...the book Welcome to the Monkey House: A Collection of Short Works by Kurt Vonnegut. Welcome to the Monkey House: A Collection of Short Works consists of 25 short stories most of which had previously appeared in magazines such as The Atlantic Monthly, Ladies Home Journal, Fantasy and Science Fiction Magazine, Collier’s Magazine, Saturday Evening Post, The New York Times, Esquire, Venture, and Cosmopolitan. The title story appeared in Playboy magazine the same year the collection was released. Eleven of the stories were reprinted from Vonnegut’s 1961 short story collection Canary in a Cat House (Vonnegut). This paper will focus on four futuristic science fiction stories from the collection. These stories, “Welcome to the Monkey House”, “Harrison Bergeron”, “Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow”, and “Unready to Wear” all share a dystopian science fiction theme. Science and technology are supposed to make the world a better place, but instead, Vonnegut concludes they only create a new set of problems (Farrell, “Science and Technology in the Works of Kurt Vonnegut”). Television is often a target of satire in much of his fiction from the 1950’s. He describes it as desensitizing and numbing while deceiving the masses (Werlock). Vonnegut uses satire and pessimism throughout these dystopian stories. Satire is a special form of literature that seeks to uncover ridiculous ideas and customs in a society (Mowery). Each story portrays a totalitarian government that proposes an irrational...
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...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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...Popular Music and History: John Lennon Everyone knows of The Beatles. You may not know a lot or any about them but everyone has heard a song or two at one time or another in their lives. This essay will discuss one of the members from the band, John Lennon and his fame with the band. In addition, this essay will also discuss the comment he made that almost cost the band their fame, as well as his murder. The Beatles were a band from Liverpool, England and became a band somewhere in the 1950’s, but did not become big until 1961. They released a total of 18 albums between the years of 1963 and 1970. The band included Ringo Starr, George Harrison, Paul McCartney, and John Lennon. The band became big in the United States when they released the song, “I want to hold your hand” that John Lennon and Paul McCartney wrote together. Another song you may know that The Beatles sang was, “I feel fine”. The song became the number one song at Christmas. When the band released this song, the song was a top hit for five weeks. The Beatles also had their own cartoon on television called,” yellow submarine” the band was becoming very popular. (APA(American Psychological Assoc.)References:Beatles, The. (2011). Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th Edition, 1. "Beatles, The." Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6Th Edition (2011): 1. Academic Search Complete. Web. 11 Mar. 2012.) (APA(American Psychological Assoc.).References.(2009, September 27). TOP 10 BESTSELLING BEATLES SONGS. Mail on Sunday...
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...Small Business & Antitrust Laws Andrew Paul Danecki DeVry University Small Business & Antitrust Laws It may seem like in the United States that the free-market is a bit cutthroat and everyone is out for their own best interests. The U.S. is best described to have a mostly capitalist economy, and there are a handful of laws to allow growing businesses to have a fair chance to compete against other companies of the similar market. Antitrust laws, protection against monopoly, and laws pertaining to certain mergers are just to name a few. These laws are important, and extremely effective at protecting the small and growing businesses. It was not perfect at first, of course, but has adapted to cover a handful of loopholes. When you think of a monopoly, what normally comes to mind? That good, old classic board game made by Hasbro. That’s what I think of when that word comes in mind. And just like in the game, you try to dominate the board and be the only player left. The same goes for that word in the market world, which actually is illegal since the Sherman Antitrust Law was enacted in 1890. A monopoly is when a single company has solid control over the market with a particular product or service. Congress passed this first antitrust law as a “comprehensive charter of economic liberty aimed at preserving free and unfettered competition as the rule of trade” (The Antitrust Laws, n.d.). The last two laws were passed shortly later, and all three of these laws...
