Kurt Vonnegut's Harrison Bergeron

In his world, people who are under-handicapped get locked up in jail, or the government puts more handicaps on them. The government is trying to make everyone “equal” by having everyone wear a handicap if they’re under-handicapped. Harrison is tired of being locked up in jail because of being under-handicapped, so he escapes and suddenly appears on TV. He takes off all his handicaps, and says, “Let the first woman who dare rise to her feet claim her mate and her throne!” (Vonnegut). Here, he’s trying to find a brave woman who dares to stand up and become his empress. He removes the woman’s handicaps and her mask, she was very beautiful. After, he dances with her and tells the musicians to play music, but they were terrible. So, what Harrison did was tell them to take off their handicaps too, while the woman and Harrison show the people what a true dance is. Harrison gets killed while he tries to make a difference in his society by showing everyone how life is better without the handicaps. If no one stands up for what’s right, how is the community supposed to realize what’s right and what’s

In the story people with disabilities usually have headsets and other things strapped on them to indicate to the watcher/reader that in the society they live in, having a disability is almost frowned upon. throughout the story, Harrison’s father has flashbacks and a loud noise occurs, this indicates to the man is having vivid memories of the day Harrison was taken away. A specific scene when Harrison breaks off his chains and exposes the government on tv shows that he is breaking out of what society thinks about “not being

Under the power of an overbearing government, with a riveting plot line, the characters always keep you guessing what happens next. The world if Harrison Bergeron is a fictional story, which takes place in the year 2081. By then, the government that everything and everyone was to be exactly the same. Intelligent people had a device to disrupt their thoughts every 20 seconds, people with good eyesight had to wear glasses that warped their vision, those with extra strength wore large weights, etc. However, fourteen-year-old Harrison believes that everyone does not need to be equal, and that no one should go through large amounts of pain just to fit in.

However, in a world with complete equality, the one with the most power would be the government. The government in this film was limiting how much better or worse everyone could be. When people are used to this type of government, they would fear whoever is better than themselves. Harrison Bergeron was a man who was supposed to receive a trial just because he is better than everyone else and not handicapped, but he actually was held as a prisoner without a trial. The existence of the 8th amendment (no cruel and unusual punishments) is one of the similarities between the modern world and this film.

He perfectly exemplifies the type of abnormally special individuals the government is trying to take out of the community. That’s a big mistake that the government made, trying to make everyone like robots instead of forcing people to do what they want. He had been taken away and placed in jail because his intelligence, physical health and strength made him a danger to society. Early on, we discover that the Handicapper General has taken away Harrison because he is far too powerful, intelligent, and impressive. He loses control and interrupts the ballet performance on TV.

Harrison Bergeron, a fourteen year old teenager believes that he can change this cruel new world into the world it used to be, but, the question is, is Harrison a hero or just another imposter like Diana Moon Glampers. In the short story, “Harrison Bergeron”, the author, Kurt Vonnegut Jr, discusses the year 2081 and the hardships everyone goes through just to be equal and fair to the less gifted folk. When Harrison Bergeron is first introduced, he seems like a hero to the people and the reader, but as the story progresses, the reader begins to see that all Harrison is trying to do is get the people’s attention and love so that they will rebel for him and soon he will gain control and become a dictator over the society.

Kurt Vonnegut almost seems to be making a joke of the government through this story. In making everyone dull down their beauty, strength, and intelligence by law, he’s portraying that the government doesn't see anyone as an individual, but instead all as the same person. Without any individuality and limited intelligence the government could control everyone. Harrison Bergeron is made to be the perfect man, seven foot tall, strong, extremely handsome, and a genius. But he's so intelligent that he sees what the government is doing as being unjust and takes the matter into his own hands by trying to overthrow the government. The assassination of Harrison on television is Vonnegut's way of showing that even the most powerful of men cant overrule

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.

