Harrison Bergeron Society

It has already stated that some people in Harrison Bergeron are ahead of normal. Harrison’s father, George, is punished by the General by putting a handicap radio in his ear so that the government can easily distract him whenever he thinks about things too much. “(…) the transmitter would send out some sharp noise to keep people like George from taking unfair advantage of their brains.” (line 16-18, p.1). The beautiful ballerinas are wearing mask since they are not allowed to show their attractive faces. Becoming different only leads people to the isolation. Moreover, in an extreme context, they can be prisoned—just like the General did to Harrison. Harrison is described as an almost perfect child. He has a handsome face, athletic body, and has higher intelligence than most people in the country. Realizing that Harrison will only become a threat to the equality of society, the Handicapper General soon prisons him when he was only fourteen. In addition to that, she also puts a lot of stuffs in Harrison’s body in order to make him suffer a lot. As it written in the short story, “Harrison Bergeron … is a genius and an athlete… should be regarded as extremely dangerous” (line25-28, p.3). For the mainstream society, the minority is a threat to their steadiness. Therefore, they do, even worse, things and force the minority to make them as same as the

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,

In 2081 everyone was treated equally due to laws 211th, 212th, and 213th. Can you imagine a world where nobody could be smarter or stronger than anyone else? In “Harrison Bergeron” the law said that everyone was supposed to be equal in every way but everyone was not truly equal. Everyone in “ Harrison Bergeron” were being treated equally because they are being treated differently, they have leaders that are treating them poorly, and all of these problems could be because of laws 211th, 212th, and 213th.

In 2081, all of society is forced to be equal. In Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.’s short story, Harrison Bergeron, everyone is assigned “handicaps” that make them equal to everyone else. These handicaps included wearing weights around the neck, wearing a mask to cover beauty, and having a device in the ear so thinking could not be overdone. “Nobody was smarter than anyone else; nobody was better looking than anyone else; nobody was stronger or quicker than anyone else. All this equality was due to the 211th, 212th, and 213th amendments that were added to the Constitution.” (Vonnegut 369) Harrison Bergeron is a valid representation of the potential control of a government and the repercussions a

“Harrison Bergeron” is a story about Big Government forcing equality on citizens by the use of handicaps; in doing so they hold everyone back from their fullest potential. The year 2081 is oppressive to say the least; people are punished for being above average in intelligence, beauty, physical abilities or any variety of capabilities. No one is supposed to be more attractive, stronger, more intelligent or quicker than anyone else. The quest for egalitarianism is faulty; people who are born gifted are hindered by ridiculous weight bags, glasses to cause blindness and headaches, ear radios that send nerve racking noises every twenty seconds courtesy of a government transmitter and hideous masks are a few objects implemented to make

Imagine a world where an oppressive government captures what many call diversity. Where ugly is known as beauty and intelligence is insignificant. “They weren't only equal before God and the law. They were equal every which way. Nobody was smarter than anybody else. Nobody was better looking than anybody else. Nobody was stronger or quicker than anybody else.” (Vonnegut) This is the future that Harrison experiences, in the short story “Harrison Bergeron,” by Kurt Vonnegut. It is the year 2081 and the government handicaps every citizen with make up or weights to create equality. Where there are over than 200 amendments and the government has full control of all citizens, this is indeed against what America had been

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.

"If I tried to get away with it, then other people'd get away with it—and soon we'd be right back to the dark ages again…" This statement by George Bergeron sums up Kurt Vonnegut Jr.'s short story "Harrison Bergeron" in one line. "Harrison Bergeron" is the story of a futuristic United States in the year 2081, where all individuals are made equal regardless of what their natural born characteristics were. They are made equal both mentally and physically, all to the same measure of intelligence and strength. In "Harrison Bergeron" the society has become apathetic and equally conformed because of the power of the Handicapper General, the forced use of handicaps, and the people within the society who continued to let

In modern society, discrimination occurs on a daily basis and these social injustices allude to egalitarianism, the notion of equality among citizens in every manner, as the ideal solution. However, would total equality actually better society or rather, trammel citizens? Kurt Vonnegut’s Harrison Bergeron succeeds in addressing this question and exposes the consequences of complete equality. His short story is set in an egalitarian society where the government handicaps individuals who are naturally above average to achieve total equality. The text follows a man named George Bergeron who has an intellectual handicap due to his high IQ and his average wife, Hazel. The two have a son named Harrison who is naturally superior to all as he is gifted

The society the handicap government has created in “Harrison Bergeron” ruins itself through all the things the civilians aren’t able to do that doesn’t promote equality in every way shape or form. By giving people handicaps because of how they look, strong, athletic, and intelligent they are creating no equal rights. This is where Harrison steps up to take down the government by trying to stand up and persuade the people. There is no freedom.

It’s a common thought that everyone should be equal, but is that really what’s best for society? Kurt Vonnegut, in Harrison Bergeron, created a universe where everyone was equal to each other, or so it seems. In the short story, the world is set in 2081, where everyone has to be equal to everyone else, or they’ll get punished. The focus is about a couple, George and Hazel, who has a genius son, Harrison, but he was taken away for plotting to overthrow the government. However, George and Hazel do not remember their son, due to Hazel’s “average” intelligence, and George’s transmitters, which blow an ear-piercing sound every twenty minutes to prevent him and others from taking advantage of their intellect. Everyone else in this community is like George and Hazel, who have handicaps to prevent them from reaching their full potential, which could possibly be a safety hazard. When finding the deeper meaning of the story, one may find that maybe this society isn’t really equal, and maybe the world wouldn’t be better if everyone was the exact same. This society illustrates the extremities a community would have to go to just to have the same abilities, strengths, and looks.

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.

Charles Evans Hughes once states,” When we lose the right to be different, we lose the privilege to be free.” In the story Harrison Bergeron, written by Kurt Vonnegut, that statement is repeatedly challenged and is portrayed as false in this “equal” utopia. A government tried to create an equal society by giving everyone specific handicaps. The handicaps brought the citizens to a certain bar of intelligence, athletics, and beauty. People such as Harrison Bergeron strongly disagreed with the law, and he even tried rebelling, but then got shot down. Does this sound like an equal utopia to you? Is this truly what equality is? I believe that in the story, that everyone is not equal. With the fact that so many segments are flawed in the

Although the idea of making everyone equal may help some, the majority is taken back so far that it is not fair to them. Because the only way to make Harrison equal to everyone else was to kill him, it shows that entire equality is not possible. Everyone at some point does not agree with the government, so it is not Harrison’s fault for having that feeling as well. The government should not have to punish Harrison because he was born strong, handsome, and smart. The idea behind Kurt Vonnegut’s story, Harrison Bergeron, is an interesting concept that makes readers think and analyze the story they are

The short story “Harrison Bergeron,” by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., is set in 2081, a future where the 211th-213th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution enforce “total equality.” This is not equality of rights as we assume the Constitution is supposed to protect. This is a kind of social equality that wants every person to be like everyone else, so it is really talking about conformity, not equality. In the story, people who are smarter than average, or stronger, or more talented in any way are forced to suffer a handicap. For example, Harrison’s father, George, is forced to listen to a disturbing sound in his brain to prevent him from thinking about what is happening around him. Harrison himself is so talented that he has multiple handicaps