True Inequality In Kurt Vonnegut's Harrison Bergeron

Aristotle said, “ The worst form of inequality is to try to make unequal things equal.” True equality is hard to come by when there are so many things that make people so different. The word equality has a very general meaning. That meaning however, can be interpreted in many different ways. To some, the interpretation can lean more towards a sense of freedom. This freedom has been something society has been fighting for throughout the entirety of history. To others, such as author Kurt Vonnegut Jr., it could mean the complete opposite. In Harrison Bergeron, Vonnegut portrays equality as a sort of societal imprisonment.

The author started the story out by stating that everyone was not “only equal before God and the law. They were equal every which way” (Vonnegut). It was stated that everyone was exactly the same both mentally and physically. Not one person stood out from one another in any way. This raised the question of what made each person who they were as individuals. Thomas Paine said that every generation is equal in rights to generations which preceded it (“Rights of Man”). Showing that equality has been a major factor in life throughout time. However, even though every generation is and has been equal in rights, does not mean that they were equal intellectually and definitely not physically. There is always

With everyone being exactly the same, there can never be anyone that feels as though they are not being treated fairly. They are all treated the same because they are all, according to the new laws, the same. This lessens the risk of people being taunted by their peers, thus increases the chances of suicides. One can also say that the new laws took a weight off of the shoulders of the people in this society. There was less focus on looks and what others were thinking. These are some good things that one could take from the circumstances, however, they do not come close to shadowing the