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Short Story Examination Day

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In the short story, Examination Day by Henry Sesslar, the government is killing off children that surpass the government intelligence standard. One example of this is how the government gives an intelligence test to children to see who is too smart for the society (Sesslar 1). Children are getting killed for being soft-minded can never be good because it may seem that there is no point in having them. It seems that the government does not want people to be higher than everyone else because they are stuck in the mindset of everyone being alike. Richard, the protagonist in the story, is a twelve-year-old boy that has to take a test according to government standards. He is not really worried when first arriving at the Government Education Building …show more content…

They also have to wear masks because they are too grateful and pretty and other people would feel different from them for all of their perfect qualities (Vonnegut 1). In this story, two parents by the name of George and Hazel have a son named Harrison Bergeron that is taken away for his disruptive behaviors and rebellion against the government (Vonnegut 4). Harrison is later shown on TV when he shows up to the show of ballerinas; claiming that they have a horrible government and that he should rule them all. He is then shot for taking off his handicaps (Vonnegut 6). The saddest part of it all is that George, Harrison’s father doesn’t remember his son’s death because of the government transmitters that make him forget anything that makes him do too much thinking (Vonnegut 5,6). This shows how their society is being brainwashed into thinking that this is the way that everyone should be equal. People were either too afraid or they thought that what the government was right.There is no difference, there is no diversity, and there are no outliers. The author warns the reader that in the story, diversity and uniqueness are canceled out and that everyone is forced to be

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In Harrison Bergeron, people who are above average have to wear handicaps to make everybody equal Kurt Vonnegut used satire in Harrison Bergeron by exaggerating the people in this society in the future. One example is the handicaps that everybody who was “above average” had to wear. In this society, if you were very smart, you would have to wear a handicap in your ear that went off every 20 seconds, so he couldn’t think beyond the average human’s abilities. In this future world, the handicaps are supposed to make everybody equal. Some examples of handicaps would be weights you would wear if you are very strong, a mask if you are very pretty, spectacles with wavy lenses if you have great eyes.

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Equality lives in a collectivist society, which is a society that believes, “that man must be chained to collective action and collective thought for the sake of what is called “the common good.” Therefore, Equality being the person he is, struggles with being an individual. He knows it is against the law but he enjoys knowledge so much, it confuses him. He states, “And in our heart-strange are the ways of evil! - and in our heart there is the first peace we have known in 20 years.”

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In chapter one, "Privilege, Oppression, and Difference, Allan Johnson begins his argument that "difference is not the problem"( Johnson, pg 5 ). The author goes on to explain that difference by itself is not the problem, rather difference in conjunction with our ideas that cause fear. That being said, discrimination was a bigger problem in the past and it still is today. We starts with talking about Rodney King and racism he had received from police officers in Los Angeles. Johnson continues on with the idea that people are judged not for who they are or the things they have accomplished, but how they are perceived by others.

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803 Words | 4 Pages

Living in a world with complete fairness among people sounds perfect, but not when everyone in your society is forced to be completely the same. In the story Anthem, Equality is a character that is different from the others in his society of forced sameness. Equality longs to learn and expand his knowledge, however, there are rules that halt Equality from following his own will, but also push him to learn more. No one is allowed to read, write, experiment, or explore. These rules allow the community to be easily controlled, and forces them to stay similar to one another.

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1063 Words | 5 Pages

The Importance of Absolute Equality in “Harrison Bergeron” For hundreds of years, humanity has struggled to define equality, as well implement the concept properly into society. Slaves; prisoners of war; and even in today’s society, we still see people of color treated as lesser than their Caucasian counterparts. Interestingly enough, color is never introduced as a problem in Kurt Vonnegut Jr.’s “Harrison Bergeron”. While most people nowadays would agree that the word “equality” refers to equal opportunity, Vonnegut forces this word to the extremes, and warps its meaning into something much more controlling, to the point where it harms society more than inequality ever did.

