A common comparison made everyday is between books and movies. Many movies based on books leave out important details and scenarios disappointing the audience. In the futuristic short story, "Harrison Bergeron," by Kurt Vonnegut Jr., everyone is equal or average, what many people might consider a utopia. 2081 is a movie based on "Harrison Bergeron," and like any other book based movie, it excludes many details and alters many scenes changing the storyline.
Comparing and contrasting 2081 to Harrison Bergeron Admit it, one time you were bored or sat down with nothing to do and couldn’t help but imagine how life would be if everyone was equal, don’t even try denying it, you’ve thought of that at least once in your life, but as any good writer would do, they’d write their thoughts down and turn it into a story, that’s exactly what Kurt Vonnegut did. Just imagine living a life where no one gets compared to others in any way. We all wish for a society like that, but Kurt showed us how equality can negatively affect our society. But that’s not the our main idea in this essay, our main idea is to highlight the comparisons and contrasts between the story “Harrison Bergeron” and the movie version “2081”. To begin with, Both the story and the movie had the same introduction/ Opening; “Everybody was finally equal.
Equality means everyone has equalrights, not that nobody is better than anyone else
“Repent Harlequin Said the Tictockman” by Harlan Ellison wrote in 1965 is about a time keeping government trying to achieve complete efficiency. The 1961 science fiction short story “Harrison Bergeron,” by Kurt Vonnegut Jr., is about complete equality, disabling humanity from success. By examining elements of character analysis, tone, plot, setting, and diction, readers can see that these two dystopian stories can be compared and contrasted. “Repent Harlequin…” and “Harrison Bergeron” take place in alternate futures where the government has either taken control of everyone’s schedules or removed things that would make them unequal. Both stories are led by an antagonist and by someone who rebelled against them, but eventually, the rebellion fails and as far as we know the oppression goes on.
Equality is not just fair treatment. In America, it also means that all American citizens get the the same rights, that should be protected by the government, promised by the founding fathers. Definitely the most controversial one was voting. Voting helped make the country a Democracy, allowing the most common of people to be represented in the national government. However, women did not get this basic right for years after 1776.
Have you ever wondered what it is like to live in a world where everyone is equal, no one is prettier, nobody is smarter, and you had to wear devices to make you forget certain things. Well, Harrison Bergeron is and this is the story about how Harrison Bergeron is a threat. Overall, do to well proven facts from both the movie and the short story, it is clear that Harrison Bergeron is both a danger and a threat to society. So in this essay, you are going to be seeing multiple facts from the story, proving that Harrison Bergeron is a threat to society. One of the reasons that Harrison Bergeron is a danger to society is because he tells everyone that he is going to overthrow the government.
Is Harrison Bergeron a threat or a hero in the society? Harrison Bergeron isn't a threat to society because he wanted everyone to have fair and equal rights. Harrison is a young and confident man with many abilities and is in prison. When Harrison escaped from jail, he wasn't a threat because when everyone was afraid he did nothing harmful and was clearly aware that everyone was going to be scared. Almost all the people were handicap and had to where some kind of electronic device on their chest.
In Harrison Bergeron, the year is 2081 and everyone is ‘equal’ on literally all levels which is due to the over exaggerated amount of amendments that have been added over time. For example,“They were equal every which way. Nobody was smarter than anybody else. Nobody was better looking than anybody else. Nobody was stronger or quicker than anybody else.”
Harrison, the main character from “Harrison Bergeron” written by Kurt Vonnegut, is a fourteen year old boy who must live everyday of his life with constraints that restrict him from freedom and independence. In this short story, citizens of the dystopian society live during a time where equality restricts every aspect of human life. However, Harrison is aware of the flaws and strives to change the society’s view on life. The second character Rainsford from the story “The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell is a skillful hunter who finds himself on an remote island where he is forced to play a game which determines life or death. Rainsford is able to be rational and use his intelligence to ultimately win the game and survive.
“Harrison Bergeron” Discussion Questions: Question Two: What is the significance of the dance that Harrison performs with the ballerina? How does the style in which the story is written change in this passage? The significance of the dance that Harrison performs with the ballerina is to represent the way the world would be like if they were allowed to express themselves and show the world their beauty, intelligence, and any other physical attributes. According to page 4, it says “Harrison and his Empress merely listened to the music for a while-listened gravely, as though synchronizing their heartbeats with it…
Aristotle once said, “The worst form of inequality, is trying to make unequal things equal.” A major example of this concept of inequality displays itself through humans. Although people may seem similar and equal, each personality and talent differs from one another. Now one might wonder what it would be like if every single person were truly equal. This theme is developed in the short story “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut, and also in the film 2081 directed by Chandler Tuttle.
“Every step toward the goal of justice requires sacrifice. suffering, and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals” (Martin Luther King, Jr.). Based on the Constitution, equality has the possibility of being achieved because amendments can be placed in order to get closer to it. Also the Constitution has shown no discrimination to a certain group of people, and instead has tried to push the idea of equality to the next level. Although people, in the past, have been through many harsh events, the Constitution has always made a way to repair its mistakes.
Our society should work towards equal rights in the following ways. Women and men should have gender equality. Racism should be abandoned. All classes of society should be treated like a human being. Our society would never reach true freedom until we are all equal.
My Values of Equality Milton Friedman, an American economist, in his article “Created Equal”, points out his concept about “Created Equal”. Friedman discusses the different ways that humans are considered to be equal, and then he declares three specific categories for human equality: equality before God, equality of opportunity and equality of outcome. Friedman argues that the first equality is the Founders’ use, the second equality is compatible with liberty, and the third equality is socialism. Equality is such a beautiful word that everyone should appreciate, and Friedman claims his points about its concept from his own comprehension. I really respect Friedman’s points about equality; however, there is something critical about equality which
Kurt Vonnegut uses characterization to describe how the characters act in this society. Vonnegut also uses style to show how he uses science fiction and dystopia in “Harrison Bergeron”. The theme demonstrated in “Harrison Bergeron” is equality is not meant to make one person better than another. Kurt Vonnegut in “Harrison Bergeron”, demonstrates that equality based on characteristics is not a good thing for society. Harrison Bergeron is a short story based on the year 2081, where everybody is equal.
