Similarities Between 1984 And Harrison Bergeron

Imagine in a world of “perfection”, very structural, everything stuck in the right, and perfected place, destined to the certainty of life, to be ruled by somewhat a dictator, yet as lost as the average man of the world, welcome to dystopia. Totalitarianism, a type of government with maximum power, a system found in George Orwell's book 1984, and Kurt Vonnegut Jr.’s short story, “Harrison Bergeron” establish a more complex way in persuading their people in undergoing a sort of “trance” within a dystopian society, a place made “equal”. How? Dystopian societies use the entire rhetorical triangle to maintain control of all people. Demonstrated in 1984 with O’Brien’s intelligence (Logos), character, (Ethos “friendship”) and outcomes (Pathos “threats”)

In 1984, O’Brien uses “logic” to create this sense of totalitarianism being “right” within the dystopian society. Orwell writes, “‘I wrote it. That is to say, I collaborated in writing it. No book is produced individually, as you know” (Orwell 261). In this section of the book, O’Brien tells Winston that he was a co-writer of the book by Emmanuel Goldstein about why Oceana, a place taken part in London, is under extreme control of the government and needs to be stopped. O’Brien, a character who works for the Party and is convincing Winston what he needs to believe, that the government is fine. This is not only seen in 1984, as also found in “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. “Harrison Bergeron” is a character who was taken away for being “too smart”, is put away for not being equal. Vonnegut states, “...and to the unceasing vigilance of agents of the United States Handicapper General”, and “...the H-G men took George and Hazel Bergeron's fourteen-year-old son, Harrison, away” (Vonnegut). Harrison had an “unfair” advantage of being too smart according to the United States Handicapper General, Diana Moon Glampers. In both text, the characters find this loss of logic, and start believing what the government says, being unfair. Logos is just the beginning of the rhetorical triangle used in 1984 to convince Winston, but a

O’Brien uses fear, scaring Winston into loving his government, Big Brother, and pushes him to break. In Orwell’s book, he states, “‘Room 101’ he said”... “‘Comrade! Officer!’ he cried. ‘You don’t have to take me to that place!’” (Orwell 236). Room 101 is a place not one person would like to be taken to. In fact, when Winston arrives, he is given a great amount of torture by O’Brien, breaking him down to the very last bits of his own mentality and concious. “Harrison Bergeron” is also another place to find pathos in use. With Diana Moon Glampers, General Handicapper, finding herself searching for Harrison after a prison break, the unexpected happens. Author Vonnegut states, “It was then that Diana Moon Glampers, the Handicapper General, came into the studio with a double-barreled ten-gauge shotgun. She fired twice, and the Emperor and the Empress were dead before they hit the floor”. When Harrison had entered the room full of ballerinas, he claimed, “Emperor” and wanted to start a rebellion, but with Diana ending it all, it created fear of the people around him, and his parents. In both stories, it created a prescense of fear by pathos use. Pathos is a big use of it and created the biggest convincing use to make Winston love Big