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Literary Analysis Harrison Bergeron

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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. Depicted in this particular narrative, the father of Harrison, George, was restricted of his own intelligence level because his wife, Hazel, would pale in comparison to his extent thought process. Restricting people of their natural born abilities and …show more content…

They treat laws as something that should not be broken. If so, then all of society would crumble under their feet. Nevertheless, Harrison Bergeron thinks otherwise. In this short story, Harrison is presented as a rebel, going against these forced upon handicaps that these people endure on a daily basis. It takes one person to act upon these governmental decrees for the morality of the ultimate controlling factor, which in this case is Diana Moon Glampers, to be completely thrown out of the window. Going up against the Handicapper General, Harrison Bergeron met his untimely death. Regarding these events, it is plain to see that this society is gonna go downhill from there. On the other hand, I think it may just go on as normal due to the fact the mother and father of Harrison did not even realize what just occurred right in front of their eyes. My prediction for this society is that eventually there will be another person like Harrison to act out in the way he did, creating a wave effect of reactions to retaliate against the bigger

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In Harrison Bergeron, everyone is well aware of the fact that their intelligence, physical abilities, and beauty are being regulated by the government. No efforts of discretion are made by the government. Government-issued handicaps such as sashweights, bags of birdshot, and masks are bulky, unsophisticated, and impossible to overlook. Citizens also understand that those who receive mental handicap radios are smarter others, that the radios intentionally halt people’s thought processes, that behind the ugly masks there hide people of great beauty. This signifies that people weighed down by handicaps recognize that should they wish to establish themselves at the top of society’s hierarchy all they had to do was remove their handicaps, like Harrison.

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Alfred Hitchcock’s film Rear Window sort to challenge the ideas of ethical and moral values of the characters throughout the film can change or affected by situations and circumstances in different ways. Some character in the film consolidates this idea, as both and Lis and Stella at the beginning of the movie seems to disagree to moral values of Jeff, as they show a strong disputation of his impulsive behaviour throughout. The obsession of Jeff towards observing his neighbourhood has a great impact in the film. In the film, Jeff’s characterise as a great person and have a good moral values base on his personal principles and the way he acts but the fact that he entering other people life because of his own pleasure reinforce the idea that

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376 Words | 2 Pages

In the story “Harrison Bergeron”, Harrison is a threat to society and the government. In the year 2081, the 211th, 212th, and 213th Amendments to the constitution kept everyone equal. The government handicapped all citizens to keep everyone as equal as possible. Harrison is a threat to this society because of the actions he has had.

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60 Words | 1 Pages

The Major theme of “Harrison Bergeron” is the government is the main power. In the story they are making people have handicaps so that they won 't be as good as they could be. The government knows that people will overtake if they really want to. But the government is stopping them. In the end of the story the government

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312 Words | 2 Pages

Many people in 2081 believe that Harrison’s ability will be more powerful and better than others. He is literally weighed down by so many things from being himself. The Handicapper General placed gadgets to keep him normal like the rest. That caused many people the be afraid of him. Harrison Bergeron is a not a threat to society; he is a hero.

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208 Words | 1 Pages

Single Paragraph Essay “ Harrison Bergeron ” “ Harrison Bergeron ,” written by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. focuses on equality — physically andmentally — strongly controlled by the government in the year 2081; the beautiful are forced tolook ugly, the physically skilled are required to wear weights. With these handicaps makingeveryone so equal, the world became very different, odd, and average. But the government hasno right or reason to push the whole world to be “…equal every which way.” (203) To suppress someone’s natural looks or physical talents is not only wrong to natural human rights, but it is also illegal, and for very good reason: everyone is different.

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1055 Words | 5 Pages

The people that were trying to make the world a better place did the exact opposite of that. The theme of this short story would be that absolute power corrupts all; even the people who were trying to do good. This is a good theme for “Harrison Bergeron” since both the government and Harrison had been corrupted while trying to make the world

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955 Words | 4 Pages

“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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923 Words | 4 Pages

One common afternoon in the year of 2081, when everyone was equal, Hazel and George Bergeron were in their lovely living room watching television. Suddenly, a news reporter with a severe speech impediment came on. After trying many times to say, “Good morning ladies and gentlemen,” he handed it off to a ballerina who read, “Harrison Bergeron, age 14, has just escaped from jail, where he was held on suspicion of plotting to overthrow the government. He is a genius and an athlete, is under-handicapped, and should be regarded as extremely dangerous.” However, in this short story “Harrison Bergeron”, Kurt Vonnegut uses irony, shift and mood, and allusion to illustrated haw society would be if everyone was under the law of equality.

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The character Harrison, in the story “Harrison Bergeron” written by Kurt Vonnegut Jr, has many traits that help aide the theme of the story. Harrison was a strong, good looking, determined young individual with a goal to be different than everyone else. To begin with, Harrison is a good looking 14 year old that is 7ft tall with big goals in life. Harrison is one that was made handicapped by the Handicapper General because he is better than the others.

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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.

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1020 Words | 5 Pages

This short story is mainly about equality for everyone and it’s a Utopian society that becomes a Dystopian society. A Utopian society is, “an imagined community or society that possesses highly desirable or nearly perfect qualities for its citizens”(“Utopia”). On the other hand, a Dystopian society is, “an imaginary society that is as dehumanizing and as unpleasant as possible”(Dystopian). The setting of “Harrison Bergeron”

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885 Words | 4 Pages

Dr. Josef Mengele: Genetic Experimentation During World War II, scientific experimentation on concentration camp inmates was very popular among Nazi doctors to discover ways to prolong and enhance the Aryan race. Of these thirty or so doctors, Dr. Josef Mengele stands out (Tyson "The Experiments"). Dr. Josef Mengele, also known as the Angel of Death, was an infamous German Schutzstaffel, or SS officer, and physician at the Auschwitz concentration camp during World War II. He was notorious for his ruthless ability to determine if prisoners were fit to work and for carrying out harmful and unscientific genetic experimentations on prisoners, usually young twins, nicknamed Mengele’s Children. His experimentations aimed to prove the superiority

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653 Words | 3 Pages

. Falling into the category of dystopian, “Harrison Bergeron” displays many different aspects that call forth this classification. Typically displaying characteristics such as an unnaturally dark setting, an uneasy and often oppressive atmosphere, and usually rebellion, dystopian literature portrays some of the worst possible scenarios for the future, should we continue to follow whatever path the author sees the world on. Within the story, an unsettling atmosphere that is both dark and oppressed is portrayed throughout the exposition. Descriptions of the setting and how equal the people were in that society, especially pertaining to the handicaps help tremendously in creating this form of atmosphere.

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305 Words | 2 Pages

“Harrison Bergeron” is a unique story, in the sense that it takes place in 2081 in a dystopian society where everyone is equal. No one could be smarter, better-looking, or more athletic than anyone else. They are made equal with mental handicap radios for those who are intelligent, hideous masks for those who are beautiful, and heavy weights for those who are strong. The main character of this story, Harrison Bergeron, has a conflict with the American society in 2081. The internal conflict in Harrison’s mind is that the mental and physical handicaps affect the people’s thoughts.

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