Theme Analysis : Harrison Bergeron

Kurt Vonnegut creates the characters within “Harrison Bergeron” using structured and basic sentences. The situation of equality in this story affects the dialogue between the couple George and Hazel. The sentences are short and simple which makes them seem almost robotic to the reader.

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

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,

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 is a valuable story that has underlying themes, which are very relevant in our current society. The theme of equality can be seen throughout the book, and it is the principle that is enshrined in America’s constitution now, whereby they claim that all men are equal. Kurt Vonnegut demonstrates the issue of equality in a Utopian society. Vonnegut in his story, cautions Americans on the dangers of creating a truly equalitarian society, whereby citizens go to an extent of sacrificing their freedom, and individuality to the state, to create a place where all people are equal. Vonnegut creates a society whereby, all people are made equal. The beautiful are forced to wear hideous masks to disfigure their beauty, those considered intelligent are to wear radio calls, and ear splitting noises that are supposed to impede their thinking, and the strong are forced to wear weights around their necks throughout the day. The author uses masks, and the weights as symbols to symbolize

Have you ever been told you can’t do something because you are too qualified? In Vonnegut’s short story “Harrison Bergeron” this is what America has turned into in 2081. Vonnegut uses characters in his story to show the effects of a truly “equal” society with what happens when they want everyone equal and what happens to some of their health. Some of the characters he uses are Harrison, George, and the ballerinas.

Kurt Vonnegut published “Harrison Bergeron” to express his thoughts of what a world with equality might look like. The setting of this takes place in front of a TV to emphasis how much is it looked to for answers. The government wants everyone the same and will go to any means necessary. In the constitution, “all men are created equal” can be found, and this short story explores the ideas of when that sentence is taken too literal. In “Harrison Bergeron,” Vonnegut paints his readers a picture illustrating the dangers of conforming three different individuals, Hazel, George, and Harrison, to the same level of expectation through the power of government control and television.

Have you ever pondered over the equality of everyone? Well, if you believe that equality is important, you may want to think again. In the dystopian short story, “Harrison Bergeron”, Kurt Vonnegut, the author, uses satire to convey his message. Satie is something meant to make fun of or show the weakness of human nature or a particular person. Vonnegut’s message is that not everyone must be equal in every way.The character, Harrison Bergeron, wants to make everyone understand that being equal comes with a consequence, the decline of freedom and individuality, but he got shot so metaphorically the idea of freedom and individuality died with him.

Imagine living in a place where all your freedom, rights, and skills were taken away from you. You can't pick important things like your job, your spouse, and your name. You have to wear “handicaps” so you aren't better than anyone else. If you don’t follow the rules, you die. In literature, a lot of societies like this come from the desire for equality. Although many times some equality is a good trait to have in a society, complete equality can lead to a dystopia. Two stories called “Anthem” by Ayn Rand and “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut illustrate how complete equality can lead to no individuality.

The year is 2081, and Harrison Bergeron is a boy living in a society where all the people must be equal. The government is brainwashing everyone to believe that’s true, but Harrison sees what’s really happening. He is one of the smartest people in the society, but that's what gets him into trouble. Because he is so smart the government believes he wants to overthrow them. They take him away from home and put him in jail.

So! A book is a loaded gun in the house next door. Burn it. Take the shot from the weapon. Breach man’s mind’” (Bradbury 58). Similarly, in Harrison Bergeron, the government uses oppressive tactics to implement a system of widespread and absolute equality. Vonnegut writes, “The year was 2081, and everyone was finally equal… They were equal every which way. Nobody was smarter than anybody else. Nobody was better looking than anybody else. Nobody was stronger or quicker than anybody else” (Vonnegut 1). It is common for individuals to desire

The short story Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut Jr provides a glimpse into what a bureaucratic dystopia would appear as in the year 2081. It establishes a dystopian society structured by total equality highlighting the dangers in execution and outcome, resulting in a conformist society. All citizens in society are despoiled of idealistic qualities, therefore degenerating them and placing them on an even level. Vonnegut structures this on the premise that,“they weren’t only equal before god and the law. They were equal every which way” (page 1) The result of handicaps enable a sense of unity throughout society. Citizens can not have elevated intelligent thoughts or individualistic ideas about the world surrounding them. The author asserts

Everyone wants to be equal. But not everyone can be as good as the next at something. The story “Harrison Bergeron,” written by Kurt Vonnegut in 1961, is about the USA in 2081, everyone is finally equal due to laws passed to protect the average citizen which give the stronger, smarter, and more talented people handicaps to bring them down to the level of the average. Being equal is what everyone wants, there have always been many problems with equality in all time periods, and in 2011 a film company called izzit.com created a new version of the story as a short film called “2081.” The more recent story starts with Vonnegut’s characters but makes the plot more exciting because today’s audiences are used to a much faster pace.

Vonnegut’s real point behind “Harrison Bergeron” is a serious attack on the idea of enforced equality (Mowery). At the end of the story, Vonnegut proposes that no government is capable of suppressing the individual completely. Rather, the inner strength of human nature at its finest is more powerful that ill-conceived laws (Mowery). In a criticism, Stanley Schatt describes the death of Harrison as, “the lost beauty, grace, and wisdom.” In summary, Today American society can benefit from

Kurt Vonnegut Jr’s futuristic story, “Harrison Bergeron,” is set in the year 2081, where the United States passed amendments to promote total equality for all. This involved introducing handicaps to mentally and physically prevent people from competing with and exceeding others. These handicaps prevent basic freedoms, such as private thought, ensuring no one is ‘better’ than anyone else. The moral the story illustrates is that true freedom is just as crucial as equality.