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Free Will In Kurt Vonnegut's Harrison Bergeron

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In the story entitled “Harrison Bergeron” written by Kurt Vonnegut, he writes that year of 2081, everyone would be truly equal.I disagree with this vision because handicaps, power, and free will paint an unequal society in “Harrison Bergeron”. Some people have handicaps, which are supposed to “equalize” their abilities to the others in society.However, the idea of handicaps is not actually equalizing because different people with different handicaps and abilities are unable to feel or understand each other’s circumstances, struggles, and experiences.For example, George has handicaps, but Hazel doesn’t.It is obvious, that it is not equal.Some people may think that if George took off his handicaps, he wouldn’t be the same as Hazel.Therefore, …show more content…

The people don’t have free will to choose what they want to choose. Harrison Bergeron, son of Hazel and George was called a criminal, but why is someone fighting for his and everyone’s freedom called a criminal. In this text says “ She fired twice, and the Emperor and the Empress were dead before they hit the floor.” This means they got killed for fighting for their freedom. But if Harrison and the ballerina were dead why aren’t the musicians dead; why isn’t everyone dead. Isn't that called equal? Harrison Bergeron looked like he had the most handicaps. It states “ The rest of Harrison’s appearance was Halloween and hardware. Nobody had ever born heavier handicaps.” This means that Harrison is the one who has the heaviest and the most handicaps. Why doesn't everyone have the same handicaps Harrison has, isn’t that called equal. Also, Vonnegut states that the ballerinas had handicaps. He wrote, “They were burdened with sashweights and bags of birdshot, and their faces were made, so that no one, seeing a free graceful gesture or a pretty face..” This means that they had handicaps but Hazel doesn’t. That is not equal. If Hazel doesn’t have handicaps, why can’t everyone?Therefore, the ballerina was not equal with Hazel. Therefore, everyone didn’t have free

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In the short story “Harrison Bergeron”, George and Hazel Bergeron are talking about reducing their handicaps but think that “if you … just take [it off] when you came home from work … pretty soon [they would] be right back to the dark ages again, with everybody competing against everybody else” (Vonnegut 872). These people, normal citizens in their society, have been so brainwashed by their leaders that they believe competition is a negative and they are happier living with handicaps. They also think it is normal that “[nobody is] smarter than anybody else. Nobody [is] better looking than anyone else. Nobody [is] stronger or quicker than anyone else” (Vonnegut 872).

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but it just masks it. According to the text Harrison was able to plan his escape and act on it with the straps of equality on him. It says,” Harrison tore the straps of his handicaps harness like a wet tissue paper…” With or without these handicaps, he was still able to do things that the handicaps did not allow you to do. This is important because if people still have their abilities even wearing these handicaps, than that means that Diana Moon created them for no purpose at all but only to burden people with them.

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Being the Same Being equal by the law and being equal are two very different things. In the short story “Harrison Bergeron”, Kurt Vonnegut uses a satire to make fun of a future in which everybody is equal, in every which way. In the story, Harrison was rebelling against the government and how they handicap people, so that they are all at the same level mentally and physically. In this society, the people in the government are the only people that are not handicapped, or supposed to be handicapped, and they intend to keep it that way. They will go to great lengths to keep their overruling power as it is shown in this part of the story, “It was then that Diana Moon Glampers, the Handicapper General, came into the studio with a double-barreled

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The handicapper general was not being truly equal in the book Harrison Bergeron. In the first place equal means balanced and symmetrical, which means people are equal. Therefore, if the handicapper general was being equal, then there would be a balance. The balance would be everywhere and anywhere which means the world will be equal, but it would especially be there when the handicapper general is making laws or decisions. Uncertainly everyone was not treated equally, since everybody would do the same accomplishment.

