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Dystopias: Harrison Bergeron And Anthem

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“All utopias are dystopias. The term "dystopia" was coined by fools that believed a "utopia" can be functional.” ( A.E. Samaan) Dystopia is like North Korea they believe their society has no other option or say in their own lives. Dystopias are based on human misery, a protagonist that questions society, and they serve as warnings to contemporary man. Dystopias are the complete opposite of utopias. Harrison Bergeron and Anthem are good examples of a dystopia because they show how communism has a positive and negative affect.
Harrison Bergeron is based upon a teenager that is killed because he had different beliefs on society. He got put away because he was smarter, prettier, and more intelligent than others. In that society they would
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Man Can Never Be Equal “Life is about family and technology” (Mark Goddard). This quote was chosen because family and technology both play a vital part in both stories Anthem and Harrison Bergeron. A dystopia is the opposite of a utopia and is usually characterized by a totalitarian society. Totalitarian society is a society in which nearly every aspect of public and private behavior is regulated by the state.

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Dystopia is defined as an imaginary place or state in which every single thing in society is based around human oppression. In both “The Pedestrian” and “Harrison Bergeron”, people are given a handicap or are disabled in society one way or another. This form of dystopia is one of the most literal forms because humans and society are actually being oppressed from a higher level of power. American society is nothing like that of a dystopian society. Yeah, people will argue about how much the government does to us, how much they’ve ruined our economy, and all sorts of other negative perspectives.

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Dystopia is a popular genre in which authors write about a fictional society that is perceived to be perfect and ideal by the vast majority of the people in it. Authors must intrigue the reader, and this is difficult because they have to somehow illustrate a future that is vaguely similar to ours. However, it has to be completely fictional, which makes it tough to formulate realistic storylines. Nevertheless, these authors use literary elements to counter these difficulties and produce realistic characters and you can see this when Ray Bradbury, Ayn Rand, and James Dashner use symbolism in their respected novels, Fahrenheit 451, Anthem, and The Maze Runner. This literary technique gives Dystopian Literature the uniqueness and adds the key elements to make the story flow.

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Collectivism is the idea that a group 's needs must be put before the needs of oneself and the society functions as “we” rather that “me”. Throughout the stories one sees how each author portrays the use of a collectivist society though uniqueness, equality, and transgression. There are many similarities between the novella Anthem by Ayn Rand and the story “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. In Anthem and “Harrison Bergeron” one could see that a similar theme is that going against the grain causes consequences. According to “Harrison Bergeron” a ballerina states that “ ‘Harrison Bergeron age fourteen,’ she said in a grackle squawk, ‘has just escaped from jail, where he was held on suspicion of plotting to overthrow the government.

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That then led to widespread fear of Communism, much less socialism in general. Two prominent dystopian works of this era are “Harrison Bergeron” by iconic science fiction writer and satirist Kurt Vonnegut, and Anthem by the legendary dystopian writer Ayn Rand, who herself escaped from Soviet Russia. While both pieces display a collective society, each author's dystopia is portrayed is unparalleled to any other.

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There are many reasons on why the story of Harrison Bergeron is a dystopian story. One main reason is because the way the government is ran meaning it is a bureaucratic control type government. What this means is it is controlled by mindless bureaucracy through relentless regulations and government officials. This is shown in the part of the story where Harrison was shot mid air by a government official or known as Handicap General. Another way bureaucratic control can be seen is that no one has any free will.

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Why Harrison Bergeron is a Piece of Dystopian Literature? “Harrison Bergeron”, by Kurt Vonnegut, is a prime example of dystopian literature. The story’s plot follows several typical tropes and thematic elements present in dystopian literature. One of the most prominent examples is within the story's characters. As many dystopias do, there are many archetypes present that make it obviously a dystopia.

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Totalitarian regimes, desolate environments, genetic modification, dehumanization of individuals, suffocating societal planning, infringement on personal rights, and the demonization of any and all who oppose authority—these nightmarish things have one thing in common: all are aspects of dystopian works. The dystopian societies presented in fiction writing and the resulting popularity during different time periods, such as the height of the Cold War, postcolonial Africa, and the last decade in America, are products of political satire and parody reflecting on current societal and political issues and extrapolating them to their extreme conclusions. The Oxford English Dictionary defines the word “dystopia” as “an imaginary place or condition in which everything is as bad as possible” (“Oxford English Dictionary”). Certainly, nearly everybody has read at least a handful of dystopian works in their lifetime.

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Do you feel like you have no freedom to choose things? Do you feel like everything is taken from you? Well the truth is, it is not. But there is a place that is, and that place is called a dystopia. In other words, it is a very unpleasant place.

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This short story is mainly about equality for everyone and it’s a Utopian society that becomes a Dystopian society. A Utopian society is, “an imagined community or society that possesses highly desirable or nearly perfect qualities for its citizens”(“Utopia”). On the other hand, a Dystopian society is, “an imaginary society that is as dehumanizing and as unpleasant as possible”(Dystopian). The setting of “Harrison Bergeron”

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Harrison Bergeron, a story written by Kurt Vonnegut Jr, shows a society where everyone is the same, no one is- or allowed to be, better than anyone else. The story takes place in a futuristic society during 2081. The main two people in this story are Hazel and George Bergeron. George, along with most people, has sacks filled with birdshot, and a handicap radio.

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The short story “Harrison Bergeron”, was first published in October 1961 issue of Fantasy and Science Fiction. Some other works Kurt Vonnegut has written are, “Player Piano”, “The Sirens of Titan”, “Mother Night”, and “Cats Cradle” are just a few of the novels Vonnegut has written. Kurt Vonnegut has drawn on facts and incidents in his own life in his writings. Kurt’s short stories range from visions of future societies, that are extensions of modern societies. Many of his writings are ones that are science fiction.

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For instance, T.H. White’s The Once and Future King illustrates the difference between a utopia and a dictatorship. From the beginning, Arthur strives to create a perfect society after seeing how utterly grotesque a dictatorship can be; however, he fails to complete his promise of perfection, falling into a twisted web of mistrust and dystopian characteristics. For example, when Merlyn says to Wart that he should “make [his] ideas available, and do not impose them on other people” (267), he expresses how dystopias usually come from rulers with absolute power. Much like The Once and Future King and many of the failed communist nations of the Twentieth Century, The World State of Aldous Huxely’s

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Dystopian stories are usually set in an unfavorable society in which to live, where the antagonist is the society itself, and the protagonist is the person who is looking towards changing this society and fixing its flaws, who believes that they can make a difference by overthrowing the government or escaping from it. The conflict is often not solved, or the hero fails to solve it, and the dystopian society continues as it was before. Harrison Bergeron is an example of a dystopian story where society has intensely controlled the population’s unique qualities to make everyone exactly equal. People’s talent, beauty, intelligence, and any other quality that makes them different is brought down and destroyed by forcing them to wear handicaps, masks, and weights. Harrison Bergeron is the protagonist of the story.

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The hunger games by Suzanne Collins is typically called a dystopian novel. Since it sheds the light upon a utopian society that is controlled by the government. A society that is fooled by the totalitarian government of the Capitol in order to maintain power, and prevent the uprising of the Districts.that authority is practiced by making people from the districts live in a dehumanized state using another form of dystopia which is propaganda for the reason that they showed them the penalty of disobedience. Another characteristic of a dystopian society that we can see in the novel are keeping the players during the games under surveillance at all times, and everywhere. The last thing that make "The Hunger Games" a supreme example of a dystopian society is the fact that freedom is restricted by forcing the families from the districts to send their kids to death, also known as the hunger games.

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