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Kurt Vonnegut's Harrison Bergeron

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The needs or ideals of society should outweigh the realities of individuals when the leading party deems there is an essential matter on the line. When the needs of society outweigh the realities of individuals, they are making a sacrifice, doing what needs to be done for the greater “good” in their eyes. In the short story, Harrison Bergeron, by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr, the leading party, the United States Handicapper General decides that creating everyone equally in every way would benefit society, and should be required to create Handicapper General’s version of an “ideal life.” Although conformity restricts individuals’ freedom, the needs of society take priority to create their “ideal life”, so everyone is now equal without anyone stronger, …show more content…

Singapore has one of the lowest crime rates, and in exchange for this, the needs of society outweigh the realities and human rights of individuals. Although caning people for a revocable crime is inhumane, in the eyes of Singapore’s leader, removing crimes from Singapore is deemed an essential matter. “There is a basic difference too in the way the law treats a suspect. ‘In Britain and in America, they keep very strongly to the presumption of innocence,’ says Walter Woon, associate professor of law at the National University of Singapore and a nominated MP. ‘The prosecution must prove that you are guilty. And even if the judge may feel that you are guilty, he cannot convict you unless the prosecution has proven it. So in some cases, it becomes a game between the defense and the prosecuting counsel. We would rather convict even if it doesn't accord with the purist’s traditions of the presumption of innocence.’” This paragraph explains the difference between Britain's and America’s laws and Singapore’s laws. Singapore highly values its low crime rate, and this paragraph is saying that Singapore would convict an innocent person because it will benefit their “ideal world” with no crime. While many of these governments or controlling parties may make questionable decisions for their country and nation, such as conformity, strict rules about reproduction, and cruel and unusual punishment, each nation can justify it. Because of the Michael Fay case punishment, if another American teenager thought it would be smart to vandalize Singapore as Michael Fay did, he wouldn’t because of the harsh punishment that Singapore enforces. There is no true “important matter” similar to how “easy is different for everyone” since each individual always values one thing more than another. Ultimately, these texts are a great representative for displaying how individuals from different cultures all have

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While, “Rough Justice” is the article I agree with, there are certain things that are stated that weaken my argument. On the other hand, there are certain statement that strongly support my argument. America feels as though they should have an input on Singapore’s justice system. I feel like America shouldn’t have a say on how Singapore constructs their justice system, especially since the United states has a very high crime rate. As informed in the article “Rough Justice”, “ [The U.S.] does not restrain or punish individuals, forgiving them for whatever they have done.

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There are many ways an author can convey the message of any story. Elements such as the Plot, Conflict, Character/Characterization, Setting, Symbolism, Narration, and Imagery are used in these ways. For example, in the In the story "Harrison Bergeron", the author Kurt Vonnegut uses the characterization, and the conflict to communicate the message to the reader that Uniformity and strict laws lead to a loss of personal freedom and individuality. Vonnegut uses the element of characterization.

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Kurt Vonnegut was a novelist and essayist, known for his satirical literary style, as well as his science fiction elements in a lot of his work. “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut takes place in 2081, where everyone is made “equal”. They are not born equal, but made equal through the use of physical and mental handicaps. This prevented anyone from being more significant than anybody else. Vonnegut gives the reader a good idea of how the world would be if everyone were to become equal.

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“Advancements” in Society Kurt Vonnegut and Ray Bradbury wrote Harrison Bergeron and The Pedestrian to comment on changes in society occurring at the time. Both Vonnegut and Bradbury’s short stories demonstrated dystopian literature. A dystopian society is a society where the government has total control and life is unpleasant. In Harrison Bergeron, Vonnegut showed a society where advanced people were given ‘handicaps’ in order to create a totally equal society. The main character, Harrison Bergeron, rebelled against this society and in the end suffered the consequences.

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1073 Words | 5 Pages

An Orwellian-esc future is closer than you can imagine. While not literally, it’s exactly what is seen in the 1961 dystopian science-fiction story Harrison Bergeron written by American author Kurt Vonnegut. Giving some background to the story, Vonnegut wrote this story in 1961 an era of post-WW2 and Cold War tension. You can see how the rise of communism and its objective to make all people equal can be exemplified. In Harrison Bergeron we see a government handicapping it’s own citizens in an effort to make everyone equal.

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In the story “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut, the US has reached “true equality.” The year is 2018 and because of the amendments declared by the government, people who have talents and gifts are handicapped to become average. Strong people have heavy weights, smart people have transmitters that don’t allow them to think straight, and attractive people wear masks. The main character, Harrison Bergeron is incredibly gifted, so when he was 14 he was taken by the government and placed into jail with huge handicaps. One day, he gets out and goes to a ballet and reeks havoc.

