Anoosha Ali English-603-101-MQ Mr. Boxer November 8th 2014 Harrison Bergernon - Kurt Vonnegut The risks of total equality as described in "Harrison Bergernon", suggests equality is not worth aiming at. It gives the audience a pessimistic insight of a world where everyone is equal in every aspect imaginable. Vonnegut exposes the negative aspects of this extreme equal society by using satire, imagery and connotative implications. This essay mainly examines on equality, physically and mentally, controlled severely by the government in the year 2081. Equality: Despite the "handicaps" used to equalize society, Hazel disproves the idea that these handicaps create equality through her knowledge and observations of other people who are also handicaps. The beautiful must disguise themselves by wearing hideous masks or disfigure themselves to spoil their attractiveness, the intelligent must listen to earsplitting noises that crush their ability to think, and the graceful and strong must wear weights around their necks at all hours of the day. What is considered "normal"? As quoted in the story:“I think I’d make a good Handicapper General.” “Good as anybody else,” said George. “Who knows better’n I do what normal is?” said Hazel. This quote interprets that the …show more content…
This quotation, which appears near the beginning of the story, exemplifies the twisted, illogical human interactions that have become a standard in fictional America. The disturbing implication of America’s laws of equality go unchallenged not because people believe in them, but because they are too perplexed to figure out what they think of the laws in the first place. The government is practically controlling who's normal and who is not normal, and they are also treating their citizens with disrespect, to the extent of causing severe punishment, the reason- just because someone out there has a special attribute or