Competition In Kurt Vonnegut Jr's 'Harrison Bergeron'

This is brought up in the text when it says, “Harrison's scrap-iron handicaps crashed to the floor”. This is not only showing strength physically but mentally too. He goes against the rules of equality no matter the consequences which shows lots of courage and strength. Harrison is so strong that by the time the handicapped general attached all the handicaps he was carrying three hundred pounds. This quote in the story, “Ordinarily, there was a certain symmetry, a military neatness to the handicaps issued to strong people, but Harrison looked like a walking junkyard” says that he is strong and he is so perfect he was a mess once he was made

The Mask Behind Equality “Harrison Bergeron”, a short story by Kurt Vonnegut Jr, is about a 14 year old boy named Harrison Bergeron. He lives in the year 2081, where anything and everything is equal. The people who were very intelligent, had to bare handicaps so they did not take advantage of their minds.The handicaps were bags with lead balls worn around the neck, and an earpiece that would send out loud noises to stop all train of thought. Harrison did not like the equality laws, as he wants to be Emperor. One lesson the story suggests is that equality can be harmful.

This would cause no “star” people and would be a very gloomy place. In the story, Harrison succeeded very fast which caused him to get into trouble for being too powerful and good looking. “Harrison carried three hundred pounds “and “to offset his good looks, the H-G men required that he wears at all times a red rubber ball for a nose” (Vonnegut 1390). This is what the government does to advanced humans. Imagine living in a world like that.

In fact, Rand states, “We are one in all and all in one. There are no men but only the great WE, One, indivisible and forever”(19). No one is seen as their own personal individual. Although, everything throughout society is seen as a whole, Anthem’s societies believe in the thought of collectivism because it destroys the individualism within societies. Correspondingly Vonnegut stated, “ Ordinarily, there was a certain symmetry, a military neatness to the handicaps issued to the strong people, but Harrison looked like a walking junkyard.

The second example of this was when Harrison Bergeron removed all of his handicaps on live television. According to the short story, “‘Even as I stand here,’ he bellowed, ‘crippled, hobbled, sickened- I am a greater ruler than any man who ever lived. Now watch me become what I can become!’” (“Harrison Bergeron”, 4). Harrison had been arrested for plotting to overthrow the government, and was forced to wear several handicaps. For every handicap that Harrison proceeded to remove after the quote, it showed that he no longer wanted to be shackled down by the government just for being intelligent, athletic, and strikingly handsome.

Quote 1: Quote: According to Zinn, “I made clear my abhorrence of any kind of bullying, whether by powerful nations over weaker ones, governments over their citizens, employers over employees, or by anyone on the Right or Left, who thinks they have a monopoly on the truth" (7). Paraphrase: Zinn emphasizes that he doesn’t support the acts of the majority believing they have more power over the minority, politically. Partial Paraphrase: Zinn openly shares his contentious political views by declaring his “anger at racial inequality, my belief in a democratic socialism, in a rational and just distribution of the world 's wealth” (7). Quote 2: Quote: King points out that, “"The eye-for-an-eye philosophy, the impulse to defend oneself when attacked, has always been held as the highest measure of American manhood. We are a nation that worships the frontier tradition, and our heroes are those who

“Then wear that gold hat, if that will move her; If you can bounce high, bounce for her too, Till she cry “Lover, gold-hatted, high bouncing lover, I must have you” (title page). Throughout the novel, the Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald presents Tom Buchanan as a very controlling person who believes he is entitled to many things because of his wealth. Similar to the quote, Tom’s constant need for wealth and power leads to a need and want for everything in sight. If a reader were to read this book through the Marxist lens, they would see an obvious struggle between the powerful and powerless and how that directly coincides with how much money the person with power has. The main character with power and wealth in the novel is Tom Buchanan, and he uses his control to gain power over others.

Last of all he removed her mask” (p. 4). Vonnegut then describes Harrison tearing off his handicaps easily, which rejects the government’s way of

Author and feminist Rita Mae Brown once said, “I think the reward for conformity is that everyone likes you except yourself.” In the dystopian science-fiction short story “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut, it shows conformity taking over the world. “Hazel had a perfectly average intelligence...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...He began to think glimmeringly about his abnormal son....but a twenty-one-gun salute in his head stopped that...It was such a doozy that George was white and trembling, and tears stood on the rims of his red eyes.

Hip-hop is based around the idea of having a lot of money, picking up and using girls, owning the nicest cars and being the hardest. This being said, being the “hardest” and not showing emotion is one of the major principals hip-hop is known for. This idea that men must be emotionless is so deeply implanted in our culture that everyone views it as a fact. According to “Hip-Hop: Beyond Beast & Rhymes”, 80% of hip-hop listeners were white men. The majority hip-hop listeners are men who are being brainwashed by lyrics such as Migos song “Bad and Boujee”

William James once said in his book “ History is a bath of blood”, “Modern man inherits all the innate pugnacity and all the love of glory of his ancestors. Showing war’s irrationality and horror is of no effect on him. The horrors make the fascination. War is the strong life; it is life in Extremis; war taxes are the only ones men never hesitate to pay, as the budgets of all nations show us.” (303) However, this does not seem true to most returning veterans. According to two short fictional stories “ Soldier’s Home” and “ A Perfect Day for Bananafish,” two protagonists’ lives after brutal wars explicitly demonstrate the idea that they are not only pathetic survivors from battles, but also victims of relentless wars through authors’ vivid depictions of each character and elaborate arrangement of settings.

Information citizens know are derived from the government, and since the citizens also have no access to books, they can only rely on information from the government. Citizens in Montag’s world do not question the government because they are unaware of the contents of books, which have been censored from them. Additionally, purging society of books destroys years and decades worth of precious information retaining the world’s history. During a conversation with Clarisse McClellan and Montag, Clarisse asked, “ ‘Is it true that long ago firemen put fires out instead of going to start them?’ ‘No. Houses have always been fireproof, take my word for it’ ”(Bradbury 6).

Perhaps the opposite of Mitchell Sanders, Henry Dobbins is a straightforward character at first glance; O’Brien instantly characterizes him as a big man who likes to eat. O’Brien comments that Dobbins is a machine gunner strictly for his weight, which implies that Dobbins was big before coming to Vietnam. However, there is a possibility that Dobbins maintains his weight for a strategic reason. He isn’t able to fit in the underground tunnels and is therefore exempted from even the draw for the mission. Dobbins still treats himself to canned peaches in syrup over pound cake and even consumes a tropical chocolate bar while Lee Strunk is in the tunnel.

Here, it shows the group is more important because it has to do with equality. There was basically no individuals here because everyone had to be the same. No one is better than anyone else, everyone is average. You can’t be prettier, stronger, or smarter than anyone else. The story was started by saying, “The year was 2081, and everybody was finally equal.” (Vonnegut 1).

Then, he is shot dead during a dance. The theme in “Harrison Bergeron” is that equality could be dangerous. In this short story, the thought of equality taints the people 's minds and they do not notice they are being controlled by the government. The author writes, “The year was 2081, and everybody was finally equal... Nobody was smarter than anyone else. Nobody was better looking than anyone else.