Egalitarian Society In Kurt Vonnegut's Slapstick

the idea of equality was taken to the extreme. Satire is also used to exaggerate how awful equality is to persuade readers to believe that total equality will violate human rights. Kurt Vonnegut also uses symbols such as handicaps which make everyone equal and Harrison Bergeron to display the lack of freedom present in a world of total equality.

Contrasts between the reader’s perspective and the character’s perspective about inequality show cost of equality in ”Harrison Bergeron.” In the future United States shown in the story, equality is valued above all else, and the society has taught citizens that being better or worse than another is something bad. When Hazel says to her handicapped husband, “Go on and rest the bag for a little while," … "I don't care if you're not equal to me for a while." ( Vonnegut Jr 51) it makes the differing perspectives between the reader and the characters immediately

Truman Capote’s novel, “In Cold Blood” exemplifies how contrasting social classes can create order within a community, their stark differences may also cause tension between the members of each. In the book, “In Cold Blood,” author Truman Capote conveys the idea that despite a common belief that good should triumph over evil, evil can sometimes prevail. Significant Quotes: “Situated at the end of a long, lanelike driveway shaded by rows of Chinese elms, the handsome white house, standing on an ample lawn of groomed Bermuda grass, impressed Holcomb” (9) “All equal, regardless of wealth, color, or creed.

Vonnegut says in his Political and Social Critique that he based his ideas on the egalitarianism and share the same principles of the America’s Declaration of Independence. If we continue reading, we will reach to the following conclusion: people must be forced to be equal to one another in their appearance, behavior, and achievements.

Regardless if the society is a happy or sad. At the end of the book Equality and the golden one decide to stay in the forest creating their own society. One rule that is going to be different than their past society could be that everyone is different but it's okay to be unique. That not everyone have to act and look the same . Sometimes controlling societies like the one equality used to live in make it seem like they are utopias.

Slaughterhouse Five Synopsis: The protagonist of Vonnegut’s “Slaughterhouse Five”, Billy Pilgrim, is “unstuck in time.” The novel, in no particular order, details Billy’s life from his basic education to his death. During that time, he goes to war where he experiences being a POW. When he comes back, he gets married and raises two children with his wife.

The story, Harrison Bergeron really shows the importance of diversity and for every individual to have a right to be unique. The government trying to make every thing completely fair is actually unfair to people who can 't get any excitement in a world like this. Limiting peoples thinking will also strongly slow any advances in technology, maybe even to a stop, so they might never solve some of the very important problems they face. Same with strength, if someones is in danger to an animal or a malfunctioning machine they will need to be able to escape. So really a world thats completely fair is impossible to create.

Imagine a world with complete equality. No one more skilled, more intelligent or more attractive than another. Where failure is applauded and mediocrity is the social norm. This is the world in the short story “Harrison Bergeron,” written by Kurt Vonnegut in 1961. Vonnegut illustrates the disasters of an extremely equal society through the use of satirical irony, imagery and characterization.

Throughout the course of the year, as a class, we have discussed countless works from a variety of authors, artists, directors and speakers. One overarching theme from these works is the ability that a character can have to redefine social standards and have the courage to break societal norms. In society, it is incredibly hard to take a different stance than your peers and choose an alternative to the ordinary. The contrasting forces between good and evil in the world is the cause for exceptional people who are able to break social norms, however, not always in a positive manner. In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the film Schindler’s List directed by Steven Spielberg, and the short story “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut,

“Harrison Bergeron,” written by Kurt Vonnegut at the time of the Cold War, is a short story that takes place in a future world of the year 2081 where the Handicapper General and the law force the beautiful to wear masks, the intelligent to wear earpieces that disrupt their thoughts, and the athletic to wear heavy physical restraints, so that everyone may be equal in the categories of beauty, intelligence, and athleticism; a world where the people “[are] equal in every which way.” (Vonnegut 1) What the many readers of “Harrison Bergeron” seem to misinterpret is that the entire story is an allegory to the political systems of Socialism/Communism and that Vonnegut utilizes symbols in the story that either expose the glaring flaws of left-wing politics or advance the supposedly far-superior ideology of American capitalism. In actuality, Vonnegut’s use of symbols in “Harrison Bergeron,” and the entire story itself is a satire of the common American’s ignorant misunderstandings of left-wing politics at the time of the Cold War. Vonnegut once said at a college commencement speech, “I suggest that you work for a socialist form of government … It isn 't moonbeams to talk of modest plenty for all. They have it in Sweden.” (Hattenhauer 387) Given this and many more instances where Vonnegut’s spoken word was documented in support of left-wing politics, this interpretation of Vonnegut’s intent behind the story is much more convincing.

The no-space trip: a mirror to our world Literature serves as a mirror to our world, when looking into it closely, it reflects even the most banal aspects of ourselves and the society we live in. Kurt Vonnegut 's Slaughterhouse Five serves as a mean of social criticism. For instance, the creation of Kilgore Trout and the different plots of his books criticize several aspects of society by the use of science fiction such as faith, economy and oil dependency. In chapter nine, Billy Pilgrim stops at a store which has several Trout books. As he reads them, the narrator introduces the resumed plot of each one.

Storytelling has been the epitome of human expression for thousands of years. Along with musicians and artists, talented storytellers use their work to share ideas with others, often in an effort to evoke emotion or to persuade people to think similarly. Every element in a story is carefully crafted by the author in order to communicate a desired message to his or her audience. In Slaughterhouse-Five, Kurt Vonnegut incorporates irony into the story to express his belief that fighting wars is illogical.

It should be established before anything else that the author I have chosen, Kurt Vonnegut, was heavily influenced by World War II. The idea of war, along with its devastating effects, gave Vonnegut a rather cynical and twisted view on human nature. This perspective bleeds over onto his writing and can be seen in many of his major and minor works, including one of his most impactful, “Slaughterhouse 5,” in which he uses time travel, alien planets, and other farfetched ideas to describe the physical and emotional consequences of violent acts.

Equality finally gets to escape his miserable society and all the institutions, practices, and officials that are a part of it. He comes to the realization that there is more to life than serving other people, and that he owes nothing to his brothers or his society. Equality, after struggling and fighting for his freedom, finally knows why he lives and what has been missing in his life. “The moral purpose of a man’s life is the achievement of his own happiness.” (The Ethics of

Conformity is something that humans have been doing for a long time. Such conformity has lead to negative outcomes. This idea is explored through “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut and “The Unknown Citizen” by W.H. Auden. In these two texts conformity eliminates individuality and causes the society to be weakened.