Harrison Bergeron, Shades, And Examination Day

Human rights are basic freedoms that are inalienable. This means that no matter what law or rule is set, those are rights that should never be taken away from the people. A dystopian society will deny these rights, one of them being life. The stories Harrison Bergeron, Shades, and Examination Day, are all ones that have a common theme of the denial of life. A dystopian society denies individual rights such as life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. In Shades, by AJ Said, the Government hides colors, in order to prevent people from fighting over skin colors, but if anyone finds out, they are killed. After Jake had broken his contacts that stopped colors, he was killed when he discovered that the government hadn’t removed colors, but instead hid them
The Gov is hiding the colors--they are still here.” At first, I thought he threw me aside, but then I realized that he had been shot. I hit the ground and looked up to see there were three holes in Jake’s White Uniform”( 5). In Shades, the Government hides colors, in order to prevent wars and fighting. They do this by implanting eye contacts that block all colors except one, which is their rank. If someone were to break their eye contact, they would die. Similarly, in Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., people have limits put on them so that everyone is equal and if they try to keep the handicaps off, they are killed. When Harrison broke out of his confinement he chose an empress and they began to dance, without their mental handicaps and to the sound of an unhandicapped musician. He tried to rise up, but he was killed. The author states, “It was then that Diana Moon Glampers, the Handicapper General, came into the studio with a double-barreled ten-gauge shotgun. She fired twice, and the Emperor and the Empress were dead before they hit the floor” (6). If someone is not equal, they are given a handicap that will limit them, such as weight, a mask, or a loud noise to stop them from