Government Control In Kurt Vonnegut's Harrison Bergeron

In “Harrison Bergeron,” mankind has created a different kind of torture for humans they have created handicaps that create loud noise to stop them from thinking too deeply and weights to slow him down and masks to make people uglier. “. . . had a little mental handicap radio in his ear. . . every twenty seconds or so, the transmitter would send out some sharp noise to keep people like George from taking advantage of their brains” (14-17). This technology made life miserable and dull and caused people to become oblivious to problems in their lives The author makes this story to tell his readers that being equal is not necessarily a good thing. The technology of the future is dangerous if treated without care or given to the wrong people. The authors both give warnings about the future and how we must be careful with technology and how being equal is not always good.

However, he soon escapes the prison and gets rid of his handicaps. Harrison soon becomes so corrupt with power that he demands to be the “ruler” and takes the people at a local TV station hostage. “‘I am the Emperor!’ cried Harrison. ‘Do you hear?

The government is looking for Harrison because he escaped jail. Harrison was in jail for plotting to overthrow the government.

Does our government have too much control on us? Do we have too many rules to follow? Kurt Vonnegut, the author of “Harrison Bergeron,” writes about how the government tries to take control of everyone.In this story Vonnegut writes how the Handicapper General makes the smarter,prettier and stronger people wear handicaps.Some readers may think Vonnegut is writing about civil rights.However,throughout this paper I am going to prove them wrong.

By allowing the government to pass over 200 amendments to the constitution they are tolerating their lives being run for them. Without voting against these amendments or trying to repeal them they have gotten to a point where there is now nothing they can do to go back and change things. "They were equal in every which way. Nobody was smarter than anybody else. Nobody was better looking than anybody else. Nobody was stronger or quicker than anybody else." These were the laws that were passed in the 211th, 212th, and 213th Amendments to the "Constitution." As of now, in 2005, our society has 27 Amendments. To think of having over 200 is unfathomable. The society is apathetic and content with being "average." They don't revolt or vote against these injustices, they accept them. "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." It is obvious that the people can remove their handicaps, they do have control over them, but they choose not to, even in private. Hazel tries to get George to take out a few of the "lead balls" because he has been "so tired lately – kind of wore out." Yet, he won't he has been programmed to obey the law by any means. By not taking off the handicaps, the society and the people in it have perpetuated the actions taken by the government and those in charge.

As a tool for social commentary, oftentimes a writer will employ the use of a biting satire. Through precise writing and exaggerated concepts, Kurt Vonnegut is clearly a skilled user of satirical storytelling. As one of the most famous and widely read short literary tales of all time, Vonnegut’s Harrison Bergeron is certainly his best example in this genre. In Harrison Bergeron, Kurt Vonnegut proposes that true equality is not an ideal worth striving for, as many people believe, but a mistaken goal that is dangerous in both implementation and consequence. To achieve physical and mental equality amongst all Americans, the government in Vonnegut's short story subjects its citizens to “handicapping” through the use of crude means, such as canvas sacks of lead balls worn to impede physical ability, or more sophisticated technology, like the miniature radio used to mentally incapacitate the intellectually adept. This has rendered the dystopian future presented both bland and uneventful through its enforcement of equality for all. Vonnegut expertly engineers his story to capture the essence of an utterly broken and depressing future. Calibrating the specific aspects of literature, Vonnegut is attune with the exact parameters he so desires for his tale. Like a true master of his craft, Vonnegut in Harrison Bergeron welds together poignant imagery, vague setting, rich symbolism, and a detached tone to build a stunning tour de force of American literature.

demonstrates how good intentions of the government are slowly used to manipulate people in society. One way the idea of manipulation is shown in the story is when the Handicapper General (H-G) Men takes away perceived people to be better than anyone else, to prison for a potential revolution and give little care for it by the handicaps put on them. As Vonnegut tells us, “ And it was in that clammy month that the H-G men took George and Hazel Bergeron's fourteen-year-old son, Harrison, away. It was tragic, all right, but George and Hazel couldn't think about it very hard.”(Vonnegut Jr. 1). In the extract, the author explained that the government would take action to potentially avert danger in any way; but presents the oppressive government exerting their power to kidnap Harrison Bergeron because he was more talented than other people. Harrison’s parents, George and Hazel did not remember his son taken from because they were manipulated and not able to think long and hard about what happened to restrict the right of their choices. The other way is shown in the story, are the handicaps themselves and the way government uses it to their advantage. As the narrator introduces George, “ And George, while his intelligence was way above normal, had a little mental handicap radio in his ear. He was required by law to bear it at all times. It was tuned to a government transmitter. Every twenty seconds or so, the transmitter would send

