Similarities Between 1984 And Harrison Bergeron

In 1984 and “Harrison Bergeron”,complete faith in the government allows the government to implement practices from which the governors benefit, and not the ones governed. In the book 1984 by George Orwell, the people are governed by one ruling party, which controls all aspects of life and supported by almost all its citizens. The main character of the book is named Winston Smith and throughout the book, he begins to question the party and their doings. In the beginning Winston starts perform small revolts of his own, but as the plot progresses, his revolts become bigger and bigger. His biggest revolt was forming a sexual relationship with a woman, something that is strictly forbidden by the Party. In the end, Winston and Julia are caught by

Equality is known as a good thing, but in “Harrison Bergeron”, it is taken to an extreme in which people who are more skilled mentally or physically must wear handicaps. The

In 1984, the government could implement policies such as doublethink, due to the nearsightedness of its citizens, which is caused by their complete faith in the Party and Big Brother. One of the most nearsighted people in this book is Mr.Parsons, who is a worker at the Ministry of Truth. When meeting Winston in jail, Mr. Parsons told Winston that he does not “bear any grudge” on his daughter for turning him in, and were put into a jail for repeating the words “Down with Big Brother” (Orwell 233). This shows that many people under the rule of the Party were extremely narrow minded, as some like Mr.Parsons were happy that his daughter turned in her own

People’s strive for improvement was silenced by their own trust in what the government imposed on them. The government has implemented new amendments to the Constitution, in which “nobody was smarter than anybody else” and “nobody was stronger or quicker than anybody”( Vonnegut Lines 2-4). Which such amendments implemented by the government, nobody could be better than anybody else, which in turn does not allow for people to improve. A prime example of this would be the ballerinas that George and Hazel were watching on T.V.. George remarks that these ballerinas would be “no better than anybody else” (Vonnegut Lines ). As all the ballerinas are at the same skill level, it means that no ballerina would want to improve, as improvement would have meant for them to wear more handicaps. When George and Hazel were watching television, George said that it if people would stop wearing handicaps, they would be “back to the dark ages again, with everybody competing against everyone else”(Vonnegut Lines 71-72). Even though George has to wear many handicaps, he, like many others, liked the idea of handicaps as it kept his society from re entering the “dark ages”. This is due to his faith in the government, as without such faith, George would not believe such ideas, and he wouldn’t like to wear the