Analysis Of George Orwell 's ' Harrison Bergeron '

At first, the reader could think that this average intelligence means that these people would have basic comprehension skills, but readers are almost immediately putt off rom George and Hazel’s short term memory, “Hazel had perfectly average intelligence, which meant she couldn’t think about anything except in short bursts…” (1) This along with the explanation of George’s mind being limited from a government transmitter as well as seeing ballerinas handicapped by weights and masks on the TV show the reader that this society is being psychologically dominated by its leaders. Vonnegut does not exactly state this theme, however through the use of selected details of the character’s lives, the oppression of individuality is

John. C. Maxwell, a writer, and a priest, once said “There are two kinds of pride, ‘good pride’ represents our dignity and self-respect. ‘Bad’ pride is the deadly sin of superiority that reeks of conceit and arrogance” (Quotefancy). Just as there are two sides to pride there are two sides to every human trait, each trait has an advantage and a disadvantage. Being stubborn could mean working towards goals until they have been achieved, or it could mean closing one’s mind so much so they miss out on opportunities they are not looking for. John Maxwell’s paradox of traits is shown through the idea of equality in Kurt Vonnegut Jr’s “Harrison Bergeron”. In this story the society is led to believe everyone is equal because of handicaps, but

The government handicaps George’s mental abilities since they are above average, while Hazel’s mental abilities are average.

Based on what I read, it says “every few seconds, a transmitter would make a sharp sound to stop George from thinking”, “That was a pretty dance, Hazel said”, and “George toyed with the idea of ballerinas shouldn’t be handicapped.” This is significant by the reason is that in twenty seconds, George was still able to think of how the ballerinas should not be handicapped when he has handicaps stopping him from thinking a few seconds later. As for Hazel, all she can think of was how the ballerinas dance beautifully. While others may believe that handicaps can control and maintain people to be equal, what they should think about is about the intelligence each person has. For example, George is above average and is able to have the advantage to think of many things.CONCLUSION

In the story Harrison Bergeron in the year 2081 everyone is equal, no one is smatter, better looking, stronger, faster, etc. than anyone else, but rather everyone is “average”. This story raises the idea of tall poppy syndrome. A derogatory term used to describe a social phenomenon in which people are resented, attacked, put down, and criticized by society because their talents or achievements place them above and distinguish them from their peers. This is evident in the characters Harrison Bergeron, George Bergeron, and the ballerina whose talents are being hindered by the government (handicapper general) in the story. Harrison Bergeron is and absurdly handsome, strong, genius who outpaces his peers.

There is no true definition of equality as there are many ways to interpret its meaning. Kurt Vonnegut defines equality as everyone being the same in terms of intelligence, looks, and athletic ability. This type of equality creates a society that cannot think or act on its own. The author creates a lifestyle that he believes would be contributable to today's society. Vonnegut uses examples of imagery and irony in his short story "Harrison Bergeron" to depict an overall theme of equality.

Another reason why this is not a utopian, or equal, society is because the Handicapper General is higher than the other citizens and in a completely equal/utopian society, everyone would be on the same level of importance. The text shows this in the first paragraph when it says, “All this equality was due to the 211th, 212th, and 213th Amendments to the Constitution, and to the unceasing vigilance of agents of the United States Handicapper General.” As indicated in the first paragraph, all of this attempted equality is because of the Handicapper General and her agents. Therefore, in the short story “Harrison Bergeron”, the result of trying to make the society a utopia is, the society is now more of a dystopia because the government, or the Handicapper General, is not letting people do the best they can or use their talents to their fullest potential. Also, if this was a completely equal society, the Handicapper General would not be above all the other

Kurt Vonnegut wrote a short story called “Harrison Bergeron.” This story takes place in a world where everyone is one hundred percent equal through restraining anyone with an above average natural anything. It start of with the George and Hazel Bergeron watching television. Then a strong and intelligent young man named Harrison Bergeron made the choice to appear on that broadcast and speak against the handicaps before getting shot by the Handicapper General. This story shows that individuality makes perfect equality an impossibility, because human nature can 't be suppressed.

