Kurt Vonnegut's Harrison Bergeon
Kurt Vonnegut’s short story Harrison Bergeon is a thought provoking narration about a future society. It tells a short excerpt about the life of a couple, George and Hazel, coincidentally presenting a new concept of a horrifying totalitarian society.
The opening sentence, “The year was 2081, and everybody was finally equal”, sums up the idea of the sci-fi dystopia. The society is “perfectly equal” which results in a direction called “The Handicapped General” having the right to abridge all people. The thinking of those who are “too intelligent” is disturbed by headpieces, those who are “too strong” have to carry extra weights and so on. Hazel and George represent ordinary citizens. They obey the government: George would like to “cheat” by …show more content…
The “equal society” presented in the short story is in reality a totalitarian hell, far from equality. Some outer direction has regarded its absolute right to determine the concept of “an ordinary person”, and citizens are abridged towards that concept with violent and ugly means. However everything is done in the name of equality which makes the reader question the whole concept of equality and what it means. It’s clear that not this anyway. The rebellious Harrison Bergeron is a central character in the story. He is the only one who dares to oppose the system but he gets eliminated almost immediately. Harrison’s character tells the cruel reality of nonconformists in totalitarian societies, even nowadays.
Harrison’s character also shows another theme. Instead of presenting himself as a defender of the weak he emphasizes how “I am the Emperor” and ”I am a greater ruler than any man who ever lived”. After these declarations his radical act is to throw off all of the masks the society has forced on him and show himself as his true self which makes him stand out from the crowd. This way we can interpret Harrison representing also the selfishness of people: how easy and fatal is to rise above others when absolute equality prevails and how easily power can possess a
The opening sentence, “The year was 2081, and everybody was finally equal”, sums up the idea of the sci-fi dystopia. The society is “perfectly equal” which results in a direction called “The Handicapped General” having the right to abridge all people. The thinking of those who are “too intelligent” is disturbed by headpieces, those who are “too strong” have to carry extra weights and so on. Hazel and George represent ordinary citizens. They obey the government: George would like to “cheat” by …show more content…
The “equal society” presented in the short story is in reality a totalitarian hell, far from equality. Some outer direction has regarded its absolute right to determine the concept of “an ordinary person”, and citizens are abridged towards that concept with violent and ugly means. However everything is done in the name of equality which makes the reader question the whole concept of equality and what it means. It’s clear that not this anyway. The rebellious Harrison Bergeron is a central character in the story. He is the only one who dares to oppose the system but he gets eliminated almost immediately. Harrison’s character tells the cruel reality of nonconformists in totalitarian societies, even nowadays.
Harrison’s character also shows another theme. Instead of presenting himself as a defender of the weak he emphasizes how “I am the Emperor” and ”I am a greater ruler than any man who ever lived”. After these declarations his radical act is to throw off all of the masks the society has forced on him and show himself as his true self which makes him stand out from the crowd. This way we can interpret Harrison representing also the selfishness of people: how easy and fatal is to rise above others when absolute equality prevails and how easily power can possess a