Corruption In The Short Story 'Harrison Bergeron'

”This illustrates how the government took away uniqueness. When we read this passage we see how much of a threat Harrison is to the government. He had three hundred extra pounds he had to carry around. A normal person like George and the ballerinas had nowhere near the amount of handicaps as Harrison did. When they covered up Harrisons nose, shaved his eyebrows and put teeth caps on his teeth, it shows that they took away the competitive drive away from people which then took away uniqueness.

Kurt Vonnegut develops this theme throughout the story from page 1 to page 6. Early in the story, Vonnegut describes two people, George and Hazel Bergeron, as ordinary people watching television. While watching ballerinas perform, George hears a loud and painful noise coming from his mental handicaps. At the same time, the ballerinas on television fell to the floor as a result of the noise they heard (p. 1).

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).

One can infer that this is why Harrison Bergeron (George’s son) rebelled against this so-called “utopian” society. Being punished for being different is what it has come down to in this story. Harrison Bergeron is, “a genius and an athlete, is under-handicapped, and should be regarded as extremely dangerous” (Vonnegut 136). Harrison has heavier handicaps than anyone else. Instead of a small ear radio, he had to wear a huge pair of earphones.

When we dragged them out, the girl kept dancing"(Pg.129). War will destroy your humanity and innocence, and there will be no mercy. It will destroy the most innocent of people. The destruction of humanity and innocence is not something good to hear, it 's horrific and shocking, it 's a terrible thing. The destruction of humanity and innocence was also seen when a soldier, Mark Fossie, invited his girlfriend, Mary Anne, to visit.

Are you currently bombarded by rules set by your parents or boss’? Imagine all the rules you currently have and then times them by ten! It might seem like it’s hard to imagine but the book Anthem by Ayn Rand takes place in a very controlling city. In the city of Anthem, they have a numerous amount of rules and controls set on the city and the people. Anthem has put multiple rules into action so that everyone is “equal” and there are “less” problems.

The Dystopian short story “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. tells of a world where everybody is made to be excruciatingly average. In an attempt to push equality to its furthest limits the United States government released a series of laws that forced anybody who was above average in any area, whether that be intelligence, beauty, strength, or any skill to be handicapped to turn them into another average person. This causes performers to have to wear masks and to bear weights so that they aren't better than anybody else, reporters have speech impediments, and due to the mass-hysteria against competition, anyone who tries to go against this system is harshly punished. This lack of human diversity causes a stagnation of progress, as well

In life some things, can’t be taken control

Living on My Own What government is so cruel that their people lose the right state of mind? Well, in Anthem by Ayn Rand, the government is terrible and unstable, which causes Equality to lose his freedom and individuality. Anthem the main characters live in a dystopian society. This a society where the government laws and code are unfair. The laws are unnecessary because for a small crime, there are big consequences.

Much like modern day fear of terrorist fear, the fear of conflict from removal of complete equality persuades people to submit to the government causing them discomfort like metal weights, noises in their heads, speech impediments, and a whole slew of annoyances. Although this seems far fetched from today's world, Vonnegut asks us to reflect inward on what we are told to

Mount Olympus- Hera has had Tili. Everyone was asleep, (well that isn’t true for Hades). Hades did not like the fact Hera was having a child that wasn’t even Zeus’. Tili had no father.

Things such as high government workforce, unions, gays/lesbians, illegal alliances, as well as poor people are all seen as negative impacts on the wellbeing of our society in the eyes of republicans. Now looking back at the original 13 colonies that first settled the US, in my opinion, Dahl was correct when he made the claim that a democratic form of government would not work at all. When attempting to start their own country, starting it off as a republican country was absolutely needed

2- By removing its causes and controlling its effects are the two main ways, they could also by destroying the liberty and by giving every citizen the same opinion passions and interests. Obviously the last two would not work because liberty is essential to have in a government. Also all people do not have the same opinions and passions and interests, in a free nation we are entitled to have our own ideas and passions and such. The only effective way would be to control effects and to try and remove the causes.

For example “ there was an Inca God called Viracoxa, and he was a white man, and he was the god of thunder, and they thought these men with their aquabuses were the very incarnation of Viracoxa” Jared Diamond. To

(Vonnegut 1). This quote shows they would suppress their smartest people to an average level of thinking. This society does not want someone to grow in any way and realize how bad life is. Similarly a sufficient amount of the same points can be made in Anthem, they are just accomplished differently.