ipl-logo

Harrison Bergeron Utopian Society

462 Words2 Pages

What if technology was being used and abused but you never knew about it? In the book “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut, technology is being abused without anyone knowing except for one person (Harrison Bergeron). “The year was 2081, and everybody was finally equal” (Vonnegut 133). The people are not just equal before the law, but they are equal in every way. The agents of the United States Handicapper General put handicappers (technological devices) to take away the people’s differences. This equality was caused through the 211th, 212th, and 213th Amendments in the Constitution and through the agents of the United States Handicapper General. The people wanted a “utopian” society in which everyone is equal. One can infer that this is why the agents will do anything to make sure …show more content…

One can infer that this is why Harrison Bergeron (George’s son) rebelled against this so-called “utopian” society. Being punished for being different is what it has come down to in this story. Harrison Bergeron is, “a genius and an athlete, is under-handicapped, and should be regarded as extremely dangerous” (Vonnegut 136). Harrison has heavier handicaps than anyone else. Instead of a small ear radio, he had to wear a huge pair of earphones. He had scrap metal hanging all over him. He had enough with this so-called “utopian” society and wearing the overload of technological devices, so he rebelled. He realized that he is being abused with technology and was trying to show everyone too. Though, instead of succeeding, he got shot and died. Kurt Vonnegut uses satire to ridicule what some think would be a utopian society. The author is trying to express ridicule in societies of communism or dictatorships. The author is ridiculing the people’s desire for everyone to be equal and taking it to another level or extent. Taking away one’s differences takes away one’s personality. Instead of trying to make the town in the story a utopian society, it backfired and became a dystopian society

Show More
Related
329 Words | 2 Pages

In the short story Harrison Bergeron, equality forces in American society. The characters Harrison and George are both handicapped by the Government to be equal with society. Harrison is taken away from his mother Hazel and father, George because he is against being handicapped to be equal. George believes it has made the world a better place than it was before. Although, George is above average I look up to him because I'm similar to him along with his intelligence, beliefs in equality, and support for the laws.

Read More
177 Words | 1 Pages

In Harrison Bergeron, people who are above average have to wear handicaps to make everybody equal Kurt Vonnegut used satire in Harrison Bergeron by exaggerating the people in this society in the future. One example is the handicaps that everybody who was “above average” had to wear. In this society, if you were very smart, you would have to wear a handicap in your ear that went off every 20 seconds, so he couldn’t think beyond the average human’s abilities. In this future world, the handicaps are supposed to make everybody equal. Some examples of handicaps would be weights you would wear if you are very strong, a mask if you are very pretty, spectacles with wavy lenses if you have great eyes.

Read More
1195 Words | 5 Pages

In Harrison Bergeron, a quote that represents this is,“And George, while his intelligence was way above normal, had a little mental handicap radio in his ear. He was required to wear it at all times. ”This quote shows an example of people’s natural intelligence being suppressed for equality is not something that should be happening outside of a dystopian society. It takes away people’s personal freedoms to the point where they cannot think clearly.

Read More
650 Words | 3 Pages

He watched his father die, his mom and sister got taken away from him, and he was just struggling. He didn't give up; he kept up a fight. In today's world dehumanizing can be connected with bullying. People bully other people and that person that's getting bullied feel like hurting themselves or killing themselves. They get bullied so bad or dehumanized so much that they run out of options.

Read More
533 Words | 3 Pages

In The Giver and "Harrison Bergeron," this is shown because they both are equal communities. In Harrison Bergeron, they take equality way too far and make citizens wear handicaps.

Read More
707 Words | 3 Pages

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.

Read More
747 Words | 3 Pages

In addition this story a character name harrison bergeron who was in a jail because he tried to take off his handicap and he also tried to plot to overthrow the government. Another character named george also had to wear a handicap and every twenty seconds a transmitter would send a sharp noise to keep him from using unfair advantage of his brain. The theme of the story is being equal isn’t always fair. Body paragraph 1: These 3 paragraph will explain the theme that being equal isn 't always fair. The first piece of evidence

Read More
451 Words | 2 Pages

“A family is a place where minds come in contact with one another” -Buddha The two dystopian stories “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut and Anthem by Ayn Rand, are expressed to promote that everyone being exactly the same isn’t good for our society. “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut and Anthem by Ayn Rand are both dystopian pieces, their portrayal of family and love differs greatly. The novella “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut represents somewhat, of a healthy family.

Read More
636 Words | 3 Pages

The image of equality “Harrison Bergeron” is making everyone go to the most average, they can be by using handicaps to stop their natural abilities. “George, while his intelligence was way above normal, had a little mental handicap radio in his ear. He was required by law to wear it at all times. It was tuned to a government transmitter. Every twenty seconds or so, the transmitter would send out some sharp noise to keep people like George from taking unfair advantage of their brains.”

Read More
940 Words | 4 Pages

Most authors, when writing futuristic stories, tend to have technological advances like flying cars or robots to add that flare. However, in the story “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut there is nothing of the sort. In the year 2081, the US government has tried to reach full equality by using handicaps on the gifted. The society’s rules leave more people with pain and anger rather than a sense of total equality with each other. Which leads some readers to wonder what a society where the ungifted were lifted up instead of the gifted put down would be like in comparison with Vonneguts.

Read More
517 Words | 3 Pages

In today’s society the general attitude towards an individual is conform or be an outcast. It is seen in schools where people who do not fit into specific cliques become outcasts, the weird people. It is seen in the work place as well. People have conformed to standards set by society simply because society has said to do so. Society asks people to change themselves to fit in.

Read More
519 Words | 3 Pages

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.

Read More
954 Words | 4 Pages

Dystopian stories are usually set in an unfavorable society in which to live, where the antagonist is the society itself, and the protagonist is the person who is looking towards changing this society and fixing its flaws, who believes that they can make a difference by overthrowing the government or escaping from it. The conflict is often not solved, or the hero fails to solve it, and the dystopian society continues as it was before. Harrison Bergeron is an example of a dystopian story where society has intensely controlled the population’s unique qualities to make everyone exactly equal. People’s talent, beauty, intelligence, and any other quality that makes them different is brought down and destroyed by forcing them to wear handicaps, masks, and weights. Harrison Bergeron is the protagonist of the story.

Read More
349 Words | 2 Pages

In this short story, everything has to do with equality. No one can be more intelligent, stronger, or more attractive. Handicaps are making people unequal. People in this short story isn’t equal because the most intelligent people have to suffer because of the handicaps. “Every twenty minutes or so, the transmitter would send out some sharp noise to keep people like George from taking unfair advantages of their brain” (page 2).

Read More
1055 Words | 5 Pages

Government Control Everyone has felt smarter or maybe not so smart, due to others intelligence once in their lifetime. In a world full of different people this can happen often. However, what if there were a world where everyone was equal? No person was smarter than the other, and everyone had the same level of intelligence. In the movie, Harrison Bergeron, he is a very gifted boy who is against a “government” that makes the entire society equal by handicapping the more gifted, down to the level of the less fortunate or incapable.(Bruce “Harrison”)

Read More

More about Harrison Bergeron Utopian Society

Related Topics

Open Document