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Equality In Kurt Vonnegut's Harrison Bergeron

1230 Words5 Pages

The year is 2028, and everyone is equal. The government issues handicaps to make everyone limited and equal; they believe equality and limitation are better. Everyone having the same motives, talents, and capabilities would be a problem in today's world which is shown in the story "Harrison Bergeron" by Kurt Vonnegut, JR.

The government imposes strict restrictions on the citizens allowing them to be less functional. "A buzzer sounded in George's head. His thoughts fled in panic, like bandits from a burglar alarm." (Vonnegut pg2) George was a fast thinker and a more accelerated learner than most. His handicap sends sounds to him constantly, making him forget everything and giving him short thoughts. George's character is often clueless in …show more content…

Imagine if you were the same as this person, everything about you was the same, from your thoughts to your physical appearance. In "Harrison Bergeron," this is precisely what is happening. The handicaps limit each person from being the same and thinking the same. Nelsan Ellis says, "Being different gives the world color." Being different allows people to be diverse and have different opinions, ideas, and motives. Being different makes it easier for people to get along. Without diversity, the world would be dull and sad. It also helps the world develop in every aspect of today. Without different opinions and ideas, the world would not be as advanced as it is today. The world would be slow, with limitations, from cutting-edge technology to businesses created by people. And underdeveloped. One of the first lines in the story says, "Nobody was smarter than anybody else, Nobody was better looking than anybody else. Nobody was stronger than anybody else." (Vonnegut Pg2) This is what the handicapped do and what the government and the handicapper general think is good for …show more content…

The story of Harrison Bergeron has tons of figurative language. For example, all types of Irony, according to Core.ac.uk, "Irony emphasizes the difference between two states of affairs, making plain which is true. In the story, many sentences and events mean that he strongly opposes the government, which adheres to a system of equality or egalitarianism." Dramatic Irony is also used when the characters do not know what is happening, but the reader

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in Harrison Bergeron they solve the problem of inequality by giving people handicaps. These would restrict people who were prettier, smarter, or stronger than average. They censored their knowledge and their thoughts specifically with a brain handicap that was "tuned to a government transmitter. Every twenty seconds or so, the transmitter would send out some sharp noise to keep [smart] people…from taking unfair advantage of their brains." (Vonnegut 1)

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Imagine the perfect society. Secure, honest, balanced, organized, and equal. Well, in this story, the society is all of those things; but the government takes equality to a whole new level. Citizens are forced to wear “handicaps” that make them be deprived of their strength, thoughts, and even the ability to see. A man named Harrison had finally had enough, so he decided to rebel, but the little support he had diminished his whole plan.

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Since George had so many handicaps and Hazel had none, the two were constantly jealous of each other. This jealousy created unhappiness to an extent that defeated the original purpose of attempting total equality, to make everyone happy. As well, the fact that certain people have to deal with the pain caused by the handicaps creates another type of inequality, where they live a much more strenuous life in order to be considered ‘equal.’ The society that has been designed to be completely and totally equal in “Harrison Bergeron,” proves that it is impossible for every single person to be equal in every possible

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