Politicians started rejecting music from them on radios and records due to the loss of respect towards the president. “As war with Iraq becomes imminent, more and more of the useful idiot legalist weasel ‘Antiwar’ protest are poppin out.” (Kiesser 298) The band started several ‘anti war’ groups people around the world wanted war to end and everything be peaceful. Also the Dixie Chicks started to get death threats and losing fans due to the lack of respect toward country singers and the president's supporters “Country music stations fanned the flames; and within a few weeks the Dixie Chicks newest record “home” which had been No. 1 on both country and pop charts, was being boycotted across the country. (Lewis 295)

This quote proves the importance of equality to the government in Fahrenheit 451 because it shows that if books are read, then people will start to rise up and get smarter than others, therefore making them not equal to others. This may upset the less intelligent citizens in the society, and the government’s main focus is to make the people happy, so they need to take action and enforce strict laws to ensure equality. On the other hand, in “Harrison Bergeron”, the government makes sure that literally every trait of every person is equal. They do this by enforcing “handicaps” on people who are better than average in any one trait. For example, in the story, George was smarter than average, therefore the government made him put an earpiece on that makes a loud sound every so often to break up any thoughts or ideas George had.

In the story, he is trying to overthrow the government, in which he fails and dies. So let's get started on the essay on why he is a danger. One of the reason that he is a danger is that he is trying to overthrow the government. He goes on stage and tells everyone that he will try to overthrow the U.S. government. One of the quotes proving this is “I am the Emperor!” cried Harrison.”

“Many commentators have since claimed that peace and good will arose not in spite of disaster, but because of it. The hunger, rain, mud, and unserviced toilets conspired to create an adversity against which people could unite and bond” (Cooke 178). Most of the fans present expressed how they felt about the war in riots and violence. “Woodstock Ventures retained its exclusive rights, but the memory of Woodstock Nation belongs to the world; it is irrevocably imbedded in American culture” (Cooke 179). Not only was the war an influence, but the gathering itself influenced the historical outcome. “The most common feeling among all parties-producers, musicians, audience, town, and nation-was the sense of history in the making. It was the largest group of people ever gathered, and the greatest roster of musicians ever assembled, and it became the defining moment of a generation” (Cooke 178).

Harrison and many others become disabled and had to wear earpieces that scatter their thoughts every twenty seconds and wearing weights around their necks or waists, and masks to cover themselves. Harrison escapes from jail, and takes off his handicaps, on television. Meanwhile, his father is watching the T.V. Harrison tries to take down the US government but gets killed by Dianna the governor and his parents George and Hazel did not remember.

There have been many people, known as artists, who have tried to change the world through their art. “Art” can be paintings, music, dances, sculptures, literature, or photography. There are many ways to communicate and express ones feelings but The Beatles did it through their popular music. Although they didn’t focus on changing the world of politics or try to protest through their music they have songs that focus on those exact two things.

Rock Music has traditionally, among political authorities, been viewed as a medium that has the potential to bring about unrest and revolution among listeners. Even in its early stages, rock music has been seen as a threat to the stability of society. In a 1968 Time magazine article, Robert Sam Ansons declared rock music to be "one long symphony of protest…the proclamation of a new set of values…the anthem of revolution" (qtd. in Wicke 103). While the comment acknowledges the influential potential that rock and roll has, it views it negatively. Similarly, politicians have been out-spoken against rock and pop musicians, declaring they have a negative effect on society. In the mid 1990's, during presidential election campaigns, Bob Dole and Bill Clinton both declared that rock and roll plays a part in the corruption of American youth (Christenson 2). Historically, many politicians have seen rock and roll as being in opposition to positive political change.

Before the onset of normalization, rock music was not as regulated and often had public spaces for musicians to play their music such as the Big Beat festivals. However after normalization, many of these festivals were shut down, venues were scarce and bands had to requalify to the regime to be allowed to play their music. Bands such as the famous Plastic People of the Universe were one of the many trying to requalify. The problem was that many of the requirements of the regime in order to be an official band was that you could not have an English band name. The Plastic People of The Universe did not fit that description. The band name itself was almost seen as a dissent point for the band, as they are named after a Frank Zappa song about the exasperation with phonies and hypocrites of the system. The consequences of the Plastics not becoming an official band seemed at first to set them back, as they had to return a lot of their government owned equipment and were not allowed to release their songs. However, they soon discovered the musical underground and filled the void that was left by the disbanding of The Primitives, and started to find their own space. A turning point for the band was when Ivan Jirous aka ‘Magor’ became their band manager. Jirous was a cultural dissident, a friend of Vaclav Havel, and was extremely involved with the political sides of dissent of the time. Jirous influenced the Plastics to become more inherently political with their music as they started to take poetry from Egon Bondy and set it to music and to play their music in Czech and not English. Another turning point in the history of the Plastics and the underground was the Budějovická ‘massacre’ on March 30th 1974. A country side concert turned police brutality, the police brutalized hundreds of Czech youth who were there to see underground bands such as the