Harrison Bergeron
Imagine a world where an oppressive government captures what many call diversity. Where ugly is known as beauty and intelligence is insignificant. “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) This is the future that Harrison experiences, in the short story “Harrison Bergeron,” by Kurt Vonnegut. It is the year 2081 and the government handicaps every citizen with make up or weights to create equality. Where there are over than 200 amendments and the government has full control of all citizens, this is indeed against what America had been built on. Harrison Bergeron touches on the civil rights and how communist a government has become. Freedom of independent thinking, freedom of speech and the people’s diversity were taken in this new government. Government has no right to take away the people’s freedom of speech, thought or diversity for any reason.
Free thinking is what allows humans to exceed others and create unique ideas. Without free thinking people would be brain-dead zombies who listen to anyone, even an oppressive government. “…Stupidly repeating her comment that "that one was a doozy"” (Gale) this is what a person without free thinking becomes. A dumb witted, easy to control citizen who forgets all thoughts in a matter of minutes is the future most average men and women have to look forward to in this short story. In the story, Harrison’s father, George, is forced to wear a machine that has been developed to scramble the brains of those who think too much. The government to not only takes away the free thinking of...
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...rt Vonnegut stresses the dangers of a communist government in his short story, and urges people to take a hint of this possible future and carefully decide the fate of their new government.
Works Cited
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Reed, Peter J. "Harrison Bergeron." Literary Reference Center. Ebsco Host, 1961. Web. Feb. & March 2010.
"Themes and Construction: 'Harrison Bergeron'." EXPLORING Short Stories. Detroit: Gale, 2003. Discovering Collection. Gale. Cherokee High School - NJ. 9 Feb. 2010
Vonnegut, Kurt. Harrison Bergeron. New York: Mercury, 1961. Print.
Vonnegut, Kurt. “Harrison Bergeron.” Short Stories Characters In Conflict. Ed. John E. Warner. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1981. 344-353
Kurt Vonnegut, a modern American writer, composed stories about fictional situations that occurred in futuristic versions of today’s world. His stories included violence, both upon oneself and one another, and characters who sought out revenge. In “2BR02B” and “Harrison Bergeron”, Vonnegut conveys physical violence most likely experienced while a prisoner of World War 2, as a way to show how war brings pain and destruction.
...dons the glimmer of hope that accompanies the fact that life has its moments of grandeur. He encourages the modern reader to escape the question "why me" and urges us to embrace a philosophy that consistently reminds us that even in the midst of the most cruel (and the most celebrated) events, humanity retains all of its virtue and vice. So it goes. Vonnegut allows us to laugh out loud, despite the tragedies of war and the anxiety of the post-modern world. His picture of the modern man is simultaneously dismal and hopeful. His unique style, satiric overview and astute ability to capture the multiple faces of mankind, properly place him in the realm of the most accomplished authors of the Twentieth Century.
Kurt Vonnegut places his experiences and his views in the text. He begins the book by stating, “All this happened, more or less. The war parts, anyway, are pretty much true...I’ve changed all of the names.” Viewing war as a sen...
Merrill, Robert. “Kurt Vonnegut as a German American.” The Vonnegut Chronicles. Westport: Greenwood, 1996. 73-83.
Hattenhauer, Darryl. “The Politics of Kurt Vonnegut’s ‘Harrison Bergeron’.” Studies in Short Fiction. 35-4. (1998): 387. EBSCOhost. Web. 12 Mar. 2014.
Rackstraw, Loree. “The Vonnegut Cosmos.” The North American Review 267.4 (Dec. 1982): 63-67. JSTOR. Web. 25 Sept. 2011.
Vonnegut Jr., Kurt. “Harrison Bergeron”. Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing. Ed. X.J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. 11th Ed. New York: Longman, 2010.215-219. Print
Have you wondered what the world would be like if everyone was forced into the government’s opinion of equality? In Kurt Vonnegut Jr.’s story “Harrison Bergeron”, it is the year 2081 and the government has altered the society into being physically and socially equal. The most charming people are left to wear hideous masks, the intelligent are to be equipped with a earpiece that plays ear piercing noises, and the strong people have to wear excessive heavy weights so they resemble the weak. I believe that the society of “Harrison Bergeron” is not truly equal, because no one can be changed unless they want to be.
Schatt, Stanley. "The World of Kurt Vonnegut, Jr." in Critique: Studies in Modern Fiction. Vol. XII, No. 3, 1971. Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism, Vol. 1. Detroit: Gale,1973.
...r, we may desist to maintain any individuality or creativity in the future. If we let ourselves be overrun by constraints and restrictions, we prevent ourselves from being the mighty and influential society we are now and fall into a time of dullness and depression. Vonnegut obviously worried about the future administration of the state and wrote this story to prevent upcoming ages from making things grow any worse. By depicting a society in which no original thought could live, Vonnegut makes us ponder before allowing further commands from a higher authority. By exposing an extreme contrast between Harrison and the remainder of the world, Vonnegut encourages scholars to be like Harrison and fight for them and for what they believe. Vonnegut wants our community to precede in a positive and independent course and not be restrained and defined by any higher authority.
The government in this story were tortures of citizen, they stripped people of of their ability to grow and and achieve their goals. He presents the persistence of the government wanting their society to achieve total equality, Vonnegut uses irony to mock the behaviors and attitude people tend to have when becoming accustomed to oppression and failing to rebel against it and find their own voice, and although presented in a satirical manner, there is truth in
Belasco, Susan, and Linck Johnson, eds. The Bedford Anthology of American Literature. Vol. 1, 2nd Ed., Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2014. 1190-1203. Print.
Have you ever wondered what life would be if everyone was equal? Well, in the year 2081, the government made everyone equal with handicaps. In the story “Harrison Bergeron”, the government makes people with special talents or abilities wear handicaps. I agree with the claim,”Everyone was not truly equal in “Harrison Bergeron”. Some reasons why I believe that this statement wasn’t true is that the handicaps don’t take away your abilities, handicaps are not useful, and it is not fair for the people with abilities to wear handicaps. Everyone is truly equal in “Harrison Bergeron” because it made average people and below average people feel equal to the higher and better people.
Rackstraw, Loree. “The Vonnegut Cosmos.” The North American Review 267.4 (Dec. 1982): 63-67. JSTOR. Web. 25 Sept. 2011.