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...The “Rolling Stones”, the “Greatest Rock ‘n’ Roll Band in the World”, or the “Stones” are all names of which the influential bad boys of Rock ‘n’ Roll go by. The well deserved and hardly argued title of the “Greatest Rock ‘n’ Roll Band in the World” was first bestowed upon them in the 1960s. Although there were other Rock ‘n’ Roll bands rising to fame at this time, almost simultaneously, the Rolling Stones graciously accepted the title and carried it to the top along with them, taking no breaks from the spotlight. The Rolling Stones left a lasting impression on the music industry as well as on most, if not all, of the people that have had the pleasure of enjoying their music, including myself. I was first captivated by the Stones as a kid riding along in the backseat, listening to whatever tunes my parents happened to select as the days’ radio station. The Rolling Stones had an obvious monopoly on airtime and had clearly earned it. They brought a new groove to music long before my time, however, that same groove they possessed so long ago was able to pull me in and steal my heart. I had become a megafan. I was head over heels in love with everything about this dangerous, rebellious, not so attractive, British Rock ‘n’ Roll band. The Stones release of Beast of Burden in 1978 was the the first song I had ever heard by the band, but in a much later year. The blues and soul fused style of this song is what demanded my attention. I was immediately infatuated with the song and could...
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...Lennon, an ex-member of the famous Rock band Beatles, is also a gifted composer. He had admitted that he was influenced by “The Time Are a Changin”. In the journal “Bob Dylan and John Lennon's Weird, One-Sided Relationship”, Scott Beauchamp and Alex Shephard states that Lennon commanded that “For three weeks in Paris, we didn't stop playing it. We all went potty about Dylan” (Beauchamp and Shephard). After Beatles disbanded, Lennon started to compose his protest songs. By releasing the song “Give Peace a Chance”, he successfully demonstrated his ideas about peace and showed it to the world. As another protest song singer after Dylan, he came out the songs as good as Dylan’s. In the journal “John Lennon 1940-1980: History Professor Jon Wiener...
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...to an equitable society. However, in the story “Harrison Bergeron,” Kurt Vonnegut demonstrates to us that enforcing equality in our lives won’t be beneficial. In Vonnegut’s narrative, he enhances his story by including symbolism and imagery to exhibit the contrast between the reality of equality and equity in a society. As an illustration of this idea, Vonnegut includes a large amount of imagery to display...
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...Just about everyone in this world has always wished that things were more equal between people. Imagine if you actually lived in a world that was equal in every aspect. We can see what is like in the story “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut. He opens with a very telling sentence “The year was 2081, and everybody was finally equal”. (Jr.). In this year 2081 their culture values equality so much that everyone is equal in every way. For instance when Hazel suggests that George remove the forty seven pound handicap he replies “If I tried to get away with it….then other people would get away with it…and pretty soon we’d be right back to the dark ages again, with everybody competing against everybody else”. (Jr.) In this world of “Harrison Bergeron”,...
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...In the story Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. , it is 64 years in the future year 2081, and the government is in complete control. Instead of embracing everyone's talents and unique traits they make those talents and traits unusable by giving everyone “handicaps”. These “handicaps” are form basically a form of torture and if you rebel they will punish you, badly. Although it is not equal for everyone, anyone with power does not have any handicaps. The author uses techniques such as parallel structure and sentence fragments. Some effects of these techniques are pacing and fluency, emphasis, and exaggeration. The first technique the author used is parallel structure. A great example of this technique is, “Nobody was smarter than anybody else. Nobody was better looking than anybody else. Nobody was stronger or quicker than anybody else” (1). This technique causes effects like emphasis on the point Kurt Vonnegut Jr. is trying to make about equality among people. This technique also causes exaggeration about the equality in the society they are living in. As a result the reader understands that everyone is “equal” in all aspects. Theses aspects include intelligence, beauty, and strength. These effects show the reader...
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...Today people are doing amazing things and are very talented, but what would happen if the world was all equal and the same. I am reading the book Harrison Bergeron, Kurt Vonnegut explains in the story that no one is different, everyone is the same and ordinary. There is this one person, Harrison Bergeron, He tries to rebel against the government for making people ordinary. My family and Harrison’s family share lots of similarities and differences about communication, talents, speaking their minds. In the book, George and Harrison doesn't communicate that much because Harrison is locked up in prison. My family on the other hand; communicates with each other on everything. If one needs help, we help each other. When one falls to the ground,...
