When Society is too Equal in The Uknown Citizen and Harrison Bergeron
W. H. Auden's poem entitled "The Unknown Citizen" and Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.'s short story entitled "Harrison Bergeron" is a portrayal of a conflict between individualism and government control. Auden's "The Unknown Citizen" is a government's view of the perfect modern man in an unrealistic society. Similarly, Vonnegut presents in "Harrison Bergeron" a scary and destructive view of the United States government in the future where all citizens are uniform. In both "The Unknown Citizen" and "Harrison Bergeron" the government has manipulated human intelligence to the point that the government ultimately has total control over everyone's lives and minds. The motive behind the portrayal of an equal society is that it will eliminate hatred, envy and war. While this does prove true, the numerous side effects such as loss of identity, lack of originality, and loss of personal feelings begin to arise. The attempt to create an equal society to the extreme makes the United States government more like a dictatorship or communist system rather than a democracy. The satiric society depicted in "The Unknown Citizen" and "Harrison Bergeron" is the authors' attempt to mock a political system that tends to depersonalize its citizens and constantly strives to create equality. Auden and Vonnegut prove that the government is too controlling and as a result our individuality is lost.
The people of the society portrayed in the stories take the notion of perfection and equality to the extreme. In "The Unknown Citizen", the Auden uses sarcasm to express an obsessive and mindless state that only know its citizens by numbers and letters, and evaluates their worth with statisti...
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...f the communist party. The ways of life of these citizens is very much like the one described in "The Unknown Citizen" and "Harrison Bergeron". This is probably what Auden and Vonnegut want to warn about by mocking the political system that existed now. The democracy system of the United States is sometimes depriving its citizens of individuality. If it continue to strive toward equality the society, much like that described in "The Unknown Citizen" and "Harrison Bergeron" will prevail and this could lead to the deformity of humanness.
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Works Cited
Auden, W.H. "The Unknown Citizen." Reading and Writing from Literature. 2nd ed. Ed.
John E. Schwiebert. Boston: Houghton, 2001. 627
Vonnegut, Jr. Kurt. "Harrison Bergeron." Reading and Writing from Literature. 2nd ed. Ed.
John E. Schwiebert. Boston: Houghton, 2001. 575-78
Freedom is one of the many great qualities of life, but when it is taken away, life could turn out to be anything but great. Freedom to think, repent, and refuse should be incorporated in ones daily routine, but under an authoritarian dystopian society, these freedoms are only dreamt of. When society draws such attitudes and lifestyles upon its citizens, one adapts and accepts these requests, but not without a compromise. In Shirley Jackson’s masterpiece ‘The Lottery’ and Kurt Vonnegut’s exceptional story ‘Harrison Bergeron’, human life is so often sacrificed and withdrawn that is becomes a norm in society. Forcing people to agree with someone else’s ideology of harmony and success cannot be achieved without discarding the non-believers. Both dystopian societies possess excessive force on their civilians, with harsh consequences resulting in death. Traditional values and dictatorship laws forcefully overcome the mass population’s beliefs, resulting in obedience and respect to the laws of society. By comparing and contrasting the short story ‘The Lottery’ and ‘Harrison Bergeron’, it can be derived that these societies have strict rules and regulations, citizens of the society have become so adapted that they are afraid of change, and there is a severe lack of freedom.
Harper American Literature, Inc. Harper & Row Publishers: New York, 1987, pp. 113-117. 1308 - 1311 -.
Meyer, Michael. The Bedford Introduction to Literature. Ed. 8th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2008. 2189.
……………Most of the numerous and very disparate urban utopias imagined since antiquity, claim more or less a social justice combining equality, fairness, and freedom. However the methods invented to reach this social justice often lead to more binding law, sometimes up to the absurd, that limited the abilities and capacities of the citizens. Thus, behind the mask of an ideal equality, is concealed in fact, a tremendous social injustice. In “Harrison Bergeron”, Kurt Vonnegut’s shows us the consequences of sacrificing freedom for perfect equality by using the story of an excessive utopia to demonstrate that a society in which total equality exists, is not only oppressive, but also static and inefficient. Vonnegut exemplifies the image of fairness
“The year was 2081, and everyone was finally equal” (Vonnegut 133). This story is called “Harrison Bergeron” and is written by Kurt Vonnegut, and includes satire of many real societies that will supposedly influence the United States. This previous quote describes that the United States was finally perfect, but it could be argued as a communistic society. It is later stated that: “All this equality was due to the 211th, 212th, and 213th Amendments to the Constitution” (Vonnegut 133). This explains how the Unites States has transferred to a society related to communism. This is an example of satire that is used to mock communism. A second inference that can be made about this “utopian” society is also mocks the person’s need for nobody to have
In Kurt Vonnegut Jr’s short story, “Harrison Bergeron”, the reader is given a rather brumal glimpse into the future where “everyone [is] finally equal”. In this world, people are forced to live mediocre lives so they may be “equal”. At the climax of the story the title character escapes prison and executed because he represents everything that society should be. Although Vonnegut’s gallant protagonist isn’t successful in his attempt to “overthrow” the government, he is successful resurrecting things that have been eradicated from society; such as communication, beauty, dance, free will and love.
