Harrison Bergeron Mass Equality Analysis

Payne Vogtman Mrs. Busick English 9 Honors 11 September 2015 1
The Inequalities of Mass Equality Why does everyone want to be equal? Humans in general yearn to be equal to their neighbor; this is a basic instinctual feeling. However, the majority of society never considers the reality of a world in which everyone is completely and entirely equal. Society at the time influenced Kurt Vonnegut to think about the most functional society possible. The characters in his “Harrison Bergeron” are all symbols for people or groups of people that can be identified around the 1960s. In “Harrison Bergeron”, Vonnegut addresses these views through the creation of a world in which all people are equal, but through symbolism and characterization, he shows

Certain people specialize in certain things, giving people as a whole to be as productive as possible. Through the characterization of the ballerinas, Vonnegut questions the logic behind equality. “...she had to apologize at once for her voice, which was a very unfair voice for a woman to use. Her voice was a warm, luminous, timeless melody.”(Vonnegut) Vonnegut describes the beauty of a woman’s voice as unfair. People in his world are so bent on creating equality that they cannot understand this simple fact: certain people will always be better at certain things than others. It is obvious that not everyone in the world could be a ballerina. This is why specialization is important to society. This same idea applies to all sorts of jobs, from construction to particle physics. It is not practical to teach everyone the same thing; this would disable the world’s ability to advance

After reading this story, if is evident that the detriments of an entirely equal society far outweigh the benefits. Through McCarthy and political events at the time, Kurt Vonnegut was inspired to teach people how terrible this world could be. He describes how dysfunctional a world without specialization would be through the characterization of the ballerinas. Finally, he weaves symbolic characters into the story to show the reader how the story can easily become reality. Vonnegut is encouraging the acceptance of our common differences, because they allow our world to remain productive and moral. Vonnegut is teaching a lesson in this story that is not to be