Inequality In Harrison Bergeron

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I, as the oldest of three children, could tell you many stories of when things seemed unfair or unequal. I could also recount many examples of short stories, passages, or articles from school that showcased the ideal of inequality. Our most recent story, though, was unlike any other story I had witnessed or read in class. It was the short story Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. and it described a utopia turned dystopia where a fight for equality has been taken too far. Equality can be viewed in many different ways. However, what is equal to one person will most likely not be the perfect idea of equality to everyone. In trying to make the world a place of perfect equality, this “utopian society” had to sacrifice the pure essence of life, in that being the ideas of individualism and diversity. Vonnegut writes “Nobody was smarter than anybody else. Nobody was better looking than anybody else. Nobody was stronger or quicker than anybody else.” This shows that, through the use of extensive “handicaps” (such as weights to make one weaker, or special hearing aids that emit painful noises to scramble the citizens thoughts), the so-called “utopian society” needed to …show more content…
He writes of how these diversities are take away in saying that “...[the ballerina’s] faces were masked, so that no one, seeing a free and graceful gesture or a pretty face, would feel like something the cat dragged in.” This shows that as the family of Harrison Bergeron is watching television, the government still wants the viewers to not notice any sign of diversity and feel like they are less than capable. The quote demonstrates ideas that such powers given to the government can result in an abundance of unneeded protocols. This also proves that many problems could formulate from taking away ideas of individuality and

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Equality In Kurt Vonnegut's Harrison Bergeron

The short story,”Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. paints the troubles of a society believing in equality among all. This short story speaks of a time in the year 2081 when people must wear handicaps to bring the more talented people down to the level of average. These ideals of justness result in problems such as Harrison, an extremely gifted young man who shakes the world for a few minutes by invading a studio and proclaiming himself to be the “king”. This ultimately results in him, the…

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In “Harrison Bergeron” and Anthem, these stories show this scenario in two different ways. They both are dystopian stories with a character that is against everyone being the exact same. Although both of these stories have a theme centered around equality, it is enforced in different ways. Equality is an important aspect of each story, as it allows them to convey their main theme about individualism. They both portray this “too much equality” scenario in a negative manner. In “Harrison Bergeron”…

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Inequality Essay

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Jealousy In Kurt Vonnegut's Harrison Bergeron

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