Response #3 C.J. McCarthy: The Drowning Incident

This is a very disturbing and depressing story. I think it shows that postpartum depression may not only be a feeling mothers have, but fathers as well. While the father did not directly harm his own baby, it seems as though he displaced his feelings for his baby on the puppies.
It's very difficult to understand how someone can commit such a disgraceful act of crime, but what's even more difficult to understand is how the son reacts to the entire situation. While he does show disgust and remorse, he handles the situation very calmly, but in a very strange way. His actions show that he may have a passive aggressive personality, or perhaps he was in so much shock that he may not have known how to handle the situation.
What's frightening is that events such as this do occur in our society. It is difficult to understand how the mind of a murderer works but is important that we do what we can to prevent such actions before it is too late.

Response #2 Ursula K. Le Guin: The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas

I think this story in many ways reflects the ideology that "ignorance is bliss." The community of the Omelas know that if they acknowledge the disadvantaged child that they will come to the realization that all is not right. Those who do come to this acknowledgment flee the city most likely due to their disgust and hatred of the ignorant city. In many ways this reflects our own humanity. Often when we are faced with the cold reality of children dieing due to hunger we either make the choice to help out or we turn our backs and think only of ourselves.
This is not to say that all people are ignorant, however, those who choose to live in a world where nothing is bad and everything is blissful are repressing the fact that everything is not blissful and there are many flaws and imperfections. Those who make this realization often find themselves unable to return to their old ways, so they flee from them, much the same way as the Omelas who fled. While it may not be literal in the sense that the people who come to this realization physically leave where they are, it may just be that they change their ideology and come closer to reality.
I feel that this story had a very valid moral lesson. That is, we should not ignore what is painful, and that we should do all that we can to fix what is wrong.

Response #1 Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.: Harrison Bergeron

I think this story provides a considerably gloomy outlook for our future in which socialism has become a common element in American culture. In this story, competition becomes outlawed and everyone is purposefully handicapped in order to ensure complete equality. It is a scary revelation of what could happen in the future if we allow the government to take complete control of our lives. This story presents the future in a different light than that of past socialistic cultures as the development of technologies coerce people closer to the cause of equality. The main characters George and Hazel Bergeron are punished for their ability to critically think, therefore the government uses preventive measures to clear their thoughts using a buzzing sound that activates anytime they conduct a thought process that is negative to equality.
Many people today would probably argue that something like this could never happen in our culture, however, in many ways it has happened. Our media now practically decides our presidential candidates with little to no argument from outsiders. When an argument does arise from an outsider it is dismissed as lunacy, much the same way that Diana Moon Glampers, the Handicapper General repressed Harrison's message by assassinating him and his "empress." Stories like these should not be taken lightly, they reveal the human nature of conformity and address the need of taking everything you see and hear with a degree of uncertainty.