Politics is the predominant topic in the media, which influences many minds and actions of the general public. Today, an individual can get treated and judged differently based on just his or her political preference. It is reasonable that a corrupt government and its officials are able to drastically change the lives of many, by putting out strict laws to misguide the citizens. The two short stories, “Harrison Bergeron” and “The Raid”, written by Kurt Vonnegut and John Steinbeck depict two different ways communism affects the common people.
Harrison Bergeron is a fictional story written by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr, explains what a society would look like if it was at its worst-case scenario. Every citizen weighs the same, looks the same, and even performs the same as everybody else. In the story, two characters, George and Hazel, are sitting the living room watching tv, when suddenly a breaking news come on the screen. A rebel within the society threatens to take over the city and rid of the pain. The rebel gets shot and killed, leaving the society as it was before. With everybody weighing the same, looking the same, and being the same height, this dystopian world would a terrible place to live in.
"Government's first duty is to protect the people, not run their lives".- In "Harrison Bergeron" the author Kurt Vonnegut explains the kinds of sufferings people had to deal with for equality in the year 2081. People with above average intelligence were required to wear mental handicaps, and on the other hand people with average intelligence did not. Two main characters, Harrison and George, are examples of the type of society the people lived in. The process behind creating equality in a dystopian society requires mandating intelligence, controlling physical abilities, and a overpowering government.
“They were equal in every which way” (Vonnegut Jr.), and their uniformity and lack of perspective made them feel blissful in such an oppressive culture. The lack of individuality illustrated prevents people from knowing what would be considered different. As people’s civil rights are slowly taken away, their ignorance deepens, along with their inability to think or act radically. Living in this handicapped society assures no memories, and thus, no sorrow. The absence of liberty and the inability to assess life’s circumstances makes the people happy to live in such a society. They do not know what freedom is and therefore, they only desire the lifestyle that they know and live, day to day. Just as people are oppressed, but happily live in ignorance, in “Harrison Bergeron,” the same setting appears in V for
Being forced to do something, is a thing we all hate, so can you imagine living a life where everything you do is limited. Well in “Harrison Bergeron”, Kurt Vonnegut shows us dystopian society first had to show how citizens are controlled using cruel and sadistic methods, like mental and physical handicaps and death penalties for disobeying the law, to make their citizens blindly follow the government to make sure everyone is equal.
People have different opinions on what needs to be done for order to be kept in society. Kurt Vonnegut Jr. shows two different themes in his book, “Harrison Bergeron”. In his book, the handicapper general forces everyone to be equal by giving superior people handicaps. The author shows in his writing that being superior is unfair and people must remain equal for order to be kept. Kurt Vonnegut Jr. also shows that fear can make people do bad and hurtful things.
In "Harrison Bergeron", Kurt Vonnegut investigates the topic of constrained balance in American culture not long from now. Vonnegut makes a world in which all living individuals are equivalent in all ways. He concentrates on making uniformity by changing excellence, quality, and knowledge rather than managing race, religion, and sex, the genuine issues of correspondence in the public eye. He composes this story to instruct the lesson that all individuals are not equivalent, but instead, they all have qualities and shortcomings making each exceptionally person.
In conclusion, the complete freedom and absolute equality have been a goal of innumerable societies throughout human history. However, these two ideal cannot exist together in their most perfect forms because the perfect forms of either freedom or equality represent total chaos or total oppression, as we can see in “Harrison Bergeron,” the consequences of sacrificing freedom for perfect equality. The author uses the story of this imaginary perfect world where everyone is happy to demonstrate that a society in which total equality exists is not only oppressive, but also inert and unproductive. Using his futuristic scenario, the simplicity of the society, and the actions of his characters, Vonnegut makes his point of view of a repressive society. In addition, societies that try to create total equality have almost always proven to be oppressive, such as China.
“The Unknown Citizen”, a poem written by W.H. Auden, reflects a period of vast change in America’s history, making “The Unknown Citizen” an example of the government’s view of the perfect modern man in an overrated, unrealistic society.