Imagery In Kurt Vonnegut's Harrison Bergeron

981 Words2 Pages

There are times in life that people let society influence most of their life choices. How to dress, how to act, what to like, who to follow. Harrison Bergeron shows how it is not a good thing to try and be the same as other people and be controlled by an outside force like society or the government. Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.’s story “Harrison Bergeron” tells a story through a marxist lens of a society that has been set equal in every way but one of their convicts who is a unique specimen escapes prison and uses his few minutes on television to shine hope hidden in the people’s fears and to do a performance that ends tragically. Vonnegut did not just write the story for everyone, there was an intended target for sure. This story is perfect for fans …show more content…

One part of the story that shows an example of both context and imagery happening at once is when the news of Harrison Bergeron’s prison escape is on TV and his image is being shown in an attempt to warn people.“Screams and barking cries of consternation came from the television set. The photograph of Harrison Bergeron on the screen jumped again and again, as though dancing to the tune of an earthquake” (Vonnegut para 49). That quote proves that Vonnegut focuses on imagery and context because it attracts to the readers senses by using the words screams and barking cries, and it uses imagery because the reader can imagine the photograph on the TV screen bouncing around. Vonnegut really emphasises his use of context and imagery that it helps make an image inside the mind of his …show more content…

Vonnegut establishes the humorous tone by using gallows humor, which is grim and ironic humor. In one part of the text, George Bergeron and Hazel Bergeron are talking about George’s handicaps and what Hazel would do if she was handicapper general. “Well maybe make ‘em real loud, I think I’d make a good Handicapper General. (Vonnegut para 18) “Good as anybody else” (Vonnegut para 19). The gallow humor in that is that George is saying Hazel would be equally as dumb and would do just a bad job as Diana Moon Glampers. So Vonnegut establishes a serious but sometimes humorous tone within the

Show More
Related

  • Identity In Kurt Vonnegut's Harrison Bergeron

    536 Words  | 2 Pages

    Each person has different characteristics about them that give them their own identity and that should not be changed. In the story “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut, the main character, Harrison Bergeron is known as a threat to society. He is very intelligent, handsome, and athletic. In 2081, every person in the United States is equal. The government has taken over and has required everyone to wear handicaps to make them less smart, less pretty, less strong, and many other things. At the beginning of the story they mention a husband and wife, George and Hazel Bergeron, and they have a son, Harrison, who gets taken away because of his perfections. Later in the story, Hazel and George are watching ballerinas on television, when the program is interrupted by breaking news. They inform the viewers that Harrison has broken out of jail. The program then turns back on and Harrison appears on stage with the ballerinas. He proceeds to take off every

    Read More

  • Competition In Kurt Vonnegut's Harrison Bergeron

    987 Words  | 2 Pages

    Imagine a society where not a single person competes with another. It has been like this for years, yet nothing has changed since the start of this new world. No new technology, no new occupations, no new discoveries. Absolutely nothing is different. Without competition no one will push themselves to be better or to achieve any goals, and without new achievements society cannot survive, let alone thrive. The short story “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. discusses this topic. Set in a society where anyone above average in any way is handicapped, therefore everyone is completely and totally equal. One handicapped man, George’s, son is taken away by the government at the mere age of fourteen under suspicion of rebellious intentions. Another

    Read More

  • Conformity In Harrison Bergeron, The Lottery, By Kurt Vonnegut

    646 Words  | 2 Pages

    Science fiction stories are a very effective way of conveying a strong point. In “Harrison Bergeron” the strength of this short story is its ability to make you think. Not just about the societal structure, but also the abuse of power, and repression. The intentional significance of this story is if people accept oppressive measures in the name of fairness. No one really benefits from these foolish attempts to enforce equality. The tyranny of the majority stifles any sort of freedoms, gifts, individualities, and strengths. If an action must ...

    Read More

  • Theme Of Individuality In Harrison Bergeron

    805 Words  | 2 Pages

    The pages of history have longed been stained with the works of man written in blood. Wars and conflicts and bloodshed were all too common. But why? What could drive a man to kill another? Many would say it is man’s evil nature, his greed, envy, and wrath. And certainly, they all have a roll in it. But in reality, it is something far less malevolent, at least at first. The sole reason why conflicts grow and spread comes from the individuality that every human cherishes so dearly. This can easily be shown in the story “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut, in which a society has been created where everyone of talent has been handicapped so they are not better than anyone else, all for the sake of equality. This text will show that Individuality

    Read More

  • Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut and The Lottery by Shirley Jackson

    1065 Words  | 3 Pages

    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 of Dresden, Germany, which according to him changed his life forever. While a prisoner, he spent a few years working for Nazis in an old meat house where animals were slaughtered. That is where the basis of his novel Slaughterhouse Five came from. Due to the horrible things he took part in during World War II, many of his novels are related to wrong-doings or dysfunctional societies (Smith par 8-9). His short story “Harrison Bergeron” is about a society in the future who is more than controlled by the government. The government wants to make everyone equal and attempts to do so through changing a person’s intelligence level and other minor qualities such as strength or social class. What was interesting was that fact that rather than making the weak stronger, the stronger were made weak. It is clear this is a satirical piece of literature for the reason that when reading this, it is obvious the future was embellished and it was not going to be how the story portrayed it.

