Sam Summers Mattera 3 10/22/17 Throughout their lives, many people feel that being the same as everyone else is pointless. Athletes train and practice most of their lives to be better than the competition. They want to win championships, and trophies, so they don’t want to be the same as other athletes. In school, students compete and study so they can beat out other students to get into prestigious colleges, or receive academic awards and scholarships. In the workforce, adults often times put in more hours, or take on more work to get promoted. The needlessness of being replicas of everyone else is not just evident in real life; it is also a topic explored in fiction, such as Kurt Vonnegut’s short story “Harrison Bergeron”. In this story, everyone is forced to be equal through handicaps. The author stated that the complete social conformity of citizens through …show more content…
They either weigh people down, physically or mentally. The story opens with the line, “The year was 2081, and everyone was finally equal.” (Vonnegut 1). In order for everyone to be equal, the United States Handicapper General and her agents put “handicaps” on the people to make them weaker. Harrison's mother, Hazel, is described as having "perfectly average intelligence, and while George’s intelligence was way above normal" (Vonnegut 1). In order to stabilize their intelligence to the same level, Harrison's father has to wear "a little mental handicap radio in his ear" (Vonnegut 1). In order to create intellectual equality, smart people wear headphones, which blast loud sounds frequently to distract them from having intelligent thoughts. In this story, in order for everyone to be equal, the ones who exceed the mark must be brought down to lower standards. This causes, a loss of the exceptional talent and beauty. Diana Moon Glampers represents the fairness of society, Harrison Bergeron symbolizes the individuality in the