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Harrison bergeron compared to other stories
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No Competition means No Motivation. Harrison Bergeron is a short story about a futuristic society that things everyone should be equal. With the new rules there are handicaps so that no one person is better looking, stronger, smarter, and more. The parents of Harrison are George and Hazel. Although Hazel has no handicaps George does.
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.
Books and movies have been around for many years and lately movie directors have been making more and more movies based off of books. Most people do not know that around 50% of movies are based off of books. Although, it really depends on what people mean when a movie is “based” off a book. Some directors say a movie is based off a book, but has a different plot and seems totally different. So, in order to keep true to the book, directors keep the plot relatively the same, but there are a few times they decide to change the message entirely by changing just a few key events.
For example, “The strong wore weights to make them weaker; the intelligent wore earpieces that kept them from taking unfair advantage of their brains. Even the beautiful sometimes wore masks in situations where their beauty might simply be … too distracting” (Tupper 2). That is where handicaps differ from modern society. In American modern society people use handicaps to help them, like glasses and crutches. For example, “The purpose of eyeglasses and contact lenses is to correct or improve the vision of people” (Eyeglasses and Contact Lenses).
In “Harrison Bergeron” the handicaps make all of the citizens exactly the same. The handicaps do not let people be who they really are and actually holds back the citizens ability to do things. It seems like the handicaps actually make it worse for the advanced people because it makes them suffer. “They weren’t really very good-no better than anybody else would have been anyway.... George was toying with the vague notion that maybe dancers shouldn’t be handicapped.
n Nancy Mairs essay, “Disability”, she illustrates the lack of representation of people with disabilities in the media. While disability plays a major role in Mairs’ life, she points out the various ways her everyday life is ordinary and even mundane. Despite the normalcy of the lives of citizens with disabilities Mairs argues the media’s effacement of this population, is fear driven. She claims, “To depict disabled people in the ordinary activities of daily life is to admit that there is something ordinary about the disability itself, that it may enter anybody’s life” (Mairs 14). Able bodied people worry about the prospect of eventually becoming physically impaired.
Harrison Bergeron Essay Claim: Being equal isn’t always fair. Intro: What if someone had to wear a handicap? Or what if someone had to be treated exactly like everyone else?
We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful what we pretend to be, this phrase perfectly illustrates the truth in how our actions ultimately define us as human beings. Perception of reality plays an immense role in our society as a result of depending on how people perceive us, we act accordingly in order to conform. Ultimately, when interacting with others, we alter our behavioral patterns in order to mimic aforementioned group’s perception of who they are, which is often a delusion.
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.
When people hear handicap they think not able to care for themselves. Nancy wants to be known as a tough individual able to take care of herself. The reader can feel the agony of what Nancy is feeling. The tone of this passage is determination and agony. Nancy feels that cripple is more stronger word than “handicap” or ‘disabled.”
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.
Liberalism affected much of Europe during the Eighteenth Century. It started with the French wanting to get property rights and the lower class people wanting the right to vote, and it eventually conformed with nationalism and wanting to combine countries based on the language people spoke. Britain even had their share of Liberalism, and it especially heated up during the time of Gladstone and Disraeli. Liberalism did not always win, but it changed the political and economic atmosphere all throughout Europe.
In “Harrison Bergeron” people aren’t truly equal. In this short story, they took equality to the next level. Most people think that equality is everyone being treated with the same amount of respect. Appearance has nothing to do with equality in today’s society. Although looking the same and having the same level of intelligence may decrease jealousy, people shouldn’t force others to change because of this.
The short story "Harrison Bergeron" by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. portrays a future in which humanity is being made equals in all aspects which is ultimately the downfall of society. This beaurocratic dystopia forces society to be all equal through the use of handicaps and masks. The handicaps used are items such as ear pieces and weights. The ear pieces send out noises that will counter creative and academic thinking. The weights are hung around necks to balance the strength when compared to others.
And a disabled person’s ambition is like all other human beings, the looks of pity and compassion negatively affect that ambition. People should embrace the disabled person and give them a helping hand, and they should have laws, which defend their rights, which should be respected. However, most societies do not have laws that ensure an equal life for the disabled population. It is a shame that the rights of the disabled people has turned many times to mere slogans.
