An Uncomfortable DeathThere are many short stories in literature that share a common theme presented in different ways. One theme that always grabs readers' attention is that of death because it is something that no one wants to face in real life, but something that can easily be faced while reading. Kurt Vonnegut's "Harrison Bergeron" and Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" both illustrate how two authors use the common theme of death as a metaphor for dystopian societies. Kurt Vonnegut wrote novels and short stories with a darker tone. Vonnegut was a prisoner of war during World War II. He witnessed the firebombing in Dresden, Germany, which he says changed his life forever. While a prisoner, he spent a few years working for the Nazis in a former butcher's shop where animals were slaughtered. This is where the basis of his novel Slaughterhouse Five comes from. Because of the horrible things he participated in during World War II, many of his novels are tied to wrongdoing or dysfunctional societies (Smith par 8-9). His short story “Harrison Bergeron” is about a society of the future that is more than controlled by the government. The government wants to make everyone equal and attempts to do this by changing a person's intelligence level and other minor qualities such as strength or social class. What was interesting was the fact that instead of making the weak stronger, the strong became weak. It is clear that this is a satirical work of literature because when reading this it is obvious that the future has been embellished and that it would not be how history portrayed it. “Vonnegut showed a disdain for Social Darwinism, the theory that individuals or groups gain an advantage over others as a medium...it was against his will because of his reaction. In “The Lottery,” it is easy to say throughout the story that the drawing of lots is not a positive thing. People are eager to find out if they are the winner of the lottery because they are waiting to find out if they are going to die. Their tone is one of desperation hoping to live because they don't want to be stoned. I believe that dystopian literature has certain flaws as it could be unethical to the viewer; however, the dark and weary tone throughout the stories made me want to read more. Even though the deaths of Harrison and Mrs. Hutchinson were brutal, it brought the whole play together as a part of dystopian literature. In the future, if I were to write something, I now have some knowledge about the concept of dystopia which could allow for better literature..