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Summary Of Harrison Bergeron By Kurt Vonnegut

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Do you think that the society of America should be equal? In the short story of Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. “Harrison Bergeron” he talks about how this government is putting restraints on people to make society equal. It is wrong for a government to hold society back from reaching its full potential. Throughout the story, it states different ways that the government has added restraints on the society to make it equal. The government added many different restrictions to make everyone equal. The first restriction was “a little mental handicap radio in their ear”. The government did this because they were scared of the society's intelligence. “Every twenty seconds or so, the transmitter would send out sharp noise to keep people like George from taking …show more content…

Throughout the story, it states different ways that the government has added restraints on the society to make it equal. The government added many different restrictions to make everyone equal. The first restriction was “a little mental handicap radio in their ear”. The government did this because they were scared of the society's intelligence. “Every twenty seconds or so, the transmitter would send out sharp noise to keep people like George from taking unfair advantage of their brains. This is not helping society because it limits their brain use. All it takes is one person to think of an amazing idea to help the government thrive, but they can’t do that with restraints and restrictions. Another major issue for the government was their beauty. The government didn’t want society to feel some type of way because of somebody's looks and appearance “She must have been extraordinarily beautiful because the mask she wore was hideous.” Beauty is something that should be valued and treasured, not hidden away from the public eye. Do you think that the society of America should be …show more content…

“Every twenty seconds or so, the transmitter would send out sharp noise to keep people like George from taking unfair advantage of their brains. This is not helping society because it limits their brain use. All it takes is one person to think of an amazing idea to help the government thrive, but they can’t do that with restraints and restrictions. Another major issue for the government was their beauty. The government didn’t want society to feel some type of way because of somebody's looks and appearance “She must have been extraordinarily beautiful because the mask she wore was hideous.” Beauty is something that should be valued and treasured, not hidden away from the public eye. Do you think that the society of America should be equal? In the short story of Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. “Harrison Bergeron” he talks about how this government is putting restraints on people to make society equal. It is wrong for a government to hold society back from reaching its full potential. Throughout the story, it states different ways that the government has added restraints on the society to make it equal. The government added many different restrictions to make everyone

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in Harrison Bergeron they solve the problem of inequality by giving people handicaps. These would restrict people who were prettier, smarter, or stronger than average. They censored their knowledge and their thoughts specifically with a brain handicap that was "tuned to a government transmitter. Every twenty seconds or so, the transmitter would send out some sharp noise to keep [smart] people…from taking unfair advantage of their brains." (Vonnegut 1)

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He was required by law to wear at all times….. Every twenty seconds or so, the transmitter would send out some sharp noise to keep people like George from taking unfair advantage of their brains.”. Additionally these are obviously not the only two examples, throughout the short story, of government oppression of intellect, but they are two very prominent

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In Harrison Bergeron, a quote that represents this is,“And George, while his intelligence was way above normal, had a little mental handicap radio in his ear. He was required to wear it at all times. ”This quote shows an example of people’s natural intelligence being suppressed for equality is not something that should be happening outside of a dystopian society. It takes away people’s personal freedoms to the point where they cannot think clearly.

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It then continues on to introduce the idea of all the townspeople all being average, in other words, no one being smarter than the next person. This idea now raises that question of why the government is so set upon making everyone the same. In the book, the reason for the handicaps or headbands is introduced. As it is laid out in the story, the headbands were put forth for the soul purpose that “...everybody was finally equal” (Vonnegut 1387). This means that everyone was the same.

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I thought this meant that everyone WAS equal. It turns out that only two lines down, you would find that it said that a hierarchy was formed called the Handicapper General Government.. In the story, It said that the government handicapped people which meant that they put mini earbuds that stopped the person wearing it of producing deep thoughts. In the story, the ballerinas (the dancers on tv) had to wear bird shots as well and little handicaps. This does NOT sound equal to me.

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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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Humans are created by God to be different from each other, and that is what makes everyone unique from one another. A really important message from the short story “Harrison Bergeron” is how controlling the government is, and how they are limiting people and their freedoms. In the year 2018, everyone was equal. “They were equal in every way” (133). “Nobody was smarter than anybody else.

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Equality is a great idea that we should strive for and achieve; however, being made equal physically and mentally by the government could be very unfair. People should still have characteristics that make us different. One can be diverse but still equal to his neighbor. Kurt Vonnegut Jr.’s use of point of view, conflict, and imagery in his short story “Harrison Bergeron,” illustrates how difficult living in a world where everyone is the same would be.

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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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This shows us that They don 't want anyone to be the same because they think it will make more problems. Another section from the story is “why don’t you stretch out on the sofa, so’s you can rest your handicap bag on pillows, honeybunch. She was referring to the forty-seven pounds of birdshot in a canvas bag, which was padlocked around george’s neck. Go on and rest the bag for a little

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In the short story, “Harrison Bergeron” Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. relies on the use of irony to indicate where our country will stand once we have gained total equality amongst each other. The theme in “Harrison Bergeron” is that the government cannot enforce equality within the people. The author creates a fictional visualization of the future in the year 2081, where the government controls the people and tortures them in order to maintain “equal opportunity” in their world to prove why it is impossible to achieve absolute equality in the world. Vonnegut dives into a whole other level of uniformity in Harrison Bergeron by focusing on eliminating advantages in appearance, intelligence, strength, and other unique abilities rather than focusing on

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George, Hazel’s husband, has been handicapped with two things: an earphone that administers a sound every 20 seconds and a handicap bag filled with forty-seven pounds of birdshot. While this might be a lot, George continues to follow the law. “Two years in prison and a two thousand dollar fine for every ball I take out… I don’t call that a bargain” (40). Hazel fails at convincing her husband to rest his handicaps because George fears the government and their capabilities. This being said, Vonnegut uses characterization to display George’s loss of the will to fight.

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In this short story, everything has to do with equality. No one can be more intelligent, stronger, or more attractive. Handicaps are making people unequal. People in this short story isn’t equal because the most intelligent people have to suffer because of the handicaps. “Every twenty minutes or so, the transmitter would send out some sharp noise to keep people like George from taking unfair advantages of their brain” (page 2).

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In Kurt Vonnegut’s short story, “Harrison Bergeron”, he explores this equality idea in a in 2081 setting where every man, woman, and child are on the same level of intelligence. Although in Kurt Vonnegut’s story the government is appearing to want equality, in all reality they really just want power and control. To begin the Harrison Bergeron story, George and Hazel Bergeron’s son Harrison is taken away to be put in prison. Following this, they live in a society where “nobody was smarter than anybody else”(Vonnegut 1387), everyone is forced to wear head capps and follow the governments every rule.

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