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The way an author writes greatly affects the way we perceive a piece of writing, this is very clear in the way Kurt Vonnegut wrote Harrison Bergeron. The writing style used by Vonnegut utilizes many literary elements to help better our understanding of the piece an form a stronger connection to it. Vonnegut effectively utilizes the elements of irony, tone, symbolism, and imagery to improve the connection with the story. One place where I saw irony in this story was when George and Hazel Bergeron were discussing why they couldn’t take off George’s handicaps, saying that just one person removing a few small BBs could have a ripple effect disrupting the order in their society stating that “...pretty soon we'd be right back to the dark ages again,

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Michael Fay was an 18 year old teenager living in Singapore, and was arrested in 1994 for multiple counts of vandalism. The Singaporean government in turn sentenced him to a series of canings, which sparked a controversy that lasts to this day; was his punishment right? In “Time to Assert American Values,” an article published in the New York Times, the writer emphasizes that Singapore’s caning punishment is very controversial in the sense that many believe that it is wrong, and many consider it torture. In contrast, “Rough Justice: A Caning in Singapore Stirs up a Fierce Debate about Crime and Punishment,” an article by Alejandro Reyes, discusses not only the harshness of Singapore’s punishments, but also the fact that caning is their own

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“Harrison Bergeron” is a short fiction written by Kurt Vonnegut, the story is set in the year 2081, and it talks about a futuristic society where all people are equal. No one is smarter, beautiful or stronger than the other, and if someone happens to be better than the others they find themselves compelled by The United States Handicapper General to wear what they call “handicaps” in order to bring down their abilities to the most basic levels as the others. Throughout the story, Vonnegut expresses a strong and vigorous political and social criticism of some historical events in the US during 1960s such as the Cold War and Communism, television and American Culture and Civil Rights Movement. “Harrison Bergeron” was published in 1961 during that time several events were happening around the world in general and in the US in specific which was engaged in a series of political and economic crisis with the communist Soviet Union know as The

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The way an author writes can almost be related to the way people talk each other and are very deliberate in the words they choose to say even if it just a sentence. Even a person's tone when talking is similar to the tone in a story but the only difference between the two could be the vocabulary size. Kurt Vonnegut Jr is the author of the story Harrison Bergeron and the story is about a world where everyone is equal in every way beauty, intelligence, strength, speed, and anyone who has a advantage over people is given handicaps to keep the playing field leveled. The message that Vonnegut wants you to take from this is that society is trying to trying to take away qualities that would make you your own individual because with them gone you, become easier to be influenced. Vonnegut dose many purposeful things in this story to give you hints on the message

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165 Words | 1 Pages

Equality is a great idea that we should strive for and achieve; however, being made equal physically and mentally by the government could be very unfair. People should still have characteristics that make us different. One can be diverse but still equal to his neighbor. Kurt Vonnegut Jr.’s use of point of view, conflict, and imagery in his short story “Harrison Bergeron,” illustrates how difficult living in a world where everyone is the same would be.

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Many times in dystopian literature, characters are faced with problems to do with their governments, but are forced to live with it or stand up to it. In, The Giver, by Lois Lowry, the curious Jonas lives in a community where everything is the same and there is no change, but when he turns 12 he becomes the receiver of memory, a job where he learns about the real world. After learning the truth, he escapes the confines of his community bringing Gabriel, a young child, with him. On the hand, In Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut Jr., people are given handicaps to maintain the same intelligence level. For example, the main character, Harrison is a genius who escapes his handicaps and and makes the citizens happy by having fun with them and teaching

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The real meaning of the ballerina: Harrison Bergeron The ballerinas in the television a mystery in itself. “Harrison Bergeron” written by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr, in 1961. The short story is about a new society far into the future, were people are now equal in every which way. But some people that cannot suppress there mental capability they are punish by the government, and make them feel like the people around them. One man single handily tries to fight against the system, but he meant a terrible end (Vonnegut, Jr.).

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American Heritage Part Dos In American heritage we have read various pieces of literature that connect to the history or culture of America. Kurt Vonnegut wrote a short story that stuck to me a lot more than any other, it's one that to me had big impact because of the truths it tells us about our society and what our lives are shaped around. “Harrison Bergeron” is the name of the story that captured my attention and that made me realize and think of many things wrong with our society. In the story a man and his wife sit at home watching TV and making small talk, it sounds perfectly normal and like any common afternoon in some households.

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The Singaporean government helps in explaining how the harsh laws have begun to become the solution to a global problem not seen in Singapore. The article identifies with us that “Unlike some other societies which may tolerate acts of vandalism, Singapore has its own standards of social order as reflected in our laws. It is because of our tough laws against anti-social crimes that we are able to keep Singapore orderly and relatively crime-free” (Reyes 181). The harsh acts of punishment for lawbreaking which Singapore uses is acknowledged again when the statics are shown to us to show the dropping crime rate. The article presents to us that “Since 1988, government statistics show there has been a steady decline in the crime rate from 223 per 10,000 residents to 175 per 10,000 last year” (Reyes 182).

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