Harrison Bergeron Essay On Equality

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Equality is a term that can be perceived in multiple ways depending on the circumstances and an individual's personal interpretation. Some will agree with the dictionary definition of equality which is: the quality or state of being equal as likeness or sameness in quality, power, status, or degree; however, others might see that equality isn’t always about treating everyone the same but about giving people equal opportunities to obtain similar outcomes. Harrison Bergeron takes place in the year 2081 when people are finally equal, not only before God and the law, but in every aspect imaginable. This story portrays a government that has absolute control over society by handicapping the more gifted, therefore regressing them to those who aren’t …show more content…

Some people are meant to be leaders or geniuses, while others are meant to be constructors or artists. Humans progress because of individuality. In Harrison Bergeron, the government handicaps those with higher intelligence or better physique, which led to the nonexistence of individuality. The ballerinas for instance, “They were burdened with sash weights 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.” The people in this story no longer have an individual identity. Our current society has been experiencing a similar problem since the rise of social media. Platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter, revolve around people posting the highlights of their lives. Ultimately, this becomes a vicious cycle where conformity continues to perpetuate being that everybody is posting the same type of picture to make it seem like they’re living a perfect life and aren’t missing out on any of the trends. There must be individuality to balance everyone out, or the world and humans wouldn’t progress nor evolve, and our society would resemble the one depicted in Harrison Bergeron.
Lastly, equality has always been desired by society, not in a sense where humans are completely equal, but have equal rights and opportunities. In his book Leviathan, English philosopher Thomas Hobbes

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