A Literary Analysis Of Harrison Bergeron

In “Harrison Bergeron,” mankind has created a different kind of torture for humans they have created handicaps that create loud noise to stop them from thinking too deeply and weights to slow him down and masks to make people uglier. “. . . had a little mental handicap radio in his ear. . . every twenty seconds or so, the transmitter would send out some sharp noise to keep people like George from taking advantage of their brains” (14-17). This technology made life miserable and dull and caused people to become oblivious to problems in their lives The author makes this story to tell his readers that being equal is not necessarily a good thing. The technology of the future is dangerous if treated without care or given to the wrong people. The authors both give warnings about the future and how we must be careful with technology and how being equal is not always good.

Equality in society means everyone is the same, in personal attributes as well as public living. However, extreme measures of interpreting equality in this way destroys individuality. Imagine all people being “equal in every which way”, including intelligence, physical means, talents, and appearance. In the dystopian short story, Harrison Bergeron, by Kurt Vonnegut, the shift in tone, selection of details, and symbolic use of handicaps demonstrate that no society can be totally equal without the sacrifice of the individual and self expression.

In the short story “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut there are several important literary devices, including conflict, climax, and theme. Human versus society is one of the conflicts presented in this short story. The main character, Harrison, was required by his government to wear huge and heavy handicaps to prevent him from being the intelligent, strong, and handsome human he truly is. Vonnegut helps us see this when he says “Harrison looked like a walking junkyard … And to offset his good looks, the H-G men required that he wear at all times a red rubber ball for a nose, keep his eyebrows shaved off, and cover his even white teeth with black caps” (Vonnegut 234). The reason that Harrison has to wear all of these horrible handicaps is because

Picture a society, far in the future, where everyone, by government control, must be on the same level. Would this be Hell or a utopia? This is the subject of Kurt Vonnegut’s short story, “Harrison Bergeron”. In this society, the gifted, strong, and beautiful are required to wear multiple handicaps of earphones, heavy weights, and hideous masks. In turn, these constraints leave the world equal, or arguably devoid of, from brains to brawn to beauty. With the constant push for equality among all people, Vonnegut reveals a world that society is diligently working toward. “Harrison Bergeron” is written as a form of satire with heavy irony, to demonstrate the clear difference between equity and equality in society. “Harrison Bergeron” is

This story suggests that total equality amongst one another is not something worth striving for, suggesting that it implantation is dangerous and will have unintentional outcomes. This is true because in the story in order to achieve equality physically and mentally the citizens were treated inhumanly by the government. The beautiful were forced to hide their beauty under masks, the strong forced to wear hundred pound weights around their necks, and the intellectual suffered unbearable noises making it impossible for them to concentrate. Citizens dumb themselves down and hide their talents fearing government punishment. Equality is achieved in a sense but at the expense of freedom and personal achievement.

Literary devices will be a primary source used to compare and contrast the narrative and stylistic choices made in the short story, “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut, and the film 2081 directed by Chandler Tuttle. In the film the director is able to express visuals, sounds, and physical characters, to establish a firm idea of how the characters within the story act and feel based on their surroundings and what is happening around them. However, an Author in a short story is reliant on his words alone to paint the picture for the reader to understand the movement of the plot and its impact on the atmosphere. The literary devices used in creating and shaping pieces of literature will heavily impact the point of view of the

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

“Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut is about a fictional time in the future where everyone is forced to wear handicapping devices to ensure that everyone is equal. As the story begins, George and Hazel Bergeron are sitting on the couch watching television. George is intellectually superior so every few seconds a raucous noise is played in his ear to keep him from being able to hold a consistent thought, which happens continuously throughout the story. This system of “handicappers” is overseen by a rather unsympathetic woman named Diana Moon Glampers. As George and Hazel are watching a ballet on the T.V., the show is interrupted by a bulletin warning viewers that Harrison Bergeron, George and Hazel 's son, has

