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Dystopia In Kurt Vonnegut's 'Harrison Bergeron'

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The the short Dystopian story Harrison Bergeron written by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. Vonnegut tries to warn us about not letting the government take our freedom away from us. He does this by showing a reality of our world in the form of a short story that takes place in 2081, a world where everybody is stripped of their freedom and individuality. “Everybody was finally equal”(Vonnegut, 1). this comes as a saying in the beginning of the story and shows us how throughout the short story following the lives of George and Hazel a married couple whose son Harrison is taken away. So from the story we are warned that we shouldn’t give the power to the government to be able to control our life. In the beginning of the short story we learn that the year is 2081 and that everybody is equal. This was a result of years and years of law making and “unceasing vigilance”( Vonnegut, 1). We learn that the government has made up to 213 amendments and will probably soon make more, under the control of the Handicapper General Diana Moon Glampers. From …show more content…

The second form of handicap we see is the Masks that beautiful people have to wear and the masks get uglier the more beautiful you are. Another form of the handicap is weights you have to wear weights if you are too strong or if you are too talented like the ballerinas displayed on the tv. “They were burdened with sash weights and bags of birdshot, and their faces were masked” (Vonnegut, 1). We get to see the two forms from the show that George and Hazel are watching on the television where the ballerinas are graceful so they have to wear weights to make things harder for them to perform. The first form is displayed on George Bergeron as he has to wear a transmitter because he is smarter than the average

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