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This handicap takes out lots of energy from people, but later on you get used to it. For example, in the story Hazel asks George if he needed to rest on carrying the bag of bird shots, but George said that he was fine because he said that it seems to be like the bag has become part of his body. Carrying a bag of bird shots must be very heavy in the beginning ,but once you get used to carrying it must feel like carrying nothing. Also if you take out a bird shot from your bag, for each one you take out, you will be sent to jail for two years and you have to pay two thousand dollars in

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The author states that George Bergeron’s intelligence was way above normal, so the Handicapper General,the person in charge of giving everyone the devices or methods for handicapping, had to give him a radio to put in his ear. The radio didn’t make him equal with everyone else because it didn’t take the intelligence that God gave him away. The radio not taking away George Bergeron’s intelligence away meant that no one was truly equal. George Bergeron was still an intelligent person with or without the radio in his ear. People weren’t truly equal in Harrison Bergeron because the methods or devices used for handicapping didn’t take anything away from the story’s people’s true selves.

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A persons’ preconceived notion that their authority has their best interest at hand can often lead to a corrupt society. According to Septima Poinsette Clark, “The greatest evil in our country today is...ignorance... We need to be taught to study rather than to believe.” In other words, people are taught to blindly believe what they are told without questioning whether it is right or wrong. This quote is valid because if the masses of a society believe in a corrupt authority then the few who rebel will be dismissed and thought of as outcasts.

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Literary Analysis Do you think everyone should be equal? In Harrison Bergeron a short story written by Kurt Vonnegut, everyone is meant to be equal and the government controls them,then one person decided to defy the rules. George, Hazel and Harrison all have different handicaps. Kurt Voneegut uses charters to develop the theme of equality. It is obvious that George is above average due to his handicaps.

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It is just as unfair if not more unfair to put a handicap on someone who has greater strengths than another. When Harrison Bergeron stood up for individuality, society shut him down. In the real world, society shuts down those who speak out for individuality by shaming them or making them outcasts. Kurt Vonnegut created a universe that put the rules of society before the life of an individual. People were willing to stand and watch another human being be killed for accepting their individuality.

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Setting Harrison Bergeron takes place in the year 2018, a dystopian future where the 211, 212, and 213th amendments to the constitution have deemed anything outside of total equality to be a threat to political and social stability. The attempt to equalize everyone to remove competition and conflict becomes a systematic suppression of outstanding behavior and characteristics. Unfortunately, it turns out that average and equal means unattractive, mentally and physically weak, uncreative, boring, mediocre, and generally not interesting or incredible in any way. The handicapper general makes sure that everyone is given disabilities in order to level the playing field.

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The story “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut is about a couple, Hazel and George Bergeron, in the distant future when all people must be equal. This equality is reached in the form of handicaps. Weights are placed on the strong and athletic people in society, masks are forced upon the beautiful, and loud noises are constantly blasted into the ears of the intelligent to prevent them from thinking. While most equality is often thought of as good, the story shows a much darker side, using the government’s forceful equalization of the people. “Harrison Bergeron” uses multiple perspectives to highlight the costs of equality paralleled in today’s society.

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1823 Words | 8 Pages

People who are not equal get handicapped in a way. George and Hazel Bergeron are the parents of Harrison, who was taken away from them when he was fourteen by the Handicapper General. George and Hazel are not even sad that their son was taken away. Hazel has average intelligence so she can only think of things in short bursts. On the other

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Those smarter have listening devices that release a different sound periodically to stop their thoughts, those stronger are weighed down with buckshot, those prettier wear bags over their faces, those that sound better must force their voices to be worse. All these rules lead one individual to rebel. This individual is one of the strongest, fastest, smartest, and most talented people in society, but he does not want to hide himself. This person is named Harrison Bergeron. He removes his handicaps because he is tired of being treated differently.

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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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No matter how many handicaps you put on someone they aren’t going to change. It’s kind of like trying to cover up beauty with a mask or make-up. Handicaps have no value in making anyone equal. Although equality is needed, no one in “Harrison Bergeron” is solely based on appearance and how smart you are. Equality is treating everyone one with the same amount of respect so therefore, no one in this short story is

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