These two short stories present two different types of discrimination, one presents a hostile environment towards a racial group of people due to their ethnicity while the other reveals a world obsessed with equal rights for all that they are slowly dissolving our right to express ourselves. Shirley Jackson's "After You, My Dear Alphonse" shows an extreme form of racial prejudice and intolerance manifested through the discriminatory messages sent subtly under the cover of casual conversation by a white mother to an African-American child, without let him know if it was true. that is to say, he only saw it as an innocent conversation. Kurt Vonnegut Jr.'s "Harrison Bergeron" depicts a future in which the entire world population is average in every sense of the word, all subject to devices designed to prevent anyone from "abusing" their intelligence or of his strengths to improve his neighbor on an intellectual or sporting level. . “After You, My Dear Alphonse” shows a world where a once oppressed people freed themselves from servitude, even though despite their triumphs against their oppressors, they were still despised. Jackson placed this idea in the context of a domestic situation where a supposedly safe place is hostile towards one who is just a child simply because of the color of his skin. In “Harrison Bergeron,” the nations of the world have launched a crusade to cleanse the world of all forms of discrimination. So they began a purge of all the characteristics that make man different and “beyond satisfactory,” thereby perpetuating a society that praises average, worships mediocrity, and calls originality heresy. One finds himself in a world heavy with prejudice and the other heavy with equality. In the world of After you, my Alphonse, racism against African-Americans...... middle of paper ...... situations but to be approached with caution. “Harrison Bergeron” shows us that there is no greater prize or greater reward than the ability to express oneself through one's own will, without fear of censorship. Individuality is a trait that makes humans original and unique from each other. Humans are genetically unequal in talents and abilities, but hard work and dedication make up for these missing genes, traits fueled by the desire to be the best possible through competition, the desire to excel, or the desire to be different. The true meaning of an egalitarian world is one where man is seen and judged according to God and the law, without prejudice as to occupation, social status, wealth or talents. We are imperfect, we are imperfect beings, we are only held back by one obstacle to perfection, that of free will. Are you ready to trade this for perfection?