Similarities Between The Giver And Harrison Bergeron

‘2018’ is a dystopian film about equality. Through his acts and qualities, the main character, Harrison Bergeron, is symbolically a Christ Figure. Although they bear some minor differences, the similarities between Harrison Bergeron and Jesus Christ are striking. Even though they fought for different causes, they have three major affinities; both characters were dead and buried, tortured in agony, and seen carrying wood on their shoulders. Firstly, much like Jesus Christ, Harrison was metaphorically dead and buried. When he was taken away from his family, and jailed for years, he was forgotten by the world, and figuratively dead. “...the H-G men took George and Hazel Bergeron's fourteen-year-old son, Harrison, away” (page 1 of the short story

The perspectives introduced by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.’s “Harrison Bergeron” and Ursula K. Le Guin’s “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” consist of extreme conditions that depict the future of the world. Vonnegut Jr. and Le Guin ’s stories both involve the futuristic, utopian societies that later mutate into the complete opposite of what originally started as the idealistic community. “Harrison Bergeron” and “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” also include the corruption and the negative change that anger the authorities due to a specific individual that lives within the community. Because the two stories both have excessively significant events that occur, symbols of dystopian societies, drugs and handicap weights, and flawed human beings cause

Could you imagine your world in which everything was predetermined for you, and you didn’t have a choice? This is the reality in The Giver by Lois Lowry, the main character Jonas faces these problems and many others as he completes his adventure. Although some may think this to be devastating, this is normal in his society. In the dystopian society conveyed in the novel The Giver by Lois Lowry, there are many similarities and differences to our modern day societies.

The main similarity between the dystopian novel Brave New World and the short story “Harrison Bergeron”, is the type of government present. Both are attempting to control the individual lives of its people in order to maintain their “ideal” society. In Brave New World, the government uses constant feelings of pleasure in order to keep its people happy in their designated roles. In contrast, in “Harrison Bergeron” the government uses a series of handicaps to create complete and total equality in its citizens. Both are horrible.

In 2081 everyone was treated equally due to laws 211th, 212th, and 213th. Can you imagine a world where nobody could be smarter or stronger than anyone else? In “Harrison Bergeron” the law said that everyone was supposed to be equal in every way but everyone was not truly equal. Everyone in “ Harrison Bergeron” were being treated equally because they are being treated differently, they have leaders that are treating them poorly, and all of these problems could be because of laws 211th, 212th, and 213th.

The relevant theme shared by both text were sameness and equality. The both community were under the control of Chief or elder. In The Giver the reason Lois Lowry uses the word “sameness rather than “equality” because equality implies that people have certain basic human rights, which in the community in The Giver they didn’t. For example, they didn’t have the freedom to make choices as to who they marry or what job they do. However, since all their experiences throughout their early lives were controlled, they were all besides Jonas and The Giver. “So there will be a whole part of your life which you won’t be able to share with your family. It’s hard Jonas. It was for me.” said by the Giver because he had to sacrifice his life to become the Giver and he knew how hard it felt. In Harrison Bergeron, the government enforces their idea of equality by physically and mentally handicapping citizens. The beautiful must wear hideous masks or disfigure themselves, the graceful and strong must wear weight around their necks at all hours of the day and the intelligent must listen to earsplitting noises that impede their ability to think. “Nobody was smarter than anybody else. Nobody was better looking than anybody else. Nobody was stronger or quicker than anybody else.” In both texts the protagonist try to solve a problem but they had created another problem by sharing it to the other members in the community. Also because they went against the rules and regulation the community were disrupted.

How would the world survive if the government controlled us? In 1984 and Harrison Bergeron, the government gained control over its citizens by using a telescreen or television and if they have any thoughts, it would be interrupted. In the book by George Orwell and in the short story by Kurt Vonnegut Jr., they both wanted to show how the government controlled the citizens in a dystopian society. To gain control, the government uses total equality in Harrison Bergeron and in 1984, the government uses totalitarianism.

Science fiction is a genre in which the story is fiction but the topic is what could be.

"Government need supervision, just like a ten ages do, if you give them too much freedom they will get out of control and will walk over you!" - Zybejta Beta Metani'Marashi. The short story, "Harrison Bergeron" By Kurt Vonnegut is about the government in America finally making people equal in every which way -anyone who is above average in anything gets handicapped in some way-. The short story, "Test" by Theodore Thomas explains how higher authorities use their power to decide the fates of people by checking their reaction on a test individual’s take. The theme of both of these stories is to never give the government too much power, otherwise, the people will face a lot of trouble.

In society, it is perceived as peculiar to act different than everyone else; to go against the norm is against the rules, in a way. In “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut, George and Hazel Bergeron’s son gets the ultimate punishment for wanting to be different. Breaking the chains of his “handicaps” such as weights hung around his neck and glasses with thick distorted lenses, Harrison Bergeron tried to persuade a small group at a television station to remove their handicaps as well. He had just escaped from prison and called himself the Emperor. For breaking the many laws of equality established before the current year 2081, Harrison was shot and killed instantly, right in front of his parents who were watching

How can we tell if a character in a book is a Christ figure? Harrison Bergeron is an appropriate example. He went through and done things that Christ had done such as being persecuted for his faith, carried a beam of wood on his shoulders, and came to rescue the unqualified world. Harrison was taken away from home and went through series of rough treatment. He was terrorized for his beliefs, as with Jesus when He suffered the same way when He was crucified. In addition, the story read that he wore earphones that dulled his intelligence, weights that were strapped him to decrease his strength, wavy glasses that made him half blind, and a wooden beam on his shoulders to cut his mobility. Coincidentally, Jesus had to carry a wooden cross on

Have you ever read a story but liked the movie about it better? Well that was the case for me when I read "Harrison Bergeron." In the story many scenes were unclear and confused me but the movie made it more understandable. There was also many differences between the story and movie which got confusing. But the changes from the story made the movie more clear and exciting. Although the story was good I liked the movie better because it was more clear.

In a world where citizens are equal, if an individual is seen as different, an almighty power will come either to convert or to exterminate them. All governments are aiming for a society that is balanced, but certain rulers take this too literal. In order to reach this sense of utopia, there are a select few who are willing to do anything. In most cases, these attempts cause chaos and distrust in the government. What these governments fail to realize is that they are creating a dystopian society.

Have you ever wondered what would happen if everyone was equal? Sounds like a perfect society right? well, it's, not! The quote by Samuel Johnson says that “It is better that some should be unhappy rather than that none should be happy, which would be the case in a general state of equality.” This relates to the texts The Giver and “Harrison Bergeron” by proving that true equality should not be reached.

Science Fiction book's are told in the future. A lot of book's tell of people having to be the same and not have freedom. It sounds a lot like the stories The Giver and Harrison Bergeron. The word used to describe them is dystopias. The Giver and Harrison Bergeron don't have the freedom as we do and we should be aware of that so we don't end up like them.