Within the story of Harrison Bergeron, there are many different aspects that Kurt Vonnegut wrote about. However, some are easier to identify compared to others. Some of the things and aspects that Vonnegut wrote about in Harrison Bergeron can be clearly identified by the words stated whereas other aspects written about take a bit of thinking about. Beginning with what was directly stated. In the year of 2081, everyone was required to be equal by the government. If some citizens were more better in ways such as stronger, more beautiful, or more intelligent, the government prevented equality by having those citizens to wear “handicaps”. An example of how we can obviously see this is when George and Hazel are watching T.V.. It is stated that,…
In the story, Harrison Bergeron the main character becomes enraged at the fact that everyone in his world is the same no one individual can be different the government enforces this identicality, by strict laws with outrageous contraptions and heavy weights that counter act some one human being different than another. For example it even states in the story “. Nobody was smarter than anybody else. Nobody was better looking than anybody else. Nobody was stronger or quicker than anybody else”. This quote says a lot about the year 2081 in future america.The author of the narrative Kurt Vonnegut uses Harrison the main character as a symbol of rebellion and a symbol of differences being adequate even in modern day society.…
In the short story “Harrison Bergeron,” by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. writes about forced equality by the government through the use of technology. The government handicaps every individual in an attempt to achieve equality, but in reality the Handicapper General and her army are creating a larger gap between equality and inequality in society. The more average citizens were “burdened with sashweights and bags of birdshot, and their faces were masked.” (Pg. 176) Beauty was hidden with hideous masks, intelligence was constrained with radio transmitters, and physical capabilities were limited with weights. All in an attempt to create equality among a whole society.…
Kurt Vonnegut Jrs.dystopian story, “ Harrison Bergeron,” takes place in the year 2081 a society in which the government believes that everyone should be equal. One of the characters Harrison was born being very smart, athletic, handsome, which the government did not approve of so like all of the other humans that were above all he had have handicaps which kept people from being the person that they were supposed to be.But Harrison was born to be perfect so that made him have the most handicaps out of everyone.But since this happened to him he was sent to jail.…
Many advancements have happened in the United States. Most of them have had positive effects; some have had negative effects. Government intervention has strongly increased as our demographics grows in age and population. Depending on a citizen’s political views, this increased government intervention could be good for the United States, or it could be just the opposite. Few have been living with the same government their whole life, so they wouldn’t know what is legal or illegal. In Kurt Vonnegut’s “Harrison Bergeron”, the future consists of a more strict United States government, strongly overpowering the citizens.…
Imagine being placed in the year 2081 and see people with athletic or intelligent abilities being handicapped with masks, weights, and ear radios. That’s was a ho people with gifts or talent were treated in “Harrison Bergeron”. This leads to the assumption that everyone in “Harrison Bergeron” wasn’t equal…
Aristotle once said “The worst form of inequality is to try to make unequal things equal.” It is hard to try to picture a world where every human being is completely equal. A world where that every human being is forced by any means to has equal wealth, equal intelligence and equal physical beauty. Kurt Vonnegut’s Jr. wrote about such a world in his 1961 short story “Harrison Bergeron”. Vonnegut makes a good use of irony to show how creating absolute equality would require an absurdly oppressive society. Vonnegut uses the characterization of the Bergeron family members, Harrison, Hazel, and George to demonstrate how absolute equality destroys Individuality and also to show the two-facedness of that idealistic society and the danger of total…
In "Harrison Bergeron" by Kurt Vonnegut, the author creates a short story about a Dystopian society where any form of "unequal advantage" is frowned upon and dealt with by a method known as “Handicapping” a person. Handicapping was given based off the “advantage” that a person had, a few examples being the ballerinas forced to cover their faces to keep their beauty hidden or an overly intelligent person being forced to wear a mental radio within his/her own ear.…
