Harrison Bergeron Essay On Equality

Many people argue every day for complete equality of all people, due to new movements and campaigns. Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. wrote the short story, “Harrison Bergeron,” in order to show what it would be like if this came true. It is a short story that follows the lives of Hazel and George Bergeron. The two live in a society where the government places handicaps on people to make them more ‘average’ or ‘equal.’ This takes place in the United States in 2081, where there has been many amendments in order to ensure total equality throughout society. Through George’s handicaps, and Hazel’s lack thereof, Vonnegut shows that total equality in any society is impossible. Due to George’s having so many handicaps and Hazel having none, inequality is created in the society. For example, when George and Hazel are watching TV and something makes him think, the government stops it, “Every 20 seconds or so, the transmitter would send out some sharp noise to keep people like George from taking unfair advantage of their brain,” (Vonnegut 2). This quote illustrates how George deals with a large amount of discomfort every day due to these handicaps in order to be considered equal. Clearly, this shows that the society in

Since George had so many handicaps and Hazel had none, the two were constantly jealous of each other. This jealousy created unhappiness to an extent that defeated the original purpose of attempting total equality, to make everyone happy. As well, the fact that certain people have to deal with the pain caused by the handicaps creates another type of inequality, where they live a much more strenuous life in order to be considered ‘equal.’ The society that has been designed to be completely and totally equal in “Harrison Bergeron,” proves that it is impossible for every single person to be equal in every possible