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Harrison Bergeron: A Collectivist Society

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The Escape
What would you do if you were born into a collectivist society? The main character in “Harrison Bergeron “is Harrison Bergeron. Harrison was taken from his parents due to plotting to overthrow the government. In the short story “Harrison Bergeron” some people wear mental and physical handicaps that make everyone equally smart. Harrison escaped from jail at the age of 14. In the book Anthem the main character is Equality. When talking Equality and the society use the word “we” instead of “I”. Equality gets into some trouble and goes to jail but escapes into the uncharted forest. “Harrison Bergeron” and Anthem have many things in common, they both have to deal with collectivism and escaping from all of the collectivism. “Harrison Bergeron” and Anthem have a collectivism society. A collectivism society is basically a communism society which is when the government or dictator controls everything. In Anthem they have a motto using “we”. In …show more content…

Harrison Bergeron died happy and free. “In an explosion of joy and grace, into the air they sprang! Not only were the laws of the land….. Diana Moon Glampers, the handicap General… she fired twice and the Emperor and Empress were dead before they hit the floor (Vonnegut 5). Harrison and the Empress died a happy and free. They died with joy and grace. All of the laws didn’t apply to them while they were in the air. “Harrison Bergeron went through a lot of harsh collectivism but the main character in Anthem also did. Equality over comes collectivism by escaping from jail into the uncharted forest. “Trees taller than we ever seen before stood over us in a great silence. Then we knew. We were in the uncharted forest (Rand 75). Equality escaped collectivism by going into the uncharted forest. No man wanted to go into the forest because they were scared of what it brought. Equality ran into the forest to run from the government and to be free from

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The collectivist society is not a place to live but to die. While examining everyone Equality 7-2521 says, “The heads of our brothers are bowed. The eyes of our brothers are dull, and never do they look one another in the eyes. The shoulders of our brothers are hunched, and their muscles are drawn, as if their bodies were shrinking and wished to shrink out of sight” (Rand 46). This quote shows that the condition of the men make them look lifeless because they too are not allowed to do things on their own such as think for themselves.

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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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Equality now believes that the word “we” is a sin and mankind need to be selfish by talking about themselves and staying true to themselves. They need to be able to think for themselves and act upon their own actions, not the actions of others. Equality’s assessment of this new concept is indeed correct because it is the way of life, unlike the way he was once

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Harrison Bergeron is a novel where the author is expressing what he thinks society is leading to and what the problems are. Harrison Bergeron is the main character and his points of view and thinking matters are interesting to investigate. This author made everyone the same. Societies are pressuring people to become the same and making people think that if they don 't look or act some sort of way, they don 't matter or serve to our world, causing many people to go to certain limits and even causing suicide as a solution. In the story, everyone thinks the same, everyone walks the same, hears the same.

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Quarterly Writing Assessment I would like to explain a theme from two short stories, the most dangerous game and also Harrison Bergeron. One of the main themes out of these stories is pursuit of perfection. I chose this theme because it a very informative theme in these stories. I also chose these stories because I found most examples so I can further explain this theme. I can also further explain another theme that is the challenging of authority and tradition between the stories Harrison Bergeron and the last dog.

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Harrison is able to escape from prison and tries to free himself from the strict government that controls him. Despite his efforts to escape the society, Harrison is shot and killed for his role

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One of the major consequences of collectivism is how it makes one afraid to lead a fulfilling life. In the society

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Harrison Bergeron, fourteen, is held in jail based on suspicion of him “plotting to overthrow the government.” (3) Harrison is aware of the ideals of his society because he is “genius and an athlete, [and] is under-handicapped” (3) he is regarded as extremely dangerous. Harrison is oppressed because he is attempting to stand up for himself. “Nobody [has] ever worn heavier handicaps… In the race of life Harrison [carries] three hundred pounds” (3).

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In the novelette, "Anthem" by Ayn Rand and "The Declaration of Independence. " They both have similarities and differences on "Equality" as used in Anthem and The Declaration of Independence. In The Declaration of Independence there is one quote that's quite famous in today"s society "All men are created equal", this message is still being used in today's society and in the society of the novel Anthem. But in Anthem equality is used differently, equality is taken more seriously.

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