Pros And Cons Of Harrison Bergeron

A utopia is a place of ideal perfection. However, according to the Merriam-Webster, it is also an impractical scheme for social improvement. Though dating back to the earliest days of U.S. history, utopian communities became a part of American thought by the 1840s. Various groups that were struggling because of urbanization and industrialization, challenged the traditional norms of American society with a desire to create a world without capitalism, immigration, and the tension between communities. However, these attempts failed due to individualism, materialism, the lack of growth, and little balance.

Harrison Bergeron was just like everyone living according to the rules of society when one day it changed. Bergeron no longer wanted to be restrained or held back and decided to take matters into his own hands. As announced, “...has just escaped from jail, where he was held on suspicion of plotting to overthrow the government...and should be regarded as extremely

A utopia sounds like a wonderful thing. The Oxford English Dictionary defines “utopia” as an “imagined or hypothetical place, system, or state of existence in which everything is perfect, esp. in respect of social structure, laws, and politics.” (OED, 2015, entry 2) But what happens when someone tries to bring this imagined land of perfection into reality? Both in fictional literature and in real life applications, utopian dreams destroy societies.

At some schools, advanced classes have been criticized or eliminated because they are considered elitist and undemocratic. I don’t believe that they should be eliminated. If a student does quality work for their education, they shouldn’t be criticized for it. They take their time and do the work given to them the right way. If other students do not put in the extra effort, they can’t be furious with the people that do. No person should have to get their education taken away from them because they excel in learning. In the short story, Harrison Bergeron, “the H-G men took George and Hazel Bergeron’s fourteen-year-old son, Harrison, away.” He didn’t deserve to be taken away from his education, and neither should anybody else.

In the short story, Harrison is used to showing what happens when you aren’t like the others in other words “average”. Harrison is forced to wear weights, glasses, earphones, rubber nose, and teeth caps that try to handicap him so that he is “average”. “Instead of a little ear radio for a mental handicap, he wore a

In Harrison’s world, everyone is said to be equal. If someone is better at something than another, the better person will receive a handicap to make him or her worse. One example is a smarter than average person would be given an earpiece transmitter as their handicap. George Bergeron is forced to wear one of these transmitters. “Every twenty seconds or so, the transmitter would send out some sharp noise to keep people like George from taking unfair advantage of their brains” (page 99). In this society, it is illegal to remove a handicap, because doing so would give you an unfair advantage. After breaking out of captivity, Harrison Bergeron made the mistake of barging into a television station, removing his handicaps, and proclaiming ‘“I am the Emperor!”’ (page 104). He then selected a woman to be his “Empress.” “Harrison plucked the mental handicap from her ear, snapped off her physical handicaps with marvelous delicacy. Last of all he removed her mask” (page 104). Harrison and his Empress began to dance and kiss, but the rebellion came to a quick end when “Diana Moon Glampers, the Handicapper General, came into the studio with a double-barreled ten-gauge shotgun. She fired twice, and the Emperor and the Empress were dead before they hit the floor” (page 105). Because of Harrison’s flaw of impulsivity, he made quick, sudden and bad decisions which led his the untimely death and the death of his unfortunate

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.

On page 34, line two, it is stated that “They were equal every which way. Nobody was smarter than anybody else. Nobody was better looking than anybody else.” It can be inferred that the government in Harrison Bergeron is very controlling and are trying to make sure no one has any type of advantage over anyone else, so everyone is essentially the same.

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 is still a human being, even though he has handicaps. Harrison still has emotions

Harrison Bergeron is Harambe - a gorilla in a zoo that was shot. Harrison and Harambe both have pure brute strength, and are the largest of their society. Harambe lives in a zoo which is a restrained environment, controlled in a cage for his whole life, much like how Harrison lives his life in a “cage” of handicaps. They both experience something new, different, and outside of their ordinary lives. Harambe’s only experience with other living things was likely other gorillas and his zookeepers.

The story “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. is about a couple in the year 2081. In 2081 the government wants everyone to be equal so they hand out handicaps to people with good looks, vision, strength, brains, and other talents. The couple, Hazel and George Bergeron, are watching dancers on tv when an announcer comes on. He says a person named Harrison Bergeron has escaped prison. Then they hear a thud and see a figure matching Harrison’s description at the door. He goes up to the stage, rips off his handicaps, and asks one of the dancers to volunteer to be his Empress. When one comes up he takes off her handicaps and they begin to dance. They start to float till they kiss the ceiling. The doors burst open and in walks the Handicapper General. She pulls out a gun and shoots them both. I’m going to prove that the setting of this story needs more detail and that the characters, specifically Harrison and Hazel Bergeron, have nice subtle backstories.

In conclusion, all of my evidence shows that utopias aren’t perfect. As I stated in my introduction, utopias have many bad people, dangers, and not a lot of people agree with a “perfect” utopia. Sir Thomas More was the first person to create a utopia in 1516. Utopia is from a Greek ou-topos meaning of ‘no place’ or ‘nowhere’.

The book Utopia by Sir Thomas Moore, tells the concept of a “perfect” society. It is told from the perspective of a man Tomas moore is talking to. This man is Raphael Hythloday, who was a voyager and went to an island with very different rules and way of life. The book talks about the way these people live, and the way other countries live. Questions on this topic are what will be addressed. What are big problems that other countries have that Utopia doesn’t? What are some of the ways of life the utopians live by? Is this Utopia perfect, or achievable?

Utopia is “an imagined place or state of things in which everything is perfect.” according to en.oxforddictionaries.com. Although this is the ideal definition, there are many varying definitions of what a utopia is. Throughout history, many philosophers have argued their different views on what utopia is. This paper argues why two philosophers Plato and Nozick, disagree on utopia and how they might challenge one another’s ideas.