Equality In Kurt Vonnegut's Harrison Bergeron

‘My God-’ said George, ‘that must be Harrison!’ The realization was blasted from his mind instantly by the sound of an automobile collision in his head” (Vonnegut 3). George’s epiphany helped him recognize the sound of his son's footsteps. When Harrison was still home George heard this noise all the time. Almost as soon as he made this realization his handicap goes off, producing a terrible, loud noise, causing him to forget his train of thought. The author uses the words “blasted” and “instantly” to help the readers understand the severity of the handicaps. He only has the epiphany that it is, in fact, his son on the TV because he was born with a very high IQ, in contrast to George’s wife who does not have a high intelligence and did not realize it was Harrison until George said so. Unfortunately, because of George’s elevated IQ, he has to have the radio handicap, which goes off and causes him to forget that he realized it was his son in the first place. The society deems these handicaps as important, because it stops people from having their own opinion which could lead to retaliation or an uprising. The epiphany that quickly faded from George’s mind demonstrates Vonnegut’s idea that one’s mental attributes will both benefit and fail them.

The story of “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. is about a dystopian future of America that forces its citizens to be completely equal. The way that they enforce the rules is by forcing the strong to wear weights and the intelligent to be given mental handicaps. The style of writing Vonnegut uses to portray his story of equality is very subtle. Vonnegut uses diction, imagery, and syntax, to help the reader understand the characters, mood, and visuals.

In the story “Harrison Bergeron,” society would have been better off if Harrison had been in charge instead of Diana Moon Glampers. Harrison shows a glimpse of how society could be better if he were in charge when he took off the handicaps from the ballerinas and musicians. The ballerinas were able to dance more freely, “The reeled, whirled, swiveled, flounced, capered, gamboled, and spun” (Vonnegut 40). When the ballerinas danced and the musicians played their instruments without the handicapped devices, there was such a big difference on how much better things could be when everyone isn’t equal. Because Harrison was the one who removed the handicapped devices and showed how much better it would be when everyone is unequal, proves the society

Is equality possible? Is equality fair? “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut Jr is a dystopian story set in the future. The Bergerons, George, Hazel, and Harrison, are a family living in a time of enforced handicaps. These handicaps are intended to make all citizens the same. In “Harrison Bergeron” the theme, equality is impossible, is shown by Hazel’s, Harrison’s, and the Ballerina’s actions.

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.

In “Harrison Bergeron” the citizens are considered equal. However the citizens are not truly equal. I disagree about everyone being truly equal in the story Harrison Bergeron, because some of them had to wear painful handicaps, and the non-handicapped people having an unfair advantage over the handicapped people.

These agents who could create such advanced handicapped devices clearly possessed above average brain power. The Handicapper General herself was clearly a superior being. “Diana Moon Glampers loaded the gun again. She aimed it at the musicians and told them they had ten seconds to get their handicaps back on” (Vonnegut). She was not equal to the rest of society by any means, for she had the complete right to alter people’s lives to fit the way society had laid out for them. These agents were obviously above the citizens in power, therefore they were not truly equal. This lays a clear understanding of a highly oppressed and misled society, living under a hypocritical

The handicaps are based on what the individual citizens is better at and what they are not. For example, George one of the characters in the story, for whom is very intelligent and sharp. Because, he’s so intelligent his handicap has to be a device that has a loud distinct beep that disturbs his train of thought every twenty minutes. George also has a bag of lead balls that weigh him down. The irony of the so call handicaps is that the people of this nation like George will get use to their handicaps. After a while a person will get use to the weight and learn to think faster than twenty seconds

Harrison Bergeron Kurt Vonnegut Jr’s story “Harrison Bergeron” is about equality. The government wants everyone to be equal. The government doesn’t want some people to be better than others. The equality in this story doesn’t make sense. If the pretty people had to wear ugly masks, then they would be uglier than the normal people and then not everyone is equal.

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.

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

Harrison Bergeron is about the future and how equality takes a role today and how it might affect the future. The story was written by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. The story starts of where everyone is equal in the year 2081. The story is about the Bergeron family who live in the 21st century

In an ideally progressive America, society should value both equality and diversity. Equality is justice. Diversity is individuality. Equality gives rights. Diversity enriches culture. Unfortunately, we do not live in an ideally progressive America. As equality in our society has increased, we have viewed it as progress. However, diversity has often been a source of conflict in our society. Jealousy, confusion, anger, and so many negative emotions have arisen from our differences and slowed the progress of equality. Perhaps, diversity should just be done away with. If we can not value our diversity, should we focus entirely on equality? Kurt Vonnegut’s “Harrison Bergeron” answers that question with a solid no, we should not. Through his

Ever thought about everybody being equal? In the story, “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. is about a family who had to have at least one handicap on them, only because they were smart, looked good, or even athletic. The setting takes place in the future of 2081. Therefore their government was ruling everybody's life and body. Only because they were in one way superior from other people. They would also harm the people physically and mentally one is they would have the athletics wear like a fifty pound weight and overly intelligent would wear a handicap that would affect them to slow their brain. His thoughts fled in panic, like bandits from a burglar alarm.”That is only one of many handicaps that they would put on people because

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