Harrison Bergeron : Communism Vs. Harrison Bergeron

Fourteen year old Harrison Bergeron is a passionate character that symbolizes equality in society during the year of 2081. Harrison rebels against the government in a way that shows how everyone in “Harrison Bergeron” was not absolutely equal. This community and its citizens has lost its rights after the 211th, 212th, and 213th Amendments to the Constitution. Everyone was not actually equal in the story since people could not use their own intelligence, express their true beauty, and display their strengths. The citizens were scared of the United States Handicapper General and they do not have the freedom to be themselves.

The story “Harrison Bergeron” written by Kurt VOnnegut Jr. explores the idea of a perfect society. A life where you are completely oppressed to be like everyone else. A young boy known as Harrison Bergeron seeks to have change in society and for everyone to be free.

Do you think society would improve if everyone was equal? Even though people may argue with me, I say that everyone isn’t truly equal in the story, Harrison Bergeron. I say this due to how people that are naturally born with above average intelligence, strength, and looks gorgeous has to wear handicaps to hide their unique abilities. Another reason is that some people are either respected or disrespected because of their special talents. Thirdly, some people in the story does not need to follow the law, even if they are a citizen of the United States, which means that everyone does not have equal rights.

The message of harrison bergeron is that total equality isn’t as good as it sounds and should not be the goal like many people think. But physical and mental equality should be what we should be striving for. What makes the story and movie different is in the movie it focuses more on Harrison and how he affects the setting. But in the movie it focuses more on harrison's parents and how the setting affects them. The message vonnegut was trying to make was hope of a possibility that the system will change, the people will come together and take control and the evil will fall. Harrison Bergeron because he wrote it so i think he'd like it more because he puts everything important into it.

Communism is a “Political theory advocating class war and leading to a society which all property is publicly owned and each person works and paid according to their abilities” After world war 2 communism took over Czechoslovakia and people flocked to join the party. Not everyone was convinced that the party was what the country needed for them to gain peace. The party had lots of propaganda and were in control of peoples live therefore convincing people to join the party even if reluctant. In Under a Cruel Star, Kovaly recounts her time after the war and joining the communist party and then being shunned when her husband was convicted of a crime. She talks about how people put blind faith in a party that didn't have much scientific evidence to back up their claims. Kovaly said the most people went to the communist party because when coming back from the concentration camp they wanted to be in control of property again and they stayed because they felt helpless without the party providing services. They went from one type of totalitarian government to another kind of government that controlled everything they did. People of the time didn't realize that communism didn't benefit people who weren't in an elite class.

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

Vonnegut Jr.'s Harrison Bergeron and Orwell's 1984 are based on the concept of negative utopia. The governments in both these novels control their masses using harsh methods. The government in 1984 uses brainwashing, doublethink, mutability of the past and vaporization to control its masses. The government in Harrison Bergeron uses physical and mental handicaps to control its masses and in the effort to make everyone equal. Both the governments have a tight control on its people but the government in 1984 has a stronger and more affective control over its masses than the government in Harrison Bergeron.

In the story harrison bergeron the government is very powerful and controlling. Government passed laws to control people through handicaps. Government is very strict about their laws. Being a very intelligent all around person is a danger to the government. The government is a very powering country.

Imagine a place where there are no decisions to make throughout the day. In this place, everyone’s career gets chosen for them, and their hopes, dreams, and aspirations are given to them. There are none of those difficult life decisions to make because they will be made for everybody. Now despite all these seemingly terrible things, we do get something great from all the sacrifices: equality. In this world everyone is equal; no one person smarter, more athletic, more talented, or better than any other. Everyone in this place completely equal, and all thanks to the government, the authorities, the higher-ups, “the man,” or whatever these enforcers’ wish to be called. The world of Harrison Bergeron functions like this. Now while it may seem

Vonnegut's story “Harrison Bergeron” discusses the theme equality of results, but through his satirical circumstances there is an ambiguous theme targeting Socialism and Capitalism that shines through.

The Communist Manifesto, originally drafted as, “Manifesto of the Communist Party”, is a pamphlet written by Karl Marx, that in essence reflects an attempt to explain the goals and objectives of Communism, while also explaining the concrete theories about the nature of society in relation to the political ideology. The Communist Manifesto breaks down the relationship of socio-economic classes and specifically identifies the friction between those classes. Karl Marx essentially presents a well analyzed understanding of class struggles and the issues concerning capitalism, the means and modes of production and how those means affect the classes as a whole.

What is communism? Communism is a term used broadly to designate a ‘theory or system of social organization based on the holding of all property in common, actual ownership being ascribed to the community as a whole or to the state.’ It refers to the doctrine which underlines the revolutionary movement which aims to abolish capitalism and ultimately to establish a society in which all goods will be socially owned, all economic activates socially planned and controlled, and in which all distributions will be in accordance with the maxim. German author Emil Ludwig described the maxim as “for each according to his capacity, to each according to his need.”(1) It is to be distinguished from socialism which aims by constitutional and democratic

The short story “Harrison Bergeron” is about the year 2081 where Harrison was arrested for plotting to overtake the government. He escapes prison and and appears on T.V. he is said to be dangerous. He claims to be an emperor and is looking for an empress to rule with him. Shortly after he and his empress are floating through the air. This shows that the feeling of being free can make you feel weightless. The short story “Harrison Bergeron,” written by Kurt Vonnegut Jr., teaches its readers that you can’t be the change if there’s nothing to change.

In “Harrison Bergeron” the reader gets a sense of miserableness. Life seems to be dragged out for these characters. Vonnegut portrays a society that is something we couldn’t imagine. However, this society would essentially be ideal to all humans. In this society, anyone who was more intelligent than another would wear a handicap helmet. No one person would be better than, or worse than the other. Once, being more advanced and intellectual was considered an asset and a plus for the society we live in. Now, it’s considered more of a liability and was thought to hurt you. Harrison Bergeron was considered dangerous because of how intellectual he was. He was thrown in prison and kept away from society in fear that he would create an unbalance. A consequence of this society is that people were not exactly equal because they

Karl Marx is the most famous theoretician of communism. Johnson acknowledges Marx’s most famous quote: “From each according to his ability; to each according to his need” which is a thought that within itself includes the basic idea of communism. Professor Johnson explains that the deeper deliberation of the concept is that everyone is expected to co-operate in the process of production. The individual citizen’s equal rights of access to consumer goods though would be completely unaffected by his own individual contribution to production. (Johnson) It was expected of people to stop thinking about money and how much they get, how much they can spend and how to get more. Furthermore they had to stop thinking about profit, contracts, banking, loans, insurance etc. The communist leaders thought that would eliminate all the major social problems such as class conflict, political oppression, racial discrimination, inequality of sexes, religious prejudice, and cultural backwardness. They believed it would also put an end to more such “psychological” forms of suffering as isolation and feelings of powerlessness. Johnson claims that the specific type of communism that occurred in Easter Europe was the Marxist-Leninist variant of socialism where people believed that a truly communist society can be achieved only through the powerful overthrow of capitalism and the establishment of a “dictatorship of the proletariat”. They thought that