How Does Harrison Bergeron Too Many Rules Can Take Away Your Freedom

“Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. tells the story of a futuristic America where people who are given handicaps if they are better than other people in order to give complete equality to everyone. The main message of “Harrison Bergeron” is that everyone doesn’t have to be the same for them to be happy. In fact, when everyone is equal they are sadder because they don’t know what real life is like, and they are able to be controlled. Harrison and Phillippa demonstrate that being unique brings happiness as they take off their headbands and learn how wonderful life can be when they can express who they are.

The story of “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. is about a dystopian future of America that forces its citizens to be completely equal. The way that they enforce the rules is by forcing the strong to wear weights and the intelligent to be given mental handicaps. The style of writing Vonnegut uses to portray his story of equality is very subtle. Vonnegut uses diction, imagery, and syntax, to help the reader understand the characters, mood, and visuals.

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

The story Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. explains that people are being forced to wear handicaps to make everyone equal in every aspect. Also, a man called Harrison Bergeron was sent to prison without a trial because the government believed that he was planning to overthrow the government but later on he escapes. It also explains that Harrison goes to the TV studio where a ballerina had given the news to the public and claims that he is the Emperor of everyone. He soon told everyone that he was going to select an Empress and so, a ballerina stood up and became his Empress. Harrison and the ballerina soon started to dance and kissed. As they were dancing Diana Moon Glampers, the Handicap General, came in and shot both Harrison and the ballerina and command everyone who had their handicaps off to put them on before they too get shot.The was a what Harrison Bergeron was about.

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

Imagine having a handicap everywhere you go and having a friend who doesn’t have a handicap, because they’re less skilled. Does this make it seem equal?  Well, it seem like the story “Harrison Bergeron” will answer that, depending on what you think is equal.  In this case, I find that everyone was not truly equal in “Harrison Bergeron.”

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 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

“Harrison Bergeron” is a short story that takes place in a dystopian society where everyone has equal mental and physical capabilities forced on them by the government. In this short story, Harrison Bergeron supposedly plays a big role in society by being ‘the savior,” but his goal to protest against the handicapper general and try and save the society from being handicapped ultimately did not work out in his favor. Harrison symbolizes a savior figure who intends to take down a totalitarian government but fails, which provides the ultimate irony of the story

When the government has too much power over its citizens, people suffer. In the short story, "Harrison Bergeron" the author shows that the government basically made people dumb, "Hazel had a perfectly average intelligence, which meant she couldn't think of anything except in short bursts. And George, while his intelligence was way above normal, had a little mental handicap radio in his ear. He was required by law to wear it at all times. It was tuned to a government transmitter. Every twenty seconds or so, the transmitter would send out some sharp noise to keep people like George from taking unfair advantage of their brain" (Vonnegut 3). This demonstrates that the government doesn't want people to be intelligent. They found a good excuse to handicap people and to take control over them

In "Harrison Bergeron," Harrison is taken away from his family because of his extraordinary abilities. The government places him in elaborate handicaps to ensure that he was "equal every which way" to everyone else. At the end of the story, when he rips off his handicaps "like wet tissue paper," he challenges the laws of the land created and supported by the American people and the "211th, 212th, and 213th Amendments to the Constitution." This makes him a danger to his society.

This shows discrimination against everyone because they are taking that person's freedom away and judging them on their looks and abilities. A man named Harrison who would be a sport super star in real life because of his outstanding talent is fitted with weights and other handicaps to make him like everyone else. He revolts and overcomes his handicaps but is soon killed for breaking the law. In this story discrimination plays a big part in how the main character revolts.

Kurt Vonnegut’s “Harrison Bergeron” is the depiction of a post-apocalyptic dystopian American society set in 2081. Everyone is equal in regards to intelligence, physical looks, athleticism, as well as the ability to think freely. Vonnegut’s work brought to light the influence and power that television holds over people, the dangers and consequences of the government holding too much power, which was displayed when the Handicapper General murders Harrison Bergeron on national television and that complete equality is not something that can be achieved. The autocratic government in “Harrison Bergeron” clearly oversteps its boundaries by abusing its power to create a completely equal society.

Harrison Bergeron is a very compelling utopian story which is very good read. The focus of this essay is the Handicaps which is used in the story to get true equality in everyone. In the story, the Bergerons are watching a ballet performance on their tv. In the middle of the performance, it is announced that their son has escaped from prison. They don’t recognize their son, however, and continue to watch the show. Their son comes onto the stage and convinces people to take their handicaps off, but is eventually shot. All the parents remember from this is the fact that they felt sad and that they had witnessed something. The were incapable of recalling what exactly happened and eventually forgot about Harrison.

Any person who fails to abide to the government’s rules faces jail time and is still forced to wear handicaps to alter their physical, mental and social abilities. This was the case for character, Harrison Bergeron, who at 14 years of age showed enormous strength and was very good-looking. The government did everything they could to suppress his thinking by forcing him to wear glasses to impair his vision, slapping on heavy metal to hinder his strength, and placing hideous objects on his face to change his image. Harrison eventually removes all handicaps when he escapes from jail and makes his attempt to free others, when the government ultimately kills him. The story attempts to tell how a perfect world would be with this type of equality, nevertheless the outcome reveals that keeping people from striving and making advancement can result in a rebellious