Harrison Bergeron Equality

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.

To begin, I think the society in Harrison Bergeron written by Kurt Vonnegut, is not equal because the character George has handicaps, which prevents him from having freedom like his wife, Hazel, has. According to the text, it says “He was required by law to wear it at all times,” and “send out some sharp noise to keep people like George from taking unfair advantages.” The text proves that the society is not equal because George does not

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

Have you ever wondered what the world would be like if everyone was legally forced into the governments opinion of equality? In Kurt Vonnegut Jr.'s short story "Harrison Bergeron", it is the year 2081 and the government has altered society to be mentally, physically and socially equal. The beautiful people are covered with hideous masks, the intelligent people wear ear pieces that let off loud obnoxious sounds at random to throw off there thought process and the strong people wear weights to be equal to the weaker people. The society is not equal because no one can truly be changed unless they want to be. Putting a handicap on an intelligent person does not make him or her equal to an average person,

Ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle once said, “The worst form of inequality is to try to make unequal things equal.” Kurt Vonnegut portrays Aristotle’s philosophy brilliantly in his short story “Harrison Bergeron.” The story depicts the American government in the future mandating physical handicaps in an attempt to make everyone equal. Vonnegut describes a world where no one is allowed to excel in the areas of intelligence, athletics, or beauty. Yet, the inequalities among the people shine even brighter. Vonnegut uses satire to explore the question of whether true equality can ever really exist.

In the short story “Harrison Bergeron”, the government creates an oppressed society by making everybody equal. Set in 2081, the 211th, 212th, and 213th Amendments are added to the Constitution to create true equality. The strong are required to wear weights, the intelligent are required to wear radios that emit painful noises, and the beautiful are required to wear masks. This shows that the government is trying to create physical and mental equality by handicapping the gifted to the level of the average. This creates an oppressed society because instead of improving

Kurt Vonnegut published “Harrison Bergeron” to express his thoughts of what a world with equality might look like. The setting of this takes place in front of a TV to emphasis how much is it looked to for answers. The government wants everyone the same and will go to any means necessary. In the constitution, “all men are created equal” can be found, and this short story explores the ideas of when that sentence is taken too literal. In “Harrison Bergeron,” Vonnegut paints his readers a picture illustrating the dangers of conforming three different individuals, Hazel, George, and Harrison, to the same level of expectation through the power of government control and television.

Vonnegut sets his story in 2081, where everyone is equal. No one is smarter, more talented, stronger, or better looking. The government in his story controlled everyone and how they acted and thought with machines. Those who were smarter had a mental handicap radio’s in their ear that made a noise every so often throwing them off the train of thought. The stronger ones had to carry around weight at all times, to make them equal to the weak. Those who were beautiful had to wear mask, or were made to look less beautiful. All competition was gone. However, Vonnegut shows that trying to control everyone, so all are equal is impossible, and can lead to disastrous things. In the story, Harrison Bergeron was arrested for suspicion of overthrowing the government. He escaped jail and on the TV episode of the ballerinas, people watched him take over. He allowed himself and others to take off the equipment controlling them and everyone became an individual again. Until, the leader came in and killed Harrison and the beautiful ballerina as they were dancing. Things became equal again, but not perfect.

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.

In the literary piece “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut, we enter a futuristic dystopian society in which all citizens have been forced into equality by a government that rules with corrupt omnipotence. From the very beginning of his hauntingly prophetic tale, Vonnegut lures us in by revealing what our society has devolved into at the hands of the wrong system in power. In the name of equality, the attractive are mutilated, the strong are weakened, and the intelligent are handicapped. “The year was 2081, and everybody was finally equal” (¶1) Vonnegut states in his captivating opening line. Through this dismal tale, Vonnegut reveals that forced and total equality is nothing more than a perilous fallacy. He suggests that complete equality is not as ideal as one might think; in fact, it is more dangerous than we could have ever conceived.

A perfect society where everyone is equal due to a variety of handicaps, but is everyone truly equal? In ‘harrison Bergeron” anyone who had any abilities whatsoever are forced to wear different handicaps depending on their ability except for the one person called the handicapper general, who does have power and is in charge of keeping the peace. If anyone disobeyes the law that forces them to wear handicaps, would be put in jail or even killed if they threatened the government's authority. Harrison Bergeron is a 14 year old boy who was put in jail because he had extraordinary abilities and he was suspected of plotting to overthrow the government.

Do you think our society is truly equal? In the short story of “Harrison Bergeron”, the 211th, 212th, and 213th amendments make everyone “equal”. These amendments make nobody faster, stronger, smarter, or as good looking as anyone else. I believe, however, that everyone in that story truly wasn’t equal. I know this because only the gifted of “Harrison Bergeron” had to wear handicaps, the handicapped were treated differently, and only on the outside, were they truly equal.

Inequality is something that humanity has faced since the beginning of time; it seems like it will never be worked out. There is really no way for everyone in the whole world to be “equal” no matter how much work is put into it. Inequality in “Harrison Bergeron” was tackled in grand way. There were many ways that gifted people were brought down to reach the level of those with special needs. The way inequality was handed to such an extent makes one wonder why certain equalities were held higher than others and what went on for there to be 213 amendments.

In “Harrison Bergeron” the citizens are considered equal. However the citizens are not truly equal. I disagree about everyone being truly equal in the story Harrison Bergeron, because some of them had to wear painful handicaps, and the non-handicapped people having an unfair advantage over the handicapped people.

What makes you unique? Your looks? Your opinions? Your wisdom? Now, imagine living in a society where you are not allowed to stand out and you are forced to be like everyone else. The short story Harrison Bergeron, by Kurt Vonnegut, displays a society in which people have to adapt their qualities, such as appearance and intelligence, to fit equal standards. The reader experiences a day in the lives of George Bergeron, a man with an above average intelligence, who is forced to lower his mental capacity to the level of average people like his wife, Hazel Bergeron. The laws and standards in this society are created and controlled by an association called The United States Handicapper General. The author’s message in the book is that total equality