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Essay on how Kurt Vonnegut used his own rules on Harrison Bergeron
What is the theme of kurt vonneguts harrison bergeron essay
What is the theme of kurt vonneguts harrison bergeron essay
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Have you ever thought about what it would be like to live in a dystopian society where everyone is equal in every possible way? In Kurt Vonnegut’s short story, Harrison Bergeron, he delves into a world where the idea of egalitarianism has become reality for the United States in 2081. The 211th, 212th, 213th Amendments to the Constitution enforce a type of equality where no one is stronger, more intelligent, or more beautiful than another. Everyone is equal in every which way. All of this is done with the help of the United States Handicapper General, who makes sure everyone is kept strictly equal. But Harrison Bergeron, the seven-foot tall, powerful, and unbelievably handsome jail escapee, is having none of this. He dares to fight this so-called “equality.” In this fantastical yet darkly humorous short story, Vonnegut uses Harrison Bergeron to represent the dangers of total equality.
The television that Hazel and George, Harrison’s parents, are watching is used to symbolize the growing fear and oppression in the United States in Harrison Bergeron. “George and Hazel were watching tel...
In the year 2081, people were finally equal, and everyone was equal in every which way. No one could be more intelligent than the other or more attractive. All of the equality was due to the 211th, 212th, and 213th Amendments to the Constitution. The reader may feel sorry for George Bergeron because of his tallness and his handicaps, Hazel’s normal intelligence, and the comments about their son Harrison.
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
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.
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 ...
What gives the reader the false idea of utopia in Vonnegut’s “Harrison Bergeron” is the deep social control in the form handicaps where individual’s abilities and competence and even appearance are neutralized and vilified as a form of inequality. The characteristics of equality chosen by Vonnegut; beauty, athleticism, and intelligence is important to the story’s message. The main focus of the story are the characteristics of equality that are subjective, the very same characteristics we are born with that makes us different and minimally states the objective ones, the ones that plague our society today. This not only satirizes the epitome of equality itself, but rather the people’s flawed ideals and belief of what total equality is supposed to be or should be.
...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.
What would actually happen if everyone was forced to be equal? Kurt Vonnegut envisioned the fatal outcome in his masterpiece, “Harrison Bergeron.” The story illustrates “what would happen if a government or some other power takes this notion serious” (Mowery). The protagonist, Harrison, who is arrest for “exuberant individuality,” escapes from prison and goes on national television station to declare himself emperor, only later to be killed by the handicap general Diane Moon. In “Harrison Bergeron,” Kurt Vonnegut satirizes the movement toward egalitarianism and the effect of television on people.
According to Darryl Hattenhauer, in the beginning of “Harrison Bergeron,” the narrator 's presentations of this utopia 's muddled definition of equality is “THE YEAR WAS 2081, and everybody was finally equal…nobody was stronger or quicker than anybody else.” Because of the Amendments 211, 212, and 213 of
John Cheever’s The Enormous Radio depicts the story of Jim and Irene Westcott’s discovery of their neighbor’s daily conflicts through a newly purchased radio. The significance of the radio being “newly purchased” is because the Westcotts do not seem to have financial issues; they live a comfortable, middle-class lifestyle off of Jim’s income. Cheever exposes the idea of social classes and their negative effect on the Westcott family, by encouraging comparisons between individual’s tranquility status and endorsing social status.
The theme statement of Harrison Bergeron is that egalitarianism is inefficient, and will eventually be resisted by society. Competition is what drives society forward, and if everyone is equal, we are not developing as one. Many of the people in the story are unable to complete their basic tasks or jobs. “It wasn’t clear what the bulletin was about, since the announcer, like all announcers, had a serious speech impediment.” this is unreasonable as it is the announcer’s job to broadcast the news, and when he is unable to do so, he has lost his purpose (61). Equality is everyone receiving the same, while justice is everyone receiving what they require. “She must have been extraordinarily beautiful, because the mask she wore was hideous.” This is an example of the corrupti...
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
Dystopian stories, such as “Harrison Bergeron,” have always intrigued me due to the fact how realistic some of them can be or how close they’re set to the present. This short story, by Kurt Vonnegut, was set 66 years into the future and divulged the importance of disparity. The government was castigating those who dared to speak out about the unfairness of having to be average, such as the above average and outspoken Harrison Bergeron. I admired him for having the courage to rise against an unfair and authoritative figure to give the people a rare taste of the unordinary; that is the type of courage I want one day. I don’t want to have to appease my parents my entire life, and that is the type of courage and conviction I will require to have my parent’s concur that my goals and dreams are reasonable. On another note, the execution
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.
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.
“The narrator of the story Harrison Bergeron definitions’ of America’s equality begins not by positing a future equality as much as exposing the misunderstanding of it in the past and the present” (Hattenhauer). The story Harrison Bergeron has two meanings: too much equality and too much inequality. Too much equality is expressed through the Handicap General, Diana Glampers, as she wants everyone to be equal because she envies the talented and beautiful. However, “it is not fair to the productive, the risk taking, or the hard working, to deprive them of what they have produced, merely to make them equal to others who have worked less, taken less risk, and produced less” (Moore). This society would never work because “no one who has lived very long can think that all men are equal in physical, prowess, mental capacity, willingness to work or save, to assume leadership, to design or invent new products or processes, to get votes, to preach sermons, to play the violin, or even to make love” (Even Fingerprints Differ). In any society one should not have the power to make people equal for each “were endowed by our creator” (Moore). In a society where there is too much inequality, or a potential dictatorship- Harrison Bergeron, society would fail as well. Kurt Vonnegut wrote Harrison Bergeron in order to show the world that we cannot take away talent or