    Read More

  • Harrison Bergeron Theme Essay

    1139 Words  | 3 Pages

    He wears three-hundred pounds of buckshot around his neck, glasses that make him half blind, huge headset transmitter and caps on his teeth to make him look ugly. When he breaks free of his handicaps he is seen as a threat to society because of how superior he is. The fear instilled in the government is apparent when they burst into the news studio and shoot him dead, all on live television in front of his parents. However, no one will ever remember the spectacle Harrison put on because of the twenty second memory the population has. Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. uses irony, hyperbole and reversal to help readers understand that total equality cannot be achieved without dire consequences.

    Read More

  • Harrison Bergeron Propaganda Essay

    1807 Words  | 4 Pages

    The fictional short story by Kurt Vonnegut entitled Harrison Bergeron takes place in a dystopian future. Vonnegut chooses to make the story a satire in order to raise questions concerning how desirable social equality is within this world and how far society will go to achieve it. Like many dystopian, bleak, futuristic worlds, Vonnegut presents very clear aspects of how society is influenced by propaganda and the extent to how powerful a tool propaganda can be. After reading and analyzing this story, I will attempt to explain how Kurt Vonnegut’s life could have influenced his position on propaganda found within this short story. Furthermore, these elements will be matched to those common propaganda strategies discussed in this class and relate how this may impact any modern society.

    Read More

  • Surveillance in Foucault's Panopticism and Vonnegut's Harrison Bergeron

    1798 Words  | 4 Pages

    ...y are not prisoners, they are mere citizens that must constantly live lives of punishment in order to achieve equality. They can not think for themselves, or excel at anything in life, because they are all equal. Each of them is just like the next citizen. In Vonnegut’s “Harrison Bergeron,” the United States in 2081 are not a society, but a Panoptic prison where the citizens are held and guarded like inmates, and this is no way to live.

    Read More

  • Competition In Harrison Bergeron, By Kurt Vonnegut Junior

    945 Words  | 2 Pages

    Abraham Lincoln once stated “These men ask for just the same thing, fairness, and fairness only. This is, so far as in my power, they, and all others, shall have it.” It is widely believed that fairness cannot be achieved without placing parameters upon others. This idea destroys our differing perceptions of what it means to shape a “fair” community. Equality and fairness often coincide, and with that, their respective definitions are commonly misinterpreted. In “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut Junior, it is essential for the reader to acknowledge that one 's perspective of an ideal society reflects their measure of self-worth, because it affects the way we interpret events in our daily lives, resulting in insecurities, restricted freedoms,

    Read More

  • Essay On Harrison Bergeron

    441 Words  | 1 Pages

    “Harrison Bergeron” a short story by Kurt Vonnegut Jr., takes place in a totalitarian society where everyone is equal. A man who tries to play the savior, but ultimately fails in his endeavors to change the world. Vonnegut short story showed political views on communism, which is that total equality is not good (and that equity might be better).

    Read More

  • Harrison Bergeron: A Dystopian Society

    799 Words  | 2 Pages

    Never would I thought that we have a dystopian-like society in our world. Don’t know what a dystopia is? It is a society set in the future, typically portrayed in movies and books in, which everything is unpleasant. The novel Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut is a dystopian story of a fourteen-year-old boy named Harrison who grows up in a society that limits people’s individuality. When he is taken away from his parents, because of his strong idiosyncrasy, his parents do not even recall his presence because of the “mental handicaps” that the government forces onto them. Harrison eventually escapes from his imprisonment and tries to show others that they can get rid of the handicaps and be free. Though the government official, or Handicapper

    Read More

  • Theme In Kurt Vonnegut's 'Harrison Bergeron'

    1224 Words  | 3 Pages

    Being unique is a necessary part of life. People are told starting as children that they need to be themselves. They are told to do what they love and love what they do. What if the world didn’t allow this? Kurt Vonnegut ponders the idea of a life in which the government enforces complete equality. “Harrison Bergeron” takes place in a future society that hinders people with skills to make everyone equal. This society makes everyone worse instead of better. Complete equality has too many issues for it to be viable. Equality should be for all in the eyes of the law. However, complete equality should not be pursued because taking away the differences between people is a clear mistake.

    Read More

  • The Theme Of Uniformity In Harrison Bergeron, By Kurt Vonnegut

    792 Words  | 2 Pages

    Vonnegut powers uniformity on America in the regions of excellence, quality, and insight. He makes a world in which lovely individuals wear veils to cover their countenances and solid

    Read More

  • Repressive Society in Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut

    762 Words  | 2 Pages

    The story “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut is120 years in the future, which allows us to more easily accept some of the bizarre events that happen in the story such as when the character Harrison Bergeron is dancing with a ballerina and there is no law of gravity and motion, so they can almost touch the studio ceiling which is thirty feet high. The author emphasizes in his work themes such as freedom, mind manipulation, the American dream, and media influence, also the opposition between strength and weakness and knowledge and ignorance. The story illustrates that being equal to one another is not always the best way to live because everyone is different for a reason. Also, this is what makes everyone special in your particular way.

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast Harrison Bergeron

    661 Words  | 2 Pages

    Although the comparisons are well hidden, both today’s society and the story ‘Harrison Bergeron’ share similar qualities. They both deal with equality, which leads to problems and consequences. A second similarity is the struggle of competition and trying to prevent it from occurring, which also leads to problems. Lastly, both struggle with normality, and the fact that it’s hard to accept that different is okay now.

    Read More

More about Imagery In Kurt Vonnegut's Harrison Bergeron

Open Document