...8/3/12 Harrison Bergeron HARRISON BERGERON by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. THE YEAR WAS 2081, and everybody was finally equal. They weren't only equal before God and the law. They were equal every which way. Nobody was smarter than anybody else. Nobody was better looking than anybody else. Nobody was stronger or quicker than anybody else. All this equality was due to the 211th, 212th, and 213th Amendments to the Constitution, and to the unceasing vigilance of agents of the United States Handicapper General. Some things about living still weren't quite right, though. April for instance, still drove people crazy by not being springtime. And it was in that clammy month that the H-G men took George and Hazel Bergeron's fourteen-year-old son, Harrison, away. It was tragic, all right, but George and Hazel couldn't think about it very hard. Hazel had a perfectly average intelligence, which meant she couldn't think about anything except in short bursts. And George, while his intelligence was way above normal, had a little mental handicap radio in his ear. He was required by law to wear it at all times. It was tuned to a government transmitter. 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. George and Hazel were watching television. There were tears on Hazel's cheeks, but she'd forgotten for the moment what they were about. On the television screen were ballerinas. A...
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...Kurt Vonnegut is an Indianapolis-born author. Vonnegut began his literary career with science fiction short stories and novels. One of the most famous his work is “Harrison Bergeron” It is a fantasy with elements of science fiction. Vonnegut shows us America in 2081 where all people are mentally, physically, and socially equal. He focuses on everyone is equal in beauty, strength, religion, and sex. In the exposition everything surprise us – 2081 year, everybody is equal and rather unusual family - George and Hazel Bergeron, two people whose son, Harrison, has been arrested by the government. They are watching ballet and don’t mind about it. Things start getting interesting and the rising action starts when Hazel starts think about the changes in the world. Then suddenly ballet was interrupted for a new bulletin. The ballerina says that Harrison Bergeron, 14 years old boy (who is Georg and Hazel’s son) escaped from the prison. The highest point of action is when Harrison appeared in his few moments of freedom; he takes a ballerina as his Empress, frees her from her mask, and defies gravity by flying into the air and kissing the ceiling of the auditorium. But after it he was dead by the Handicapper General. We understand the resolution of the story when everything's back to normal. We see that for George and Hazel, nothing actually happened. The story is written for mass-readers. Here is showed the conflict man vs man. For this excellent short story, the key theme...
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...Unequally Equal “Harrison Bergeron” is a relatively straight forward short story in the use of language, but when a person considers the deep threads of meaning author Kurt Vonnegut Jr. masterfully implies, deep philosophical thinking probes. Using the techniques, of symbolism, irony, and contrast, “Harrison Bergeron” warns American citizens that their longed for and valued ideal of equality may hurt its citizens rather than benefit them when taken to the extreme. The four main characters in “Harrison Bergen,” George, Hazel, their son Harrison, and the Handicap general Diana Moon Glampers, in their own ways, each represent different aspects and social classes of U.S. Culture. George Bergen is an elite, smart thinker who symbolizes the philosophers,...
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...short story by Kurt Vonnegut, Harrison Bergeron, displays three main figures that characterize known traits in today’s society. The Handicapper General for that area has mandated that above-average people must be forced to cripple themselves in some manner so that all people have an equal chance in their day-to-day activities. Hazel Bergeron is depicted as a simple and average woman. She makes several statements to her husband George that prove that she is a kind and loving woman. At the same time, she goes along with what she is told by those in authority. She seems to be in favor of everything that the Handicapper General is pushing the public to do and all that she has accomplished. This character accepts her mediocrity and does nothing to strive to better herself. Given the handicap equipment that he wears, George Bergeron seems to be of above-average intelligence and strength. He wears a headpiece that broadcasts a loud noise periodically that interrupts his train of thought. He also has been forced to wear extra weights around his neck since he is a relatively strong person. He doesn’t want to go against the rules set out by the government in fear of being sent to jail, just as was done to his son. Even though he is capable of so much, he chooses to refrain from anything that will set him apart. Hazel and George’s son, Harrison is also an above-average character, if not truly brilliant. But in contrast to his father, Harrison never settles to be average...