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519 Words | 3 Pages

“Harrison Bergeron” shows total equality in an extreme way that catches attention, to show there are consequences to this often sought after way of life. The author uses the extreme ways the government forces equality to demonstrate how equality actually degrades society as a whole. The story showed how forced equality can make people have unrealistic and absurd world views, and how important jobs in society are left to people who are incompetent and unfit for the job. All of these consequences are easily paralleled in society today, and, unless people recognize the danger, could quickly become a serious

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870 Words | 4 Pages

Thesis: In Kurt Vonnegut 's story, "Harrison Bergeron," symbolism, tone, and irony reveal the author 's message to the reader which is his perspective on equality. Notably, there are countless symbols in the narrative "Harrison Bergeron" all of which trace back to the theme of the story. The handicaps people are forced to wear are symbols for the control the government has over people. "George was toying with the vague notion that maybe dancers shouldn 't be handicapped.

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954 Words | 4 Pages

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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1868 Words | 8 Pages

The state tried to force this child, Ethan, to take this test. In the meantime while Andrea was fighting the school system, Ethan Rediske passed away. It doesn’t have to be this way. Our children aren’t all dying of terrible diseases, but these standardized testing is killing our brothers and sisters creativity and passion for school instead. Standardized tests do not accurately measure what students know and what they can do, nor are they accurate predictors of future success

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302 Words | 2 Pages

In “Harrison Bergeron”, each person was not truly equal. For example, the ballerinas in the story were prettier than the maximum people, so they were required to wear masks. Hazel, the mother of Harrison, believed that the ballerinas were beautiful since her mask was extremely ugly. Diana Moon Glampers, the Handicap General, forces them to be like the public and will punish anyone who says different. Consequently a few people enjoy being the same, it is not easy, and following the Handicap General’s rules is challenging.

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734 Words | 3 Pages

Thank you so much for taking your time out of your very busy days to join us. It is always wonderful to share thoughts with people of your expertise, especially on a subject that affects my everyday life. Education is paramount to achieving success, and living in the modern world. In my school we take several standardized tests that are supposed to measure how much knowledge I’ve retained throughout the year. These exams have changed the way that children are taught, and have made public schools int a limited learning environment.

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589 Words | 3 Pages

The people of the United States fight and strive for an absolute “equal” society, but is it what’s really wanted? “Harrison Bergeron,” a short story written by Kurt Vonnegut, uses satire to describe the deficiency in our idea of a truly “equal” society. Throughout the story, Vonnegut describes the torture and discomfort the government administers among the people, and though they were “equal,” they were not balanced. Vonnegut uses characterization and word choice to warn his readers of the potential drawbacks of a truly “equal” society. He warns normalcy would become the base of thought, and people would become incapable of emotion.

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557 Words | 3 Pages

In his short story Harrison Bergeron, Kurt Vonnegut uses an astounding amount of powerful imagery and diction to create the perfect scenes of the dystopian reality he creates. Throughout his use of imagery, Vonnegut creates scenes palpably imagined by readers. He uses underlying humor to lighten scenes of the morbid and macabre nature of the future where being different can be a death sentence. The future that is created in totality by Vonnegut is a dire scene created to be filled with a pastiche of people strung with handicaps to make them to be exactly the same as the “perfectly average citizen.” Vonnegut’s tone throughout is both dreary towards the bizarre and twisted dystopia that makes everyone equal, but is also somewhat insulting to those who do not bear handicaps due to being lacking both mentally and physically.

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517 Words | 3 Pages

It seems to me that people have been wanting equality for so long, but what does that really mean? How much equality is enough? Year after year we make strides to bring mankind closer together and to bridge the gap of diversity. When will the gap be filled enough to satisfy everyone? It seems to me that the story shows what could happen if we keep pushing the issue to the extent.

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1248 Words | 5 Pages

Albert Einstein once said, "Everybody is a genius... But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid". Unfortunately, most school systems depict this quote. They judge a significant amount of the population by their ability to answer a few questions. They rate them with letters and numbers, and force students to be represented by these letters and numbers for the rest of their lives.

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