Irony In 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.

In “Harrison Bergeron,” mankind has created a different kind of torture for humans they have created handicaps that create loud noise to stop them from thinking too deeply and weights to slow him down and masks to make people uglier. “. . . had a little mental handicap radio in his ear. . . every twenty seconds or so, the transmitter would send out some sharp noise to keep people like George from taking advantage of their brains” (14-17). This technology made life miserable and dull and caused people to become oblivious to problems in their lives The author makes this story to tell his readers that being equal is not necessarily a good thing. The technology of the future is dangerous if treated without care or given to the wrong people. The authors both give warnings about the future and how we must be careful with technology and how being equal is not always good.

The short story “Harrison Bergeron” contains quite a bit of irony. In this particular period of time, all people are required to be the equal physically and mentally. If they are superior to other people, they will be forced to wear handicaps in order reduce their capabilities to make them like other normal people. The story contains examples of situational, verbal and dramatic irony.

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

“Harrison Bergeron”, written in 1961, is set in the year 2081. It tells the story of a future America where human equality is forced through the use of rudimentary devices that handicap above average people. The story’s baseline for average is a fairly low one, and the collective dumbing down has produced a society with almost no attention span and very little independent thought.

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, 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.

The future can be a strange and scary thing to think about, especially when its predictions are not good. Dystopian authors don’t necessarily predict the future as much as they warn against what the present could become. They warn readers by using something called satire. Satire in dystopian novels is when authors exaggerate society’s current situation so that readers learn from their actions. Authors like Ray Bradbury and Kurt Vonnegut use satire to warn against rules of society like conformity, equality, and censorship.

Vonnegut's, short story, “Harrison Bergeron”, portrays Harrison as a considerate, ignored hero but also an outsider, standing up for the people’s and his rights. Vonnegut made it clear that Harrison’s appearance and beliefs are portrayed negatively to others, while the equipment used on him and others, but also the responses from him and to the handicap generals, ballerinas, and news reporters have made them get a wrong

Harrison Bergeron might be considered a hero by some, but in the end, he is a danger to society. When Harrison faces the government he has more in mind than only disabling the handicaps that everyone bears. ‘“I am the Emperor,’ cried Harrison. ‘Do you hear? I am the Emperor! Everybody must do what I say at once”’ (Vonnegut 142-143). Harrison

In Kurt Vonnegut’s “Harrison Bergeron”, a society is being controlled by the government through handicaps. Throughout the story, several examples are displayed that show how effective the government’s power is towards the people. It was 2081 and a time that most thought was finally equal. The government wanted power, control and all intelligence to be equal, therefore forcing the people to wear handicaps. Although the people believe they are wearing handicaps to make them all equal, they fail to realize that the handicaps’ real purpose is to control the people.

This story entertains many concepts and ideas. Most prominent of all was the idea of equality. I feel that the author was, in some ways, trying to convey that absolute equality is and can only ever be an illusion. “-and pretty soon, we’d be right back to the dark ages, with everyone competing against everyone else.” I feel that the actual handicaps themselves had opportunity to be a competition: Those with more handicaps could argue that they were better because they required more handicaps to make them equal. It seemed too, that they knew this, as it was hinted by the narrator; “She must have been extraordinarily beautiful, because the mask she wore was hideous.” If not for Harrison, this, along with other things, might have

In “Harrison Bergeron”, citizens were discouraged from their actions due to being harassed by the Handicapper Generals. For example, handicaps were placed on everyone to limit their characteristics and actions. The Bergeron’s were some of the many victims

Charlie Kaufman’s upcoming adaptation Harrison Bergeron takes a different approach to the original short story. In the Vonnegut’s story the year is 2081 and the world is finally equal or at least considered to be that way. Everyone wears handicaps to suppress whatever can give them an advantage, such as headpieces that stop a person from using their brain, weights to diminish strength, and masks to hide beauty. The short story looks at the lives of Hazel and George Bergeron living during this new era. They have a son named Harrison, but he was taken away before the events of the story. Largely, Vonnegut’s story presents itself as a satire to communism; however Kaufman creates a darker much different perspective.

In the story of Harrison Begerson everyone is not created equal. People with more handicaps end up having a harder time than people with less handicaps. George, for example had mental handicaps that keep him from “ taking unfair advantages of his brain”(page 1).The government, which made things worst did not make things better, did not make all people equal.