First and foremost, only the gifted of “Harrison Bergeron” had to wear handicaps. To elaborate, George, a very intelligent person had to wear handicaps, while Hazel didn’t have to. This is because she was perfectly average, and didn’t feel the pain of what George had to. This is corroborated in the text when it says “Hazel saw him wince. Having no mental handicap herself; she had to ask George what the latest sound had been.”

"War is peace, freedom is slavery, Ignorance is strength" (Orwell 7) this is one of the very many slogans that were used to control society in George Orwell 's piece 1984. Dystopian literature is a futuristic universe that is oppressive and uses bureaucratic, totalitarian, and/or technological control to control society. In Orwell 's Dystopian book 1984, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr 's short story "Harrison Bergeron", and Andrew Niccol 's film In time, there are many examples of a Dystopia is that contain a lot of comparisons between the stories. Dystopian literature whether it be novel, film, or short story focuses on similar characteristics and things.

Many people prefer short stories to novels because short stories must immediately capture the readers’ attention and pull them into the story. Often the author resolves the conflict in a way that leaves the ending open for interpretation by the reader, thus personalizing the experience. As shown in The Top 20 Literary Quotes About Short Stories, author Lorrie Moore aptly remarked, “A short story is a love affair, a novel is a marriage. A short story is a photograph, a novel is a film.” In the present day world, it has become common for people to strive for equality; however, this could be harmful if taken too far. There would be nothing to make anyone unique, dulling the world of all its wonder. In “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut, the year is 2081, and everyone has been physically altered so all people possess equal abilities. The line, "all this equality was due to the 211th, 212th, and 213th amendments to the constitution," tells the reader that government brought on the equality. Some people are forced to wear weights to tame their physical strength, masks to hide their beauty, and even ear devices to distract them from meaningful thought. The everlasting theme of the story is equality and control. If an outside force capable of controlling citizens’ thoughts, looks, and actions removed all autonomy, all that would remain would be the shells of those individualized people.

Often in our society, people stifle their individuality in an attempt to fit in with others. This idea is taken a step further in both “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut and “Brave New World” by Aldous Huxley. These texts demonstrate different ways in which one can surrender their unique traits and how when people lack individuality, they lose aspects of themselves that make them human such as thoughts and emotions. In Vonnegut’s text, people who have talents that exceed others are required to wear handicaps so that everyone is equal. In Huxley’s text, embryos are engineered and trained after birth to be the same in adulthood. In both stories, the authors use description and dialogue to show the reader how individuality is critical to humanity because if everyone is the same eventually they become less human and start acting more like machines.

Personally i think equality is giving everyone the same opportunities and rights regardless of their differences. I do not agree with the idea of equality in Harrison Bergeron. In the story they were trying to make everyone equal but even with all their handicaps the people in harrison bergeron were still not equal. For an example the handicapper generals in the story were not handicapping people based on the trait of leg length so one person could have less of a chance of being late because he or she is taller than most people in which he or she would take bigger steps resulting in arriving at their destination faster. although this is an extreme example it still gets the point across that equality is an impossible goal. Instead of trying

My first reason that everybody is equal is that nobody is smarter than anybody else. On page 14 George explains how he has a mental handicap, “, had a little mental handicap in his ear.”. The next example I have is on page 15 and the narrator talks about how George was starting to think of something smart then was stopped with a 21 gun salute. These pieces of evidence tell me that everyone is equal because everybody thinks

The novel 1984 is a futuristic totalitarian society where everyone is kept under close surveillance and is forced to follow all rules and laws of the state. The novel 1984 was written by George Orwell and published in 1950. The main characters were Big Brother, Winston Smith, Julia, O’Brien, Syme and Emmanuel Goldstein. Winston Smith is a low man on the totem pole when it came to the ruling Party in London, Oceania. His every move is watched by the Party through devices called telescreens. Posted everywhere around the city is the face of their leader, “Big Brother” informing them that he is always watching. He works in the “Ministry of Truth” which is ironic seeing that they alter history to fit the liking of the Party. As this book continues Winston challenged the laws and skirts around the fact that he is always being watched. His shocking and rebellious act is “falling in love.” Throughout this novel George Orwell utilizes symbolism to further enhance the totalitarian features of the society. In many ways these symbols represent the things that this society hasn’t experienced and doesn’t understand.