How Is Harrison Bergeron An Outcast In Our Society

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.

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,

“Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut is about a fictional time in the future where everyone is forced to wear handicapping devices to ensure that everyone is equal. As the story begins, George and Hazel Bergeron are sitting on the couch watching television. George is intellectually superior so every few seconds a raucous noise is played in his ear to keep him from being able to hold a consistent thought, which happens continuously throughout the story. This system of “handicappers” is overseen by a rather unsympathetic woman named Diana Moon Glampers. As George and Hazel are watching a ballet on the T.V., the show is interrupted by a bulletin warning viewers that Harrison Bergeron, George and Hazel 's son, has

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.

In the story “Harrison Bergeron”, a case is made for conformity to believe that everyone is equal. For example in the story George states, “They weren’t really very good-no better than anybody else would have been, anyway” (Vonnegut 1). This tells the reader he believes no one is better than anyone else. Humans should just conform to the knowing that they are all equal and deserve the same things. In the story, George states, “Then other people’d get away with it- and pretty soon we’d be right back to the dark ages again, with everybody competing against everybody” (Vonnegut 2). The reader can infer that George believes competing and trying to be better than others is not going to get anyone anywhere. It will just cause trouble in a world

It is unbelievable the types of things humans would let happen to themselves and other humans just because it is the “social norm”. Things like blatant discrimination and racism, cruel and unusual punishment, unnecessary killing and slavery itself are all things that are caused by a lack of rational thinking stemming from the conformity in society.

These alleged wicked thinking, societal outcasts that desire to better their community, whether that be for themselves or the population as a whole, must possess unique characteristics in order to achieve their goal of rebellion. Although many individuals may attempt to conduct rebellion, some are more victorious than others due to their outstanding characteristics, inspirational qualities and given societal circumstances. In both Ayn Rand’s Anthem and Kurt Vonnegut’s “Harrison Bergeron”, the protagonists both possess the same characteristics of intelligence, determination and leadership that make them yearn to reform their corrupt societies. Though both possess these traits, Ayn Rand’s depicted protagonist Equality is a more inspirational character due to his notable charisma, along with his society’s restrictions being significantly more severe

An enslaved future in which people in a society are punished for wanting independence. This is the dark future Ayn Rand, author of Anthem, has set in this heart-wrenching dystopia. Ayn Rand sets the protagonist, Equality 7-2521, against his society to find the meaning of individuality and the sacred word “I”. Modern Day U.S society is much more progressive that Anthems’ society because of its’ individuality, education, and technology.

“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

First, the core plots of both stories is different but I found similarities between the two. Harrison Bergeron is a story that’s based in the United States in the year 2081, where the government creates total equality

In Anthem everyone in their society was forced to be equal. In the story it says, “It is a sin to think words no others think and to put them on down upon a paper no others are to see’’ ( Rand 1). So in Anthem you're not allowed to think as an individual, you can't think outside the box. You are forced to think and act like everyone else. In “Harrison Bergeron” is the same thing but in different ways. In “Harrison Bergeron” it says, “ And George, while his intelligence was way above normal, had a little mental handicap radio in his ear’’ (Vonneget 1). Now how these stories have equality in common because this quote explains that in “Harrison Bergeron's” George was forced to wear this mental handicap radio in his ear so the government could listen to him because they didn't want him to think or question anything about his society they didn't want him to use his brain because they were

In “Harrison Bergeron” and Anthem they are similar of how they both break the rules. In “Harrison Bergeron” Harrison broke his handicaps off on TV. “Harrison tore the straps of his handicap harness like wet tissue paper” (Vonnegut, 4). In their society they are not supposed to take off their handicaps, but Harrison took his which claims he broke the societies rule. In Anthem, everyone aren’t supposed to have any relationship or no physical contact, but Equality and the Golden One had contact. “We only know suddenly that their hands were empty, but we were still holding our lips to their hands and that they knew, and did not move”(Rand, 57). They had some contact which they aren’t supposed to which supports that they broke the rule. The two stories relate that they both broke a rule some type of way in their society. The two stories have similar things to it but there are also differences.

What shapes a person?What makes a person?These questions have been asked for a long time. But, in the following texts, we see evidence of what makes a person. Of Mice and Men is an unhappy story taking place in an unhappy time, yet the characters have a lot of depth to them, despite the short length of the actual book. The characters are shaped by their history and their experiences. “Harrison Bergeron” is a short story about the future.

Most people believe that one person cannot make a difference, stories like The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins and Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut shows that one person can make a difference. As the actions of one person can influence everyone around them. Every day here on Earth there is always going to be someone making a difference by themselves.