Since the beginning of time, morality has been a central component of human society. We strive to create the best moral standards possible. Laws have been enacted, treaties signed, and unions formed in order for people to live as morally as possible. But imagine a dystopian society in which the basic morals we consider necessary did not exist, and with the most fundamentally basic human rights standards vanished. The two short stories Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut and The Lottery by Shirley Jackson exemplify two societies with completely different moral codes.
The compelling short story Harrison Bergeron, by Kurt Vonnegut, is set in a future dystopian society. The plot follows an “average family” in the year 2081 after the 211th, 212th, and 213th amendments to the constitution were added. These three laws establish the principle of equality; everyone must be equal in every aspect of life. To ensure this, the government utilizes “handicaps”, small machines or even body weights, to make certain no one person is better than anyone else. The center of the story, married couple Hazel and George, both have handicaps given to them by the Handicap General. As they are watching television one day, their incarcerated son appears on screen claiming to want to overthrow the government. Known as Harrison Bergeron, he was long ago locked up because of his in- humanlike strength and inability to be tamed by handicaps. But while broadcasted live, he proceeds to rip off his handicaps and dance around until he is shot and killed by Diana Moon, the Handicap General. The story ends with Hazel’s “average” intelligence forcing her to forget what she just witnessed, as her and George’s day goes on as normal. Completely unsettling, this story rem...
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...ntal handicaps, such as George’s. Every thirty seconds his thought are interrupted by random sounds coming from the earpiece he is required to wear. I believe that although the government should play a major role in people’s lives, there are certain boundaries that should not be crossed. Invading personal and private information is a crime for everyone else, so why should the government be allowed to violate its own citizens? Completely different from Harrison Bergeron, The Lottery displays a completely different set of morals. In the short story one person is killed each year if their name is drawn from the random lottery. These morals display the act of taking aggression out on someone just to release anger and keep a tradition going. This is a system built upon moral corruption and wrongdoings. Eventually people will realize this is wrong and stop this tradition.
At the first glance, an image of the society portrayed in the “Harrison Bergeron” short will put the reader at a halt. This short story depicts a nation that has made the world a place of pure equality. “They weren't only equal before God and the law. They were equal every which way. Nobody was smarter than anybody else. Nobody was better looking than anybody else. Nobody was stronger or quicker than anybody else.” (Vonnegut). The government had completely taken over the nation and its people. There were handicaps for those who had advantages over anyone else. Power was non-existent in this land. Mainly because all of it belonged to the government. If there was ever a time to see the imbalance of power it would be now. This story is not only a fictitious short to entertain the reader. This Short is a warning to the world providing a view of the consequences of power. “Ironically, no one really benefits from these misguided attempts to enforce equality” (Themes and Construction: "Harrison Bergeron"). Even on the television programs, beautiful women with handicaps placed on their faces. “They were burdened with sashweights and bags of birdshot, and their faces were masked, so that no one, seeing a free and graceful gesture or a pretty face, would feel like something the cat drug in.” (Vonnegut). An elaborate handicap had been placed over the whole country and the public was fine with it! Power causes more than a hardship if not detected. It ruins lives. The people of this short will never know what it means to be
The short novel “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut presents a futuristic portrayal of a world where everyone is equal in every way possible. In “Harrison Bergeron,” Vonnegut displays the clear flaws in society that lead to the creation of a horrific dystopia that lacks genuine human emotions, fails to develop as a civilized community and is strictly government At the beginning of the story we are introduced to George and Hazel who are an ordinary couple that consequently suffer from handicaps. They are recalling the time when their son, Harrison Bergeron, was taken from his home by the handicapper general. It was an unhappy thought “but George and Hazel couldn't think about it very hard” (Vonnegut 1) due to the mental radio that separated the two from regular functioning emotions. Although Hazel was not affected by the handicap itself, it became a societal norm to act almost robot-like.
Mankind tends to accept and follow old traditions without understanding or questioning the real meaning and benefits of it. “The Lottery” written by Shirley Jackson and “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut depict dystopian societies where the population blindly accept their way of life and follow traditions under the fear of punishments of Gods and governments. “The Lottery” illustrates a village that holds an annual event to randomly choose one of its inhabitants to be stoned to death as a tribute to have a good crop and maintain the order of their community. Vonnegut depicts the United States in the year of 2081 where people were made equal in all possible ways due to the Amendments to the constitution, with use of devices to weaken the population abilities to think and move, strictly enforced by government officials. The major similarity between both stories is cruelty being normalized in both societies. Differences can also be found in both stories, the villagers’ Blind acceptance to a tradition in “The Lottery”, and freedom of thought. While in “Harrison Bergeron” the population was forced to obey the rules and forbidden to think or rebel against the government.
Harrison Bergeron is a short story that creates many images and feelings while using symbols and themes to critique aspects of our lives. In the story, the future US government implements a mandatory handicap for any citizens who is over their standards of normal. The goal of the program is to make everyone equal in physical capabilities, mental aptitude and even outward appearance. The story is focused around a husband and wife whose son, Harrison, was taken by the government because he is very strong and smart, and therefore too above normal not to be locked up. But, Harrison’s will is too great. He ends up breaking out of prison, and into a TV studio where he appears on TV. There, he removes the government’s equipment off of himself, and a dancer, before beginning to dance beautifully until they are both killed by the authorities. The author uses this story to satire
Ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle once said, “The worst form of inequality is to try to make unequal things equal.” Kurt Vonnegut portrays Aristotle’s philosophy brilliantly in his short story “Harrison Bergeron.” The story depicts the American government in the future mandating physical handicaps in an attempt to make everyone equal. Vonnegut describes a world where no one is allowed to excel in the areas of intelligence, athletics, or beauty. Yet, the inequalities among the people shine even brighter. Vonnegut uses satire to explore the question of whether true equality can ever really exist.
