboteur

I just finished reading Saboteur, and I actually liked it. I love the ending (not the part where it said two children died), and I choose to believe that all of the police staff caught hepatitis. It sounds harsh but they had no reason for treating Mr. Chiu the way they did. I thought the way he spread the disease was ingenious. I would like to know why the policeman threw the hot tea on them in the first place. All I can assume is that he somehow knew Mr. Chiu was part of the Communist Party. A party that the policeman himself dislikes. I liked how the author made sure the “criminal” was well educated, I feel like it made the injustice that much more obvious. If he had been stupid, the situation could have gone in a completely different direction making Mr. Chiu seem guilty. I thought it was funny how Mr. Chiu cursed by saying “[e]gg of a tortoise!” I do not know if that is a legitimate cursing in his country but it made me laugh. I also enjoyed Mr. Chiu’s optimism; by realizing being in jail would be a nice place to relax. In addition, that he realized that he needed to sign the confession merely for the sake of his former student. He did not let his pride stand in the way of Fenjin’s well-being. Standing up for what you believe in is a trait that everyone should posses, but being smart about how go about your stance is another thing. I hope that the injustice in the story is not still alive today, but I think it would be foolish to think that it has completely disappeared. You can tell the author is not happy with the Chinese government. I read the small author biography in the front of the short story, it is very evident why he wrote this story, and why it ended the way it did.