Harrison Bergeron: A Dystopian Society

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A dystopian society is the complete opposite of an idealistic utopia where something has gone wrong, making the situation horrible and dehumanizing. In both “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas” and “Harrison Bergeron”, the quest for total happiness and equality respectfully is twisted, making the circumstances of the the society unthinkable. The theme of “Harrison Bergeron” is that a world that oppresses its minority to benefit the majority will never succeed be free. In “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas”, the theme is that a society that exploits its minority in order to benefit the majority can never be free as well. In “Harrison Bergeron”, everyone is seemingly equal in every possible way, yet their equality comes with a cost. In this society, the individuality of those who are deemed stronger, smarter, or in any way superior to another is impaired through handicaps. For example, George is considered as having above average intelligence, so he has to wear a handicap in his ear at all times to distrubt his thoughts. Any time he starts to make any type of coherent thought, a deafening noise goes off, “his thoughts fled in panic, like bandits from a burglar alarm,” and he can no longer remember what just happened (Vonnegut 38). This simile shows how handicapped George truly is, …show more content…

A commonality in the two themes is that freedom can’t survive for anyone when even the smallest child or strongest group are unwillingly sacrificed in order to achieve it. Both stories believe that freedom is shared among people, not reserved for the chosen. A difference is how the characters react to the theme. In “Harrison Bergeron”, people are too unintelligent and unaware to realize the injustice. However, the citizens of Omelas are extremely aware of what they are doing to the wretched child, but they choose to ignore it in order to maintain their happiness at whatever cost to their

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