Essay on Kurt Vonnegut’s Harrison Bergeron A Picture of...

Illustration of false equality The year was 2081, and everybody was finally equal (208). This in a nutshell is the premise of Kurt Vonnegut’s short story Harrison Bergeron. Vonnegut’s title character Harrison Bergeron is a picture perfect human being: very tall, handsome and intelligent. Although our society would deem these desirable attributes, in this story’s 2081 AD setting they are highly objectionable. Kurt Vonnegut uses the character Harrison Bergeron to illustrate the danger of imposing total equality on a diversified population. In Bergeron’s society uniformity is strictly imposed upon all citizens. Physical adjustments are levied to achieve this uniformity: tall people wear weights, disturbing sounds administered†¦show more content†¦His spectacles cause him to be half-blind and give him whanging headaches (211). In order to offset his looks the Handicap Generals require that he wear a red rubber ball for his nose, shave his eyebrows and cap his white teeth in black. In Harrison, Vonnegut has obviously created an exceptional human being. When Harrison decides to escape his bonds he is considered an enormous threat. The television station interrupts its normal broadcasts to warn the populous of him, describing him as a genius and an athlete†¦extremely dangerous (210). Breaking into the broadcast studio he appears Clanking, clownish and huge, Harrison stood in the center of the studio. The knob of the uprooted studio door was still in his hand (211). Harrison realizes his power, proclaiming Even as I stand here- crippled, hobbled, sickened-I am a greater ruler than any man who ever lived! Now watch me become what I can become†¦ (211). His proclamation reveals the maturity of a fourteen-year-old, but indicates his realization of his potential. Harrison issues the invitation to the first woman who dares rise to her fee claim her mate and her throne (211). A ballerina who has the courage to join him, reveals with the removal of her restraints she is blindingly beautiful (212). Before he is killed and all me mory of him is erraticated, Harrison shares with his Empress the ecstasy of pure, unfettered emotion throughShow MoreRelatedEquality And Diversity In Kurt Vonneguts Harrison Bergeron1263 Words   |  6 Pagesentirely on equality? Kurt Vonnegut’s â€Å"Harrison Bergeron† answers that question with a solid no, we should not. Through his comical and sarcastic tone, many forms of irony, and absurd hyperboles, Vonnegut supports his work as a satire that both critically analyses and mocks the idea of total equality; Overall, emphasising the idea that society should strive for equality of justice, liberty, and rights, but not of things like the attributes that make us individuals. In â€Å"Harrison Bergeron,† sarcasm is expressedRead MoreRelationship Between V for Vendetta and Harrison Bergeron1752 Words   |  8 Pagesand humans individually and collectively trying to manage or not being able to properly manage with technology that has progressed far more rapidly than anything else. One story that clearly demonstrates this theme of a dystopian society is Harrison Bergeron, and a form of media that can be  compared with it is, the 2005 film  V for Vendetta. Both stories are set in the future and show that as time goes on, the government slowly  starts to take control of the citizens by telling them what is rightRead MoreAnalysis Of `` Still I Rise `` By Kurt Vonnegut Jr.1624 Words   |  7 Pagesdefect of power. Every person will be faced with an influential decision; stand up for what they believe in or fall under the clutches of the opposition. This statement is noticeably evident in Kurt Vonnegut Jr.’s short story when he demonstrate s the possible response to oppression in â€Å"Harrison Bergeron.† Likewise, in the memorable poem, â€Å"Still I Rise,† Maya Angelou illustrates the will power one can have to overcome accusations. Lastly, Hernando Tellez portrays through his short story, â€Å"Ashes for