Satire In Kurt Vonnegut's Harrison Bergeron

It is common for a writer to implement aspects of their culture and society into their works. Authors may make these aspects simply an homage to their time, or rather center their work around the present time and use it to convey a message. Kurt Vonnegut was known for masterfully doing the latter. He was able to implement important events and other elements of his time into his works, forcing his readers to really take a look around and think critically. The context in which Kurt Vonnegut wrote his works infiltrated his writing in his novel Player Piano and short story “Harrison Bergeron”, developing a satire of American society and its potential descent towards communism. Vonnegut's greatest use of satire came from his short story

This is effective in his work as he exploited the widespread, American fear of communism present since the end of the Second World War in 1945. Americans had been on edge about the threat of communism in their county for decades. This period of widespread fear of communism by Americans was known as the “Red Scare.” As previously stated, a major aspect of communism is the equal distribution of wealth and success. Similar to the aspects of “Harrison Bergeron” in which everyone has the same opportunities for success and nobody has any advantages over another. Another aspect of communism that was shared between reality and “Harrison Bergeron” was the methodology of law enforcement. In the short story, Harrison breaks the law by removing his handicaps and thus becoming superior to everyone else. In turn, “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” (“Harrison” 7). The response to Harrison’s actions was harsh, one sided, and tyrannical, similar characteristics in which laws were enforced by communist societies such as the soviet union utilizing secret police to “enforce” laws ("Harrison Bergeron" Short 170). By creating a communist like society in the United

Vonnegut used the up-and-coming idea of the automation of jobs as a satire of communism and the effects it has on humanity. Vonnegut’s novel, Player Piano was set in the United States sometime in the future. However, in the novel machines had replaced nearly all of the human labor in the country. All jobs, from manufacturing to governing had been replaced by machines and computers. Playing off of the popular topic at the time of the novel’s writing, automation. After World War II there was a great increase in the capabilities of machines and people were putting that to good use. They were making machines that would perform tedious tasks that humans had been forced to do. However, there were dangers to this automation as it was putting people out of work due to it being more time, and cost efficient to have the machine do the job instead of a person. Throughout the novel, Vonnegut emphasizes the effects that the automation of jobs has had on the people. His greatest concern being the price that the human race will pay with increasing amounts of mechanization (Gregg). The price that the humans paid was evident in Player Piano when the narrator describes that,

He could handle his assignments all right, but he didn't have what his father had, what Kroner had, what Shepherd had, what so many had: the sense of spiritual importance in what they were doing; the ability to be moved emotionally,