Examples Of Social Justice In Harrison Bergeron

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Social Justice How far is too far for equality? In the short story Harrison Bergeron we see one view of what happens when you try to enforce a level playing field on society. Written by Kurt Vonnegut in 1961, It is a tale following an amendment(Nobody was smarter than anybody else. Nobody was better looking than anybody else. Nobody was stronger or quicker than anybody else. All this equality was due to the 211th, 212th, and 213th Amendments to the Constitution(“Harrison Bergeron”)) that makes it so you can not have greater skill in a field then your neighbor. To make this a reality people, like our point of view George. with a high intelligence have a hearing aid like device that makes a horrid noise to prevent an unfair advantage of quick thinking. The setting is given through the narration by George and informs how the world works in 2081 under the current regime. …show more content…

The big deal about it is the enforced equality. This idea was drawn from the time it was written in. The author is from the 50’s when the USA was scared of “The Commies”. Socialism and communism were mixed up to the point “Hey you like one you like the other”.”A lot of people at the time saw communism and socialism as weakening the country, especially compared to America's favorite system of production: capitalism.(“Harrison Bergeron Setting”)”Vonnegut was a socialist. So the setting gives the impression of a satire. People in the 50’s truly believed that Communism and Socialism were the same and they meant a lack of freedom or originality. A parody of the Micathy regime when Vonnegut started