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.
Shirley Jacksons short story The lottery and Kurt Vonnegut’s short story, Harrison Bergeron are both dystopian texts. They demonstrate a way of life that violates our sense or rightfulness but are found acceptable and ordinary to the characters. A dystopian world is often propagandized as being a utopia and has a futuristic totalitarian or authoritarian government that exerts complete control over the public which results in the loss of individuality and freedom. Even though both texts have entirely dissimilar concepts the reader can still recognise the depraved and immoral lives the characters believe are essential to their way of life. The societies portrayed in both texts are illusions of utopian worlds, even though the reader views the characters lifestyle to be revolting, dehumanized and sickening. The authors also caution the readers of the extreme dangers associated with the blind acceptance of their lifestyle just because of tradition and society’s acceptance.
Harrison Bergeron’s mother, Hazel Bergeron, is the definition of the Handicapper General’s “normal” and model for enforced equality. Everyone must be leveled and thereby oppressed to her standards. Hazel’s husband, George Bergeron, is no exception. “‘I’d think it would be real interesting, hearing all the different sounds,’ said Hazel, a little envious. ‘All the things they think up.’” (Vonnegut 910). George suffers from his own comically ludicrous mental handicap. The fact that this incites jealousy in Hazel reaffirms the artificial equality Vonnegut ridicules. The author satirizes oppression in American society through his depictions of misery and restraint exhibited in his characters’ ordeals. “The different times that George is interrupted from thinking, and his inner monologue is cut, we have a sort of stopping his having dialogue with himself. So he can’t have a unique personality, which itself involves his worldviews” (Joodaki 71). Not being able to know oneself epitomizes
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 ...
Morality derives from the Latin moralitas meaning, “manner, character, or proper behavior.” In light of this translation, the definition invites the question of what composes “proper behavior” and who defines morality through these behaviors, whether that be God, humanity, or an amalgamation of both. Socrates confronted the moral dilemma in his discourses millennia ago, Plato refined his concepts in his Republic, and leaders such as Mahatma Gandhi would commit their life work to defining and applying the term to political reform. Finally, after so many years, Martin Luther King’s “A Letter from Birmingham Jail” reaches a consensus on the definition of morality, one that weighs the concepts of justice and injustice to describe morality as the
Ever since the beginning of time, Americans have been struggling to obtain equality. The main goal is to have a country where everyone can be considered equal, and no one is judged or discriminated against because of things out of their control. Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. Plays with this idea of total equality in his futuristic short story, Harrison Bergeron. The setting is in 2081, where everyone is equal. No one is allowed to be better than anybody else. The government makes anyone who would be considered above average wear a transmitting device to limit their thoughts to twenty seconds at a time, which is considered average in this day. They also must wear bags of buckshot shackled to their necks to ensure no one can be stronger than anybody
People with power in society often have the ability to influence the practice of certain traditions. These traditions can affect what a citizen is entitled to do. In today's day and age, life without basic freedoms and rights sounds unthinkable. However, in Shirley Jackson's “The Lottery” and Kurt Vonnegut's “Harrison Bergeron” this is the reality. Old Man Warner and the Handicapper General show that people in positions of authority encourage outdated traditions that ultimately lead to innocent people getting hurt.
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
The society that Vonnegut has created takes equality to a level most of us cannot comprehend. "The year was 2081, and everybody was finally equal. They weren 't only equal before God and the law. They were equal every which way. Nobody was smarter than anybody else. Nobody was better looking than anybody else. Nobody was stronger or quicker than anybody else." Equality is a great thing that the world should embrace; complete equality though is another issue. In a world of absolute equality, every human would be looked upon nothing more or less than the person beside him or her. Vonnegut highlights these issues of how equality can be taken to the extreme with the handicaps. The handicaps are brutal and seem almost primitive or medieval. Bags filled with lead balls that are attached around Georges neck, or the masks that the ballerinas are forced to wear. The goal is to try and manipulate the population in such way that humans will produce children that are all relativity average and the
Kurt Vonnegut’s Harrison Bergeron is a short story about a futuristic version of the United States in which everyone is made equal through physical, emotional, and intellectual handicaps. The story focuses on two characters, George and Hazel Bergeron, who are sitting together and watching television. Hazel is described as being of “perfectly average intelligence”, while George is required by law to wear a device in his ear that transmits signals that prevent him from using his above average brainpower. The program that they are watching is interrupted by a news bulletin from a “ballerina” saying that Harrison Bergeron, a 7 foot tall, hyper-intelligent 14 year old — and the son of George and Hazel — has escaped from captivity and had plans to overthrow the government. Almost immediately, Harrison appears in the television studio and declares himself the new emperor due to his physical and intellectual superiority. He then chooses one of the ballerinas as his empress, and they leap upwards toward the ceiling together — and then are immediately shot and killed by the “Handicapper General”, Diana Moon Glampers. The television signal goes out, and George, who had gone to the kitchen to fetch a beer, finds Hazel crying, but she cannot remember why. At the end of the story, they cannot remember any part of what just happened due to their handicaps.