Lies. Fears. Death. These are all the characteristics of a dystopian society. Dystopian literature are stories that is set in the future and involves a society with dystopian themes, such as flaws and rebels.
Wes Moore’s A Utopian society is a world that is considered perfect. Unfortunately , a society that is seeking perfection usually becomes a dystopian society . A dystopian society that is dehumanizing and as unpleasing a possible. Harrison Bergeron ‘ s world and N. korea both shared these traits.
That then led to widespread fear of Communism, much less socialism in general. Two prominent dystopian works of this era are “Harrison Bergeron” by iconic science fiction writer and satirist Kurt Vonnegut, and Anthem by the legendary dystopian writer Ayn Rand, who herself escaped from Soviet Russia. While both pieces display a collective society, each author's dystopia is portrayed is unparalleled to any other.
Collectivism is the idea that a group 's needs must be put before the needs of oneself and the society functions as “we” rather that “me”. Throughout the stories one sees how each author portrays the use of a collectivist society though uniqueness, equality, and transgression. There are many similarities between the novella Anthem by Ayn Rand and the story “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. In Anthem and “Harrison Bergeron” one could see that a similar theme is that going against the grain causes consequences. According to “Harrison Bergeron” a ballerina states that “ ‘Harrison Bergeron age fourteen,’ she said in a grackle squawk, ‘has just escaped from jail, where he was held on suspicion of plotting to overthrow the government.
There are many reasons on why the story of Harrison Bergeron is a dystopian story. One main reason is because the way the government is ran meaning it is a bureaucratic control type government. What this means is it is controlled by mindless bureaucracy through relentless regulations and government officials. This is shown in the part of the story where Harrison was shot mid air by a government official or known as Handicap General. Another way bureaucratic control can be seen is that no one has any free will.
Man Can Never Be Equal “Life is about family and technology” (Mark Goddard). This quote was chosen because family and technology both play a vital part in both stories Anthem and Harrison Bergeron. A dystopia is the opposite of a utopia and is usually characterized by a totalitarian society. Totalitarian society is a society in which nearly every aspect of public and private behavior is regulated by the state.
Dystopia is a popular genre in which authors write about a fictional society that is perceived to be perfect and ideal by the vast majority of the people in it. Authors must intrigue the reader, and this is difficult because they have to somehow illustrate a future that is vaguely similar to ours. However, it has to be completely fictional, which makes it tough to formulate realistic storylines. Nevertheless, these authors use literary elements to counter these difficulties and produce realistic characters and you can see this when Ray Bradbury, Ayn Rand, and James Dashner use symbolism in their respected novels, Fahrenheit 451, Anthem, and The Maze Runner. This literary technique gives Dystopian Literature the uniqueness and adds the key elements to make the story flow.
Dystopia is defined as an imaginary place or state in which every single thing in society is based around human oppression. In both “The Pedestrian” and “Harrison Bergeron”, people are given a handicap or are disabled in society one way or another. This form of dystopia is one of the most literal forms because humans and society are actually being oppressed from a higher level of power. American society is nothing like that of a dystopian society. Yeah, people will argue about how much the government does to us, how much they’ve ruined our economy, and all sorts of other negative perspectives.
The ideas surrounding utopian and dystopian societies are popular now because our society is getting very advanced in technology and futuristic ideas. They’re showing us possible outcomes of what our world could look like in 20, 50, or even 100 years from now. They also show us the positivity and negativity that can come from the future. Some ideas may seem unrealistic now, but life is a rollercoaster, and you never know what could happen next. For example, in the short story, it portrays a society in which everything and everyone is set equal.
Why Harrison Bergeron is a Piece of Dystopian Literature? “Harrison Bergeron”, by Kurt Vonnegut, is a prime example of dystopian literature. The story’s plot follows several typical tropes and thematic elements present in dystopian literature. One of the most prominent examples is within the story's characters. As many dystopias do, there are many archetypes present that make it obviously a dystopia.
Harrison Bergeron, a story written by Kurt Vonnegut Jr, shows a society where everyone is the same, no one is- or allowed to be, better than anyone else. The story takes place in a futuristic society during 2081. The main two people in this story are Hazel and George Bergeron. George, along with most people, has sacks filled with birdshot, and a handicap radio.
The short story “Harrison Bergeron”, was first published in October 1961 issue of Fantasy and Science Fiction. Some other works Kurt Vonnegut has written are, “Player Piano”, “The Sirens of Titan”, “Mother Night”, and “Cats Cradle” are just a few of the novels Vonnegut has written. Kurt Vonnegut has drawn on facts and incidents in his own life in his writings. Kurt’s short stories range from visions of future societies, that are extensions of modern societies. Many of his writings are ones that are science fiction.
Dystopian stories are usually set in an unfavorable society in which to live, where the antagonist is the society itself, and the protagonist is the person who is looking towards changing this society and fixing its flaws, who believes that they can make a difference by overthrowing the government or escaping from it. The conflict is often not solved, or the hero fails to solve it, and the dystopian society continues as it was before. Harrison Bergeron is an example of a dystopian story where society has intensely controlled the population’s unique qualities to make everyone exactly equal. People’s talent, beauty, intelligence, and any other quality that makes them different is brought down and destroyed by forcing them to wear handicaps, masks, and weights. Harrison Bergeron is the protagonist of the story.
This short story is mainly about equality for everyone and it’s a Utopian society that becomes a Dystopian society. A Utopian society is, “an imagined community or society that possesses highly desirable or nearly perfect qualities for its citizens”(“Utopia”). On the other hand, a Dystopian society is, “an imaginary society that is as dehumanizing and as unpleasant as possible”(Dystopian). The setting of “Harrison Bergeron”
The hunger games by Suzanne Collins is typically called a dystopian novel. Since it sheds the light upon a utopian society that is controlled by the government. A society that is fooled by the totalitarian government of the Capitol in order to maintain power, and prevent the uprising of the Districts.that authority is practiced by making people from the districts live in a dehumanized state using another form of dystopia which is propaganda for the reason that they showed them the penalty of disobedience. Another characteristic of a dystopian society that we can see in the novel are keeping the players during the games under surveillance at all times, and everywhere. The last thing that make "The Hunger Games" a supreme example of a dystopian society is the fact that freedom is restricted by forcing the families from the districts to send their kids to death, also known as the hunger games.
