Equality In Kurt Vonnegut's Harrison Bergeron

"Harrison Bergeron" is a short story by Kurt Vonnegut. This story symbolizes freedom with the people knowing they have none being the fact that they can't be themselves. The government makes it mandatory not to be prettier, smarter, funnier, or more muscular than anyone else creating much irony when Harrison took off his hanicaps on live television. The government brings in much conflict making everyone be equal and do everything the same. Harrison Bergeron wanted to be himself and was the only one who was willing to face the consequinces.

Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.’s “Harrison Bergeron” tells the story of an unbelievably talented young man that defies the constraints of total equality in futuristic America, year 2081. Because of the 211th, 212th, and 213th amendments, all citizens are subjected to a communist like state where everyone is made to be equal in beauty, physique, and intelligence. Throughout “Harrison Bergeron,” symbols such as Harrison’s defiance of the law, his physical attributes, and the setting presents the theme of the story as the idea that total equality would be disastrous.

While reading "Harrison Bergeron," I received a feeling that total equality is an idea not worth aiming for. In the story, smart, beautiful, talented, and strong people must be tortured to be equal with everyone else. Even when George and Hazel's son dies, Harrison Bergeron, his mother, who had short memory loss, could not remember the tragic incident right after she saw what had happened on-screen. Equality is more or less achieved, but at the cost of freedom and individuality of the people. The setting of the story is not my ideal place that I had thought of. Instead, I felt a very painful and sad feeling from this story. Also, this narrative made me rethink about the future and how the time ahead could be more brutal and more grating.

Equality is such a great thing but Vonnegut takes it to the extreme.“The rest of Harrison's appearance was Halloween and hardware.Nobody had ever worn heavier handicaps”(120)

American actress Emma Stone once said, “What sets you apart can sometimes feel like a burden and it’s not. And a lot of the time, it’s what makes you great.”. This quote could represent the message conveyed in Kurt Vonnegut Jr.’s dystopian story “Harrison Bergeron”. In his piece, he creates the setting of the world in the year 2081, where everyone has become equal and nobody is different. Whether it be strengths, talents, disabilities, or intelligence, everyone has become identical to one another, except for the main character Harrison Bergeron, who was arrested and taken away by the government at the age of fourteen for being a nonconformist.

The short story “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut is a story about such an equal society that people's lives are being ruined. Harrison Bergeron fought the government to free him and his society of the handicaps that are used to create a perfectly equal world. Also, what is equality? Equality is not a good quality for a society because, there is no room for change, and no one has the motivation to continue.

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

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

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

In “Harrison Bergeron,” it becomes clear very soon that the society depicted in the story does not favor exceptional human qualities of any kind, be they related to intelligence, physical ability, or outward appearance. For instance, as the Bergeron family watches a ballet dance recital, the manner in which they determine which dancer is the best-looking is by the “hideousness” of the mask that the dancer is forced to wear. As the excerpt reads: “’Ladies and Gentlemen,” said the ballerina, reading the bulletin. She must have been extraordinarily beautiful, because the mask she wore was hideous. And it was easy to see that she was the strongest and most graceful of all the dancers, for her handicap bags were as big as those worn by the two hundred pound men” (Vonnegut n/a). When examining this passage through a Marxist theoretical lens, it becomes clear that Vonnegut is

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.

Kurt Vonnegut’s dystopian story, “Harrison Bergeron”, takes place in 2081. It is a story about everyone being equal, nobody is smarter than anybody else, nobody is better looking than anybody else, and and nobody is stronger or quicker than anybody else. This is because everybody wears handicaps to make everyone equal to each other. But basically, one boy named Harrison Bergeron takes matters into his own hands and goes against the Society. The Society basically makes all these people wear their handicaps all the time. One lesson the story suggests is that you should never be afraid to stand up for what you believe in, like Harrison.

In his story “Harrison Bergeron,” Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. ( 1961) proves that not all of mankind can be equal.

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

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.