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...Kurt Vonnegut's 1961 short story Harrison Bergeron takes place in the dystopian future of 2081. The 211th, 212th, and 213th Amendments to the United States Constitution make every American totally equal, with no differences in intelligence, attractiveness, strength, or speed. Americans live in a world where “Nobody was smarter than anybody else. Nobody was better looking than anybody else. Nobody was stronger or quicker than anybody else.” These laws are enforced by a particularly Orwellian-sounding officer called the Handicapper General. Harrison Bergeron, the fourteen-year-old titular character, is taken away from his parents. Due to their average intelligence, his parents, George and Hazel, are not fully aware of the tragic events. (In 2081,...
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...the 30 ft ceiling above you. But then, the Handicapper General rushes in and ruins your fun by shooting and killing you and your empress. This is what happens to Harrison Bergeron. He wanted freedom, but he had to pay the price of death. In this story, “Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.” Harrison’s parents are watching television and they see Harrison trying to overturn the government. The Handicapper General rushes in and kills him because he wanted to let everyone free. This story shows that freedom is what people want but sometimes it takes risks to get freedom. One of the biggest themes in Harrison Bergeron is the idea of freedom. On page 3, Hanzel is trying to convince George to take some of the lead balls out of his handicap bag because how tired he always is. “If you could just take a few out when you came home from work…” This shows us that George makes it seem that he is already free, even though he has all the handicaps. He makes it seem like we are...
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...The short story “Harrison Bergeron” is about a dystopian society in the year 2084. The short story revolves around the lives of George Bergeron, his wife Hazel Bergeron, and their rebellious son, Harrison Bergeron. There are many literary lenses that one can use to interpret this short story, one in particular is the psychoanalytic lens. By reading a story through a psychoanalytic lens, a person uses the work of Sigmund Freud’s theories of psychology to interpret the text they are reading. Through the psychoanalytic lens, the reader is able to compare the characters of Harrison Bergeron to parts of a person’s personality, for example, Harrison Bergeron can be compared to the Id, George can be compared to the ego, and the Handicapper general can be compared to the Superego. The Id runs on the pleasure principle whose goal is to increase pleasure and decrease pain, like the Id, Harrison’s goal is to break free of the handicaps that he is forced to wear in order to increase the quality of his life. The Id is the basic storehouse for human’s basic needs and drives. Harrison contains such an incredibly strong drive that it causes him to make irrational decisions. One can say that Harrison even suffers from cathexis because of his obsession with rebellion. Similar to the Id, Harrison does not learn from its mistakes. When Harrison...
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...In the early 70’s, Sixto Rodriguez had the opportunity to record his first albums in the United States. Rodriguez, was a musician and songwriter who worked with two of the best producers in the industry. Two of the released albums, Coming from reality and Cold fact, were a downfall in the music production, and soon enough Sixto was dropped from his label. Sixto went back to his simple life, working in a low income job. After his career ended, rumors of his death started to spread in the United States. While Rodriguez, was considered failure at home in Detroit, Michigan, his albums were very popular in South Africa. It was in South Africa, were the famous “dead “songwriter Rodriguez, was rediscovered. There is no exact explanation how his labels...
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...Theodore Roosevelt became president after President William McKinley was shot on September 6, 1901. Roosevelt was the youngest man to ever move into the White House, he was only the age of forty-two. He was born a patrician and because an activist by nature. Roosevelt also had other jobs of course before becoming president. Some of these were: police commissioner of New York City, assistant secretary of the navy, colonel of the Rough Riders, and even as a cowboy in the Dakotas. Roosevelt thought that self-interested capitalists compose “the most dangerous members of the criminal class—the criminals of great wealth.” Wall Street ignorantly put out that the government had filed an antitrust suit against Northern Securities. As backfire, one newspaper backed up the president saying that he of course will be enforcing the law. Roosevelt wanted to be treated as an equal, he was also willing to use the government as a weapon to fight back business excesses. The Supreme Court saw this and then approved the Sherman Act and called for the termination of Northern Securities in 1904. After the Sherman Act was put into place, Roosevelt went on to use it against forty-three trusts. Some of those trusts were American Tobacco, Du Pont, and Standard Oil. He was ethical and used the “rule of reason.” That means he would punish the people who broke the law and leave the people who followed the law alone. In 1903, Roosevelt got Congress to pass the Elkins Act which is outlawing railroad rebates...
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