Harrison Bergeron is a story written by Kurt Vonnegut. Vonnegut’s story is a warning to the world about the quest of equality, which is spreading all round in many nations with America on the lead. The story shows the reader how the equality issue can have negative impacts on people’s individuality, and the society. The story revolves around the protagonist, Harrison Bergeron who is an archetypical symbol that represents defiance, and individuality. He is used to represent the people who will stand up, and protest against cruel laws imposed by the state on equality, and encourage others to protest with him. Through the characterization of Harrison, George and Hazel, Vonnegut shows how the equality idea can go to the extreme. The

In the science fiction short story, HB, Kurt Vonnegut, the author creates a visual image of the year 2081, which every person is equalize in every aspect by the rule of the government. Vonnegut constructs this image made to the theme of power. According to the passage, boy whose name is Harrison Bergeron, a fourteen-year-old rebel, is put to jail because the U.S government suspects he is plotting to overthrow it. The ominous narrator tells the story through Harrison’s parents, George and Hazel. In this society, the citizens are the same as anyone in the nation. “Nobody was smarter than anybody else. Nobody was better looking than anybody else. Nobody was stronger or quicker than anybody else.”(69) This statement displays the reason to the

Harrison Bergeron was taken away from his family. He was locked up over things that he can’t control. Kurt Vonnegut shows a dystopian society in his short story, Harrison Bergeron, by showing how the citizens of that society don’t have individuality or free thought so that everyone is “equal”, by them following their own laws, they are contradicting their goal. Propaganda is used by the government to control the people and they show the illusion of a perfect society.

The 1961 short story by Kurt Vonnegut, “Harrison Bergeron,” details a dystopian future in which the mediocre and average are lionized, and the exceptional in society are marginalized and treated as though they are handicapped and/or criminal. The plot of “Harrison Bergeron” revolves around the plight of its title character, an adolescent boy who is 7’1” tall, extremely good looking, and has a genius-level I.Q., to boot. In the story, Harrison has been placed in jail in order to protect society from his exceptionality. In the society of 2081 America that Vonnegut depicts, the United States government has installed a fascist government that punishes people for falling above the norm in any instance. As the story progresses, the reader learns that Harrison’s mother is actually of below average intelligence, and this has rendered her into an “ideal citizen.” Harrison’s father, on the other hand, possesses above average intelligence and is subject to constant monitoring by the government, so as to ensure that he does not use his superior abilities to act outside of the norm, in any way. Ultimately, “Harrison Bergeron” is a Marxist critique of the late capitalist society of the twentieth century United States, which celebrates the “average” and the “mediocre,” while demonizing innovation.

As a result of these laws however, talented individuals were forced to use handicaps. These handicaps were special accessories designed for highly intelligent individuals, so that if they ever attempt to use their supreme mental abilities in any event, this accessory would impair their abilities. Hazel, a citizen within this society, did not use this accessory, since she had a short memory span. Another citizen within the society that was smarter, George, was forced to use this accessory. George had to wear a mental handicap radio around his ear that transmitted abrupt sounds to avoid the outgoing use of his mind. Along with the handicap radio, he had to wear a forty-seven pound of birdshot in a canvas bag to debilitate the use of his strength. Overall, the constitution of this new civilization hindered individuals to think about anything differently so that others that weren’t above the normal capacity standard of mental abilities didn’t feel as if they didn’t belong to the same world, and cause there to be conflict or “competition,” as the government would say, as a result of these inferiorities. The same was also applied to individuals who had greater strength than the typical standard – their strength was also impaired to match the ordinary standard set by officials of the government because the government believed differences in strength among citizens would also cause conflict.

Harrison Bergeron, who “ is a genius and an athlete” is forced to lower is strength and mental intelligence to meet the government's standards of equality, which ultimately makes him rebel against the American government of 2081. Establishing a government that respects the people’s social values, will not establish total equality, but it will create a society where people are happy to live in, due to the freedom they have to express themselves. Social values bring legitimacy to the rules that govern specific activities. The rules are accepted as rules and followed mainly because they embody the values that most people accept. Without a government that is willing to accept the society’s social values there cannot exist a flawless

The short story, “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. takes place in the United States of America in the year of 2081. Everyone was equal. They were not just equal in the law, but also in beauty, quickness, strength, and everything that appeals to a human being. Everything was taken away from them, except for the lower class people, who were “average.” The government took away their talent through things called handicaps. Many laws prohibited the act of getting rid of the handicaps. There was no use in trying to accomplish a goal. If you succeeded, you would just have another handicap put on you. This story talks about a couple whose names were George and Hazel. George was very smart, but the government put a handicap on him. The handicap was a small radio in his ear, that made a random piercing sound about every 20 seconds. Although, it made him the same as his wife, it did not allow him to further the progression of his country, and made him (just) about useless. Reading through the story, it can be inferred that true equality harms the environment instead of helping it grow past it’s limits.