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...“Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut THE YEAR WAS 2081, and everybody was finally equal. They weren’t only equal before God and the law. They were equal every which way. Nobody was smarter than anybody else. Nobody was better looking than anybody else. Nobody was stronger or quicker than anybody else. All this equality was due to the 211th, 212th, and 213th Amendments to the Constitution, and to the unceasing vigilance of agents of the United States Handicapper General. Some things about living still weren’t quite right, though. April, for instance, still drove people crazy by not being springtime. And it was in that clammy month that the H-G men took George and Hazel Bergeron’s fourteen-year-old son, Harrison, away. It was tragic, all right, but George and Hazel couldn’t think about it very hard. Hazel had a perfectly average intelligence, which meant she couldn’t think about anything except in short bursts. And George, while his intelligence was way above normal, had a little mental handicap radio in his ear. He was required by law to wear it at all times. It was tuned to a government transmitter. 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. George and Hazel were watching television. There were tears on Hazel’s cheeks, but she’d forgotten for the moment what they were about. On the television screen were ballerinas. A buzzer sounded in George’s head...
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...Harrison Bergeron Fairness and equality is what mankind strives for in a society, and it is what mankind is going to strive over the course of an eternity. For the longest time we’ve searched for a Utopian society, and in the short story “Harrison Bergeron” written by Kurt Vonnegut in 1961, mankind needs to look no further. Total equality, everyone is equal in Harrison Bergeron, which creates a utopian society in theory. But does total equality create a utopian society? The setting of the story shows the dull and dystopian society George and Hazel are living in. “The year was 2081, and everybody was finally equal. They weren’t only equal before God and the law. They were equal every which way…” The quote indicates the setting, a setting where equality has been forced and isn’t naturally caused equality. The dystopian society is also perfectly depicted in the following quote: “And George, while his intelligence was way above normal, had a little mental handicap radio in his ear.” The quote shows that the society puts limitations on individuals to create equality, which is not utopian at all. The story takes place in George and Hazel’s living room, which isn’t described in anyway, which is weird if you think about the time the story takes place. In many other Sci-fi stories the environment and locations are wildly described, but not in Harrison Bergeron. The reason for this could be the fact that, George and Hazel’s living room could be anyone’s living room. It could be my living...
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...Harrison Bergeron, a story written by Kurt Vonnegut Jr., is set in year 2081 when multiples constitutional amendments have been made to ensure that every single U.S. citizen is entirely equal under the law: nobody is more attractive, more intelligent, or stronger in physical capabilities than anybody else. The theme made clear in this satire is that total equality is not an ideal worth striving for, but a mistaken goal that is dangerous in both execution and outcome. The U.S. government in this story moves to ensure that no one citizen is in any way superior to another. One aspect of this is in physical aspects: nobody is allowed to be exceptionally attractive, nor are they allowed to be stronger or quicker. Masks are worn over excessively good-looking faces, and bags stuffed with lead balls are worn around the necks of the exceptionally strong so as to slow them down and weaken them. When a news bulletin comes on the television and a ballerina is made to deliver the news, Vonnegut tells us that this ballerina had to have been the best out of all the dancers because “her handicap bags were as big as those worn by two-hundred-pound men” (233). Ballerinas have always been generally petite women in such that they are skinny and perhaps not as tall as other girls or women. Two-hundred-pound men would crush a ballerina with their strength. In the futuristic society Vonnegut has brought us to, it is necessary to give the same amount of physical handicap to a two-hundred-pound man...
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...In the short story “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut, George Bergeron and his wife, Hazel Bergeron, live in a society in 2081 that, thanks to new amendments and the Handicapper General, is, completely and altogether, equal in every single way. Every citizen was made sure to have the same level of beauty, strength, speed, and mental capability through the use of handicaps, such as a mental handicap that emits a loud noise every twenty seconds or a canvas bag padlocked around a person’s neck carrying varying weights of birdshot. George wore strength and mental handicaps, but Hazel had none. However, their son, Harrison Bergeron, handicapped to the maximum, wearing the bags of birdshot as well as a large assortment of scrap metal and headphones...
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...The story “Harrison Bergeron” is about a boy that has supreme talent and is jailed and taken away from his parents. One day Hazel and George Bergeron sit and watch tv. They are watching a performance of ballerinas. The ballerinas littered with handicaps to hide their talent and beauty. All of a sudden the tv program is interrupted by a new bulletin. The news bulletin proclaims that Harrison Bergeron has escaped out of prison and should be considered extremely dangerous. Right then Harrison busts in the studio and appears on stage. He declares to everyone “ I am the emperor, and i will be the greatest of all time” . He then asks for someone to some forward and be his empress. A beautiful ballerina steps forward and takes off her handicaps to join him. They fly up into the air sharing a kiss. Suddenly Diana Moon Glampers rushes into the room with a...