Harrison Bergeron is a valuable story that has underlying themes, which are very relevant in our current society. The theme of equality can be seen throughout the book, and it is the principle that is enshrined in America’s constitution now, whereby they claim that all men are equal. Kurt Vonnegut demonstrates the issue of equality in a Utopian society. Vonnegut in his story, cautions Americans on the dangers of creating a truly equalitarian society, whereby citizens go to an extent of sacrificing their freedom, and individuality to the state, to create a place where all people are equal. Vonnegut creates a society whereby, all people are made equal. The beautiful are forced to wear hideous masks to disfigure their beauty, those considered intelligent are to wear radio calls, and ear splitting noises that are supposed to impede their thinking, and the strong are forced to wear weights around their necks throughout the day. The author uses masks, and the weights as symbols to symbolize

In this story a man and woman, George and Hazel Bergeron, have a son whose name is Harrison. In this futuristic world, people are meant to all be treated as equals, which is where the theme of the story comes from. It is much like the movie Equilibrium. If you are too intelligent, they dumb you down, as with George Bergeron they have an earpiece implanted that randomly makes noises in order to distract his thought process. Those who are too beautiful are made to look disfigured and those who are graceful or strong have to weight themselves down in order to have less appealing stature. Harrison had been taken away from the Bergeron parents, and when they were sat down watching television, an announcement came on

Harrison Bergeron, a short story by Kurt Vonnegut, is not written for the light reader. This story of equality shows deeply of how horrid it would be to be born special, different, smarter, faster, stronger, etc, in a world where you are forced to be equal. Despite the usual connotation of the word equality, Kurt Vonnegut looks at the cost of making everyone be the same. He has shown through his words the torture you must endure in order to make you the same as everyone else, being a radio intending to scatter your thoughts, weights to weigh you down, or even a hideous, grotesque, mask used to hide your charming face. After you’ve lived with these handicaps a man, named Harrison Bergeron, trying to change how things are interrupts your show.

The point of view in “Harrison Bergeron” is third person with limited insight. The focal character is George Bergeron, the titular character’s father. The story is written to show two settings: the living room of George and Hazel Bergeron, and the scene they are watching on their television. This point of view helps to develop the theme by showing what we assume to be an average couple in a futuristic setting, and by establishing a societal norm for the dystopian setting. The mundane point of view contrasts nicely with the very outrageous personality of Harrison Bergeron and his theatrical antics. This point of view also gives the reader a relatively objective look into the conflict between Harrison and the United States Handicapper General. The use of George as the focal character gives the reader insight into the mind of a man who wears a mental and a physical handicap. This allows the reader to see into George’s thoughts and how they process with the mental handicap in place, “every twenty seconds or so, the transmitter would send out some sharp noise to keep people like George from taking advantage of their

Throughout the short story, Harrison Bergeron, written by Kurt Vonnegut, Vonnegut tries to spread a general theme. In Harrison Bergeron, the audience meets several characters in a utopian society. In this utopian society, everyone is equal. If someone had an above average intelligence, they were handicapped. These handicaps were not to be taken off, but to be worn at all times. They all had to be on the same level. In the end, people try to break free, and the government did not want the society to be like this, so they killed them. Today our society is trying to equalize, but we have not been successful. The theme in the short story Harrison Bergeron is that equalizing is not always good to do in a world like we have today.

First of all not everyone in the story is equal in the first place. For example, everyone that is over the average level. Then they wear handicaps, but they have different kinds of handicaps like a mask or ear radio. This shows that not everyone is the same because when something is equal, then they are all the same. But in this case not everyone has the same thing or handicap. While others might feel that everyone is equal in every other way. As a result this example shows that in “Harrison Bergeron” not everyone is equal.

In a short story called “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut, was mainly about the government covering every keen, attractive, strong, accomplished, gifted, etc… person. The government has done this to eliminate individuality and to make everyone equal. For instance, George Bergeron was an intelligent and a tremendously wise person. This causes his to wear a obnoxious device to scatter his beliefs if he considered or obtained an ingenious thought. This is conspicuous in the story “ The transmitter would send out some sharp noises to keep people like George from taking unfair advantage of their brain,” (Vonnegut 1), this device is fluctuates different sounds to make sure George does not show his shrewd side. This reveals how the prejudicial the