Equal Society In Kurt Vonnegut's Harrison Bergeron

Societies vary depending on region and culture, but. But all societies have the characteristics of strict conformity, intolerance for the unique, as well as perfect functionality. The society shown in Harrison Bergeron is as follows: “Everybody was finally equal. They weren't only equal before God and the law. They were equal in every which way. Nobody was stronger or quicker than anybody else. 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” (Last name 1). This is the dream of society: perfect conformity and functionality. “Everybody was finally equal” (1) shows that society had finally achieved its goal of conformity.

The society is not equal because no can truly be changed on the inside, no matter how you may try to change them on the outside. Also if society were truly equal everyone would have handicaps and their handicaps would be the same, there would not just be a certain amount of people with handicaps, everyone would have them because equality is being the same and if only a certain amount of people had handicaps that would not be equal. Everyone has different qualities and different strengths and weakness's and if people were meant to be equal to each other, people would be, however everyone is different and unique. In conclusion no matter what anyone ever does or tries to do to society, no one will ever be truly equal to one another because the only way that would be possible, is if people were made that way but people were not, so no one is or ever will be truly

As humans naturally, we believe that it is rather better to be free than not to be free, and in some cases we don't consider equality to be of great worth. One good example that proofs that theory true is, the African slaves in the western world, who fought and campaigned to be freed from slavery and to see slavery business abolished all together. They were struggling to be free, without having in mind that equality is indeed necessary in their struggle. As we know they were later freed from being slaves and regarded as freemen and women, but the main obstacle that hindered their progress in integrating into their

Equality can be interpreted in many ways, as we can see throughout the history such as racial, gender, and socio-economic equality. The Civil Rights emphasize that everybody should be treated equally and another view is the one represented in the story that everybody is equal. It is a completely out of reality to have a perfect society or no competition at all because how we could make advancements if the government was allowed to impose handicaps on the naturally gifted. The great thinkers would not be able to have new ideas because of the mental

Kurt Vonnegut’s unique story “Harrison Bergeron,” displays a theme which is a warning about the dangers of equality, which is equality is a hindrance to an individual’s success and society’s success, but this hindrance is ironically, unequal. In the story, Harrison and his bride are arrested for their unwillingness and inability to stay within the bounds of equality enforced by the Handicapper General. Equality hinders the success of an individual like the weights hinder the beauty and grace of the ballerinas in the story. Equality doesn’t promote everyone to be equally better, but to be unequally worse. Handicaps are no use in ensuring equality, because one’s strengths will always shine through, such as Harrison’s strength and wit, or the

Harrison Bergeron is a story written by Kurt Vonnegut. Vonnegut’s story is a warning to the world about the quest of equality, which is spreading all round in many nations with America on the lead. The story shows the reader how the equality issue can have negative impacts on people’s individuality, and the society. The story revolves around the protagonist, Harrison Bergeron who is an archetypical symbol that represents defiance, and individuality. He is used to represent the people who will stand up, and protest against cruel laws imposed by the state on equality, and encourage others to protest with him. Through the characterization of Harrison, George and Hazel, Vonnegut shows how the equality idea can go to the extreme. The

It is unbelievable the types of things humans would let happen to themselves and other humans just because it is the “social norm”. Things like blatant discrimination and racism, cruel and unusual punishment, unnecessary killing and slavery itself are all things that are caused by a lack of rational thinking stemming from the conformity in society.

Conformity has always been at the center of controversy. However, individuality is a virtue that has been fought for, addressed in a positive light, and at times, even encouraged in such a dark world. In the short story “Harrison Bergeron”, Kurt Vonnegut illustrates the conflict that lies within both sides of this argument, due to a human’s nature to incline to both sides.

Every day is spent doing the same things over and over. There is no individualism, and any form of it is quickly removed from the society through torture or execution. Because of this, there are no technological advancements in this world, and it continues to remain technologically primitive. Equality 7-2521 is one of these individual thinkers, so his life is spent in fear that he will get caught for being divergent. Everything about Equality is that of an individual, from having "a head which is too quick" (Rand 21) to "[wishing} to know about all the things which make

Equality is pushed upon each citizen. But with this equality, comes aforementioned characteristics: submission, hopelessness, detachedness, conformity, and isolation. Superiority is punished. As written in chapter I, "It is not good to be different from our brothers, but it is evil to be superior to them" (21). In this way, uniqueness is repressed when it should be

The subject of “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut is equality. The theme of this short story is that society should make an effort to value individuality and fairness, in which everyone receives what they need to prosper, instead of universal equality. The forms used to elevate this subject and theme are point of view, syntax, characterization, irony, and humor.

In an ideally progressive America, society should value both equality and diversity. Equality is justice. Diversity is individuality. Equality gives rights. Diversity enriches culture. Unfortunately, we do not live in an ideally progressive America. As equality in our society has increased, we have viewed it as progress. However, diversity has often been a source of conflict in our society. Jealousy, confusion, anger, and so many negative emotions have arisen from our differences and slowed the progress of equality. Perhaps, diversity should just be done away with. If we can not value our diversity, should we focus entirely on equality? Kurt Vonnegut’s “Harrison Bergeron” answers that question with a solid no, we should not. Through his

Aristotle once said “The worst form of inequality is to try to make unequal things equal.”

a totally just society will never happen until people are willing to work for it.

We are constantly surrounded by images of the “perfect” woman. She is tall, thin and beautiful. She rarely looks older than 25, has a flawless body, and her hair and clothes are always perfect. She is not human. She is often shown in pieces – a stomach, a pair of legs, a beautifully made up eye or mouth. Our culture judges women, and women judge themselves, against this standard. It is forgotten that “beauty pornography”, as Wolf says, focuses on underweight models that are usually 15 to 20 years old. Flaws, wrinkles and other problems are airbrushed out of the picture.