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...Is equality really possible to achieve? “… All men are created equal that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights,” or so this statement from the Declaration of independence claims to be true. This although, is not correct because it was written to benefit wealthy white men and no one else. This is shown in the short story “Harrison Bergeron.” The author Kurt Vonnegut in a way illustrates how a so-called utopian society is actually dystopic while trying to reach equality for all. With the great use of the Bergeron characters, Vonnegut implies that equality is impossible to achieve if you don’t fight for it. The character of George Bergeron symbolizes all the people who are upset because they have to wear handicaps,...
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...T. J. Rankl Mr. Beach ELA Block 3 20 December 2016 Trouble in Paradise: Vonnegut’s Use of Satire in “Harrison Bergeron” What would happen to the world if the people were literally equal in every aspect of their lives? "Harrison Bergeron," composed by Kurt Vonnegut, concentrates on equity physically and mentally unequivocally controlled by the administration in the year 2081; the wonderful are constrained to look monstrous, the physically gifted are required to wear weights. With these impediments making everyone so equivalent, the world turned out to be altogether different, odd, and normal. Be that as it may, the legislature has no right or motivation to push the entire world to be "… rise to each which way." To smother somebody's normal...
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...story “Harrison Bergeron” everyone is “equal”. They weren’t only equal before god and the law. They were equal every which way. All this equality was due to the 221th, 212th, and 213th Amendments of the Constitution, and to the vigilance of the United States Handicapper General. In the month of April the H-G men took George and Hazel Bergeron’s fourteen year-old son, Harrison away. George and Hazel couldn’t fight or disagree with the H-G men taking their son away because, they had short thoughts. Georges short of thought where due to a handicap in his ear that went off every few seconds. The H-G men and government made Harrison wear major handicaps. Harrison wore a tremendous pair of headphones, and spectacles with thick wavy lenses. Harrison’s spectacles were to make him not only half-blind but to give major headaches. Scrap metal was hung all over him. He looked like a walking junkyard. Harrison carried three hundred pounds. To offset his looks the H-G men required that he...
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...Harrison Bergeron, a short story by Kurt Vonnegut, is for reading deeply. He doesn’t put anything in on accident. Today I would like to talk about his symbolism in this piece. The handicaps, in the story, are given to people, these devices are used in order to cripple one's specialties, who are smart, fast, strong, or even pretty. The symbolism in the piece of literature’s purpose is to show a struggle. The handicaps in the short story are used to convey this, this is relevant since throughout the story mental handicaps get worse and worse, every one of the ballerinas have hideous bags over their face, this just shows that in the real world if we truly strive for everyone to be absolutely equal would come with a great deal of a struggle will...
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...In the short story Harrison Bergeron, Vonnegut uses characterization and word choice to prove a truly equal society can destroy the growth of the United States. He uses the effects of technology and television to add to the drawbacks of an equal society. The author also shows how close our modern society is to replicating the society of Harrison Bergeron through our mindset and lifestyle as a whole. Vonnegut uses words with negative connotation to describe the above average people. The author states “And George while his intelligence was way above average had a little mental handicap radio in his ear” (Source A). Vonnegut begins by introducing George as if his intelligence is great but useless. The author suggests that George’s intelligence is unimportant by implying that his mental handicap “out did” his intelligence. Instead of saying he was very intelligent, the author correlates it to the word ‘average” and adds the words “little” to...
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...“At the Twilight's last gleaming…For the land of the free,” these are lyrics, written by Francis Scott Key when he was overcome by the feeling of freedom. Though in society now, that is just the opposite. Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. show exactly that, with putting handicaps on everyone to try to make everyone equal. Harrison Bergeron, and fourteen year old, breaks out of jail to show everyone who he really is on live television. A possible theme for Harrison Bergeron is, everyone is beautiful in their own ways, and should be allowed to express them, however, another possible theme may be, life is not fair, deal with it. Harrison Bergeron’s society is broken. The government makes everyone think and act as though everyone is equal....
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