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Difference and similarities between dystopia and utopia
“Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut: Individual vs
“Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut: Individual vs
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The government had a lot of regulations on the people in this society and because of that they lost their freedom to think for themselves and could only think what the government would allow them to think. They justified this because it made it so that no one would be better than any other person. They valued equality over individuality. In Fahrenheit 451 the government restricts the ownership and reading of books.
Throughout Harrison Bergeron, A.I and The Veldt different fictional societies with potential; dangers to society is revealed. An individual in a dystopian society can easily be controlled or manipulated by a higher power or government. In Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut everyone loses his individuality for the ‘benefit’ of society. “ They were equal in every which way. Nobody was smarter than anybody else.
Dystopian literature is a genre of literature that gained popularity at the turn of the century. They show possible ways the future can be. This genre has uncoincidentally become popular with adolescents and young adults. This is because dystopian creators have found it an effective way to bring up problems in the world today. Adolescents do not watch the news, and by showing problems with the media creators are able to draw their attention to the issues.
The society in “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut, attempted to make a utopian society, but resulted in a dystopian society. This society wanted everyone to be equal. No one would be better, faster, or even smarter. They tried to achieve this by handicapping everyone in the community. This eventually created a dystopian society because they had been handicapped.
With injustice and cruelty running rampant in the world, it is unsurprising that people become determined to make things better for tomorrow. The cliché saying that the ends justify the means is often quoted by those aware of the moral greyness of their actions. Commendable yet unreasonable, leaders whose sole purpose in life is to fix what they see as “wrong” with the world fall prey to thinking there is only ally or enemy. In the long run, they harm those they try to liberate.
In a lot of stories, the setting is a fairly decent world. However, this is not the case in other stories. Many stories are set in cruel and unforgiving societies, where certain people, or even the average citizen, are treated with injustice. This is what is seen as a dystopia, an imaginary setting where many people are unhappy, due to being treated unfairly. In certain dystopian settings, the state of the society is caused by a corrupt government controlling the laws of the community.
There is usually a very controlling and oppressive government, and also individuality is not allowed. Most importantly, the dystopian societies try to seem like they are perfect or a utopia, which means everything is how you would dream it to be. When something goes wrong and the society turns out to be a dystopia. The more utopic you try to make it the more dystopic it will get. Both Pleasantville and the Giver’s societies are both striving for a utopic society but they fall short because so many things
While reading the short story, “Harrison Bergeron”, the recurring aspects of a utopia to dystopia narrative came to light. A true paradise that is constructed in a story invisions a flawless society. However, over time the higher power becomes deluded from their overall mortality, turning the fairy tail society into a complete disaster. It is hard to say that composing all aspects of life to be “equal” is the right way to live. It seems far too senseless, especially equaling out characteristics such as appearances or specific talents.
The short story “Harrison Bergeron” by author Kurt Vonnegut Jr. typifies the characteristics commonly associated with dystopian literature. In the exposition of the story, Vonnegut creates an “imaginative universe” (ReadWriteThink 1). First, the reader is introduced to a governmental agent known as the “United States Handicapper General” (Vonnegut 1) and the how there have been the “211th, 212th and 213th Amendments to the Constitution” (1). Since a “Handicapper General” (1) is a fictitious governmental position and the number amendments to the Constitutions makes it a document that readers are no longer familiar with, these attributes distance the world of the story from that of the reader’s. While the reader is introduced to the supporting
Dystopian fiction has been around for a long time and interesting enough, it was an offshoot of utopian fiction which started growing in popularity in the 1900’s until today. The spikes in popularity seem to have started from the lead up to the World War II and the cold war decades ago. There are several numbers of popular dystopian novels that contribute to the popularity of this genre especially Brave New World (1932) written by Aldous Huxley that indicates the acceptance of the readers towards this dystopian fiction novel in America and followed by other novels. In the late 90’s, The Giver has become a phenomenal success ever since it was published with millions of copies sold in America alone and has been in the top list of everyone favourites
Harrison Bergeron is an example of a dystopian society that has gone awry. While the concept of total equality on the surface may seem desirable, the author quickly dispels any potential positive outlook. From the perspective of today's reader, the people in the future appear to be slaves to the government; wearing chains, masks, and headphones to decrease their fundamental abilities. In addition, this savery is emphasised due to amount the main characters watch the television in the story. It would be interesting to ask the author if it inherently provides the sedative effect he describes in the story and if we have progressed towards this reality with the advent of smartphones.
The short story “Harrison Bergeron”, was first published in October 1961 issue of Fantasy and Science Fiction. Some other works Kurt Vonnegut has written are, “Player Piano”, “The Sirens of Titan”, “Mother Night”, and “Cats Cradle” are just a few of the novels Vonnegut has written. Kurt Vonnegut has drawn on facts and incidents in his own life in his writings. Kurt’s short stories range from visions of future societies, that are extensions of modern societies. Many of his writings are ones that are science fiction.
Edythe Donham Mrs. Ludtke English 10 11 May 2023 The Similarities Throughout the Dystopian Genre As dystopian novels are still on the rise in popularity, one might ask why and what are the similarities between all of these novels, that tie them together. Firstly, there is a large variety of dystopian literature put into 4 different categories as of 2023, Orwellian, Huxleyan, Kafkaesque, and Phildickian. Dystopian literature can be traced back to as early as the late 1700s but did not take a climb in popularity until the 1990s.
Dystopian literature has been established as an important source of political commentary through interpretation and portrayal of an alternate source of morality, usually contradicting popular belief. Through use of dystopian tropes, authors are able to effectively influence way of thought through the influence of their writing. This is usually done with the purpose of acting as warning against certain political ideologies, but there is more to dystopian literature than a simple heed of warning. Furthermore, stories like The Hunger Games, "The Lottery," and "The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas" remain relevant due to their thought-provoking plotlines and philosophical ideas.
As a generally more depressing topic, it is commonly asked: Why would people prefer Dystopia over Utopia? Well the answer is, they are brutally honest. Dystopian literature is often seen as a forewarning to an already-present issue. (Bloom 82) As humans, there is a bit of morbid curiosity present in everyone. As someone who is not directly experiencing something, it is interesting to watch someone else have a hard time, even if it is not explicitly “entertaining,” it can be hard to look away.