The short story “Harrison Bergeron” written by Kurt Vonnegut in late 1960s, depicts a teenage boy challenging the rules and laws of an oppressive government to enforce equality among the society. In 2081, the government has finally made all Americans physically and mentally equal, when Harrison Bergeron criticizes this handicap system and defines it as cruel and dangerous for the sake of the humanity. For example, Kurt Vonnegut states, “Harrison tore the straps of his handicap harness like wet tissue paper, tore straps guaranteed to support five thousand pounds.”(Vonnegut 4). With the rebellion of Harrison, the author urges people to protest against the handicaps as this brutal system make them weak and miserable. In addition, Mr. Vonnegut…
The paper shows how the use of television to control people is a major theme in "Harrison Bergeron". The writer describes the dehumanization in the story, which is a result of government oppression, as well as the physical punishment that awaits rebellious people like Harrison. In conclusion, the writer states that no government is able to suppress the individual completely because of the desire of humans to be themselves and not…
Harrison Bergeron Setting Essay “Harrison Bergeron”, by Kurt Vulger is a story about a teenager who discovers the problems with the handicapped equality of his dystopian world and tries to speak out about it. Throughout the story a common theme is how nothing new has been invented or changed, everybody and everything is kept at a controlled medium. In this essay we will be exploring the depth of how the setting has affected the kids growing up in it and how the setting caused Harrison to speak out. The setting is important at first because it is the world that Harrison grew up in and it is the world that formed his ideals.…
In "Harrison Bergeron," Vonnegut proposes that overall equality is not a striving idea, as many believe, but a false goal that risks both execution and results. To obtain physical and mental equality among all Americans, the government in the story of Vonnegut tortures its citizens. Angels must wear ugly masks or despise themselves, intelligent people must listen to the obstructive noise that hinders their ability to think, and the brave and powerful must wear the weight around his neck. They are at every hour of the day. Emphasis requires equality to enter into citizens who begin to mute themselves or hide their unique features. Some behave this way because they have accomplished the goal of the government and others they're fear of the government…
It’s 2081 in the United States and the Handicapper General is forcing people to wear handicaps that make them equal...but are they really equal? People in 2081 were given handicaps to make them equal. Except some people could do something, when others couldn’t, even with their handicaps. The people in the short story “Harrison Bergeron”, are NOT equal.…
Kurt Vonnegut’s “Harrison Bergeron” is a short story about the future, composed of 92 paragraphs that sends a message that total equality is not worth striving for, for freedom is the cost of equality. Equality is more or less achieved but at the price of freedom and individual achievement. For all of the people to be equal, some people who are stronger that normal, have to wear weights all the time, girls that are more beautiful have to cover their faces. The more advantage they have, the greater the handicap they have to wear and lug around. The setting of the story takes place in two places; one in the living room couch of George and Hazel Bergeron, the other in the television they were watching. In the story, the government enforces laws that make all people equal. While George and hazel are watching television, George talks about the effects of disobeying the society’s laws and thus foreshadows future events. In the middle of the show of ballet dancers dancing, a news report flashes in the screen about their son, Harrison, escaping from jail. Harrison appears in the studio where the ballerinas are dancing and takes of his handicaps, which included his red nose, transmitter, and weights. He also, declares himself as the emperor, and “everybody should do as [he] says at once” (Vonnegut). Harrison chooses an empress and commands the orchestra to play beautiful music. As they dance, they jump in to the air, reaching the climax of the story, and defy the laws of gravity and motion. The Handicapper General, Diana Moon Glampers, arrives at the scene with a gun and kills both Harrison and his empress. In the end, Hazel starts crying and George walks back in the living room asking why she was crying. Although as usual, Hazel forgets everything that happened and doesn’t remember her son anymore.…
The short story “Harrison Bergeron”, by Kurt Vonnegut is about what life would be like in a dystopian society in the year of 2081. In this short story everyone is finally equal, not only before God and the law, but in every way, shape, or form. Nobody is better than somebody else, nobody is smarter than anyone else, nobody is better looking than someone else, no one was even stronger or quicker than anyone else. People who were different than others were forced to wear handicaps and others things to make them the same as everyone else. This story is about a husband and wife, who had their fourteen year old son taken away from them and put in jail.…