The word utopia "comes from the Greek: οὐ ("not") and topos ("place") and means "no-place", and...in standard usage, the word's meaning has narrowed and now usually describes a non-existent society that is intended to be viewed as considerably better than contemporary society." Dystopia, on the other hand, is the direct opposite of utopia, and is used to describe a utopian society after things have gone diminished. The future based short story, “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut is based on a 'utopian society' where the world is living up to the idea of America’s fourteenth amendment in which everyone is created equal. The gifted, strong, intelligent, and beautiful are forced to wear handicaps of either earphones, heavy weights, or hideous …show more content…
In order to achieve equality, the government truly believed the best way would be by making people equal in all ways. "Nobody was smarter than anyone else. Nobody was better looking than anyone else. Nobody was stronger or quicker than anybody else"(pg. 1, p. 1). While equality is very wanted, being forced isn't. The government believed that by forcing people to wear 'handicaps' they would be able to make everyone feel equal and nobody would have to feel less than others. A controlling government can cause people to lose their natural rights and their independence. Which will then lead a utopian society to turn into a dystopia. If one is over average in any way they must wear a handicap, this is the government's way to 'create equality'. The handicaps differ on what the person is gifted with, whether physical or mental. When one's intelligence is above average he/she must wear, "...a little mental handicap radio in his ear....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"(pg. 1, p. 3). If too graceful, "...sash weights and bags of birdshot..." Too beautiful, "...their faces were masked, so that no one, seeing a graceful gesture or a pretty face, would feel like something the cat drug in." Being forced …show more content…
Harrison's father, George, must wear a radio that keeps him from thinking freely and necks around his neck to counteract his physical strength. Hazel, Harrison's mother, on the other hand, doesn't have any handicaps due to the fact that her intelligence is average and isn't above average in anything else. When Hazel tells George that he should remove some of the led balls from his handicap earphones George replies, "If I tried to get away with it...then other people's get away with it, and pretty soon we'd be right back to the dark ages again, with everybody competing against everybody else"(pg. 2, p. 12). George simply states that he refuses to do it and is unwilling to risk getting caught. He believes that if he rebels against the government, other people will try to do the same. This will then lead to inequality and competition. When in his opinion, America in 2081 is far better than it was in the old days before competition and inequality were eliminated. Another moment in which one can see that the government has made the citizens fearful is when Harrison entered the news station in order to expose the truth. After broadcasting a report about warning the citizens about Harrison's escape from prison, Harrison barged in. Due to the way that he had been described, as extremely dangerous, everyone feared him. Once he entered, "Ballerinas, technicians, musicians,