Equality In Harrison Bergeron, By Kurt Vonnegut

Total equality became possible because the philosophers argued and supported their points. Voltaire presented religious equality as a tolerance rather than acceptance. This meant that people of all different religions could live in the same society as long as they did not fight over the values of other religions. Voltaire supports that in his, “Letters Concerning the English Nation”, written in 1726. He writes, “If only one religion were allowed in England, the government would very possibly become arbitrary; if there were but two, the people would cut one another’s throats; but as there are such a multitude, they all live happy and in peace.” John Locke

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. Two of of the eight ballerinas had collapsed….holding their temples” (Vonnegut 1-2). George had something that made him an individual. Instead of making everyone as smart as him, he has to have a handicap on him that makes him lose track of what he was thinking about. He has to suffer because of conformity and to make others feel as smart as him.

Charlie 's relationship with Algernon isn 't the best, Charlie 's hated him so much because Algernon kept winning in the test the doctors did with them. Later on being, two best friends. Going through this with him was his “friends” Frank and Joe. Them two have always treated Charlie with such disrespect because them two would always pull jokes on him call him names but Charlie never noticed. Luckily he also had good people around him during this time like Miss.Kinnian.

Someone who thinks about what his/her actions would do to the group as a whole and not just a fraction of the group. Jackson did what he believed was right. He never really listened to what other people had to say about the subject, he just did what he thought best. Jackson was a very well liked person among the common people and people from different age, class and color went to see his inauguration. But the upper class didn’t like his ways.

Justinian 's Code was a set of laws set up in order to unify the empire, which was very disorganized. "Justice is the constant and perpetual wish to render every one his due ...The maxims of law are these: to live honestly, to hurt no one, to everyone his due" (The Institutes of Justinian 's Code, Document D). Justinian 's Code created the idea of laws and influenced many people such as John Locke and Thomas Jefferson. In the Declaration of Independence you can see how Justinian 's Code influenced some of the writing such as the pursuit of happiness and the idea of unalienable rights. Imagine where we would be without Justinian 's set of laws that shaped our basic idea of how laws and justice would be

“I’m not thinking. I’m just doing like I’m told, like always” (qtd. in 88). When Guy Montag, the main character, says he is becoming aware that in this so called perfect society the government is controlling their minds, he realizes that it is causing them to not have individual feelings and become adherent to the government and all the idiotic rules that they have. In Ray Bradbury’s novel Fahrenheit 451, he makes many predictions that are applicable today.

Equality: Peace or Prison Imagine a society where each person is taught to be exactly the same. The stories of both Anthem and Harrison Begeron are very similar in their Dystopian Society. The authors of these stories, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. and Ayn Rand, set their stories in Dystopian Societies in which everyone tries to be the exact same. Both stories have a small amount of people who want a change. Dystopian Societies are driven by governments whose purpose is to create similarity and obedience in all of their citizens.

Consensus also leads to fair representation, allowing all people to participate in decisions and ensuring that no group is constantly relegated to the minority. While Wiredu does paint an attractive picture I feel there are multiple points of which he does not provide adequate explanation. Perhaps the point which draws the most criticism is Wiredu’s (1995) controversial claim that “ultimately the interests of all members of society are the same, although their immediate perceptions of those interests may be different”. Eze (1997) in his critique of Wiredu asks how do the interests of some 95 percent of Americans who share only as much wealth as another one percent of the same population coincide? Can all differences between people really be resolved through knowledge, understanding and discussion?

Vonnegut then tells us not to go all the way towards pure equality or everyone will lose their individuality. He then talks about for everyone to be equal the people who exceed at other things they have to be brought down to ‘standard’. Diana Moon Glampers represents the fairness and Harrison represents the individuality everyone has. Diana Moon Glampers symbolizes the fairness in this society. She manages the checks and balances in the society of 2081.

In the dystopia, they are the ones that perform the surgeries on the uglies on their 16th birthday. Later on however, we learn that when they do the surgery they don’t just change the way they look, they also change the way that they think. Everyone who has had the operation doesn’t notice it, however, this was made so that everyone thought of themselves as equals when they turned pretty. In the Rusties era, there was a lot of diversity and separation because of race, color, religion and ideas. Although it’s a problem, Special Circumstances think it’s the safest way to keep everyone living happy and peaceful.

Harrison Bergeron vs. Anthem To live in a world where collectivism is a part of society it must be strange to the way we live now. In both dystopian novels everyone has the same rights and is equal which makes them practice collectivism. Throughout both novels they show their separate in relationship and figure out what relationships truly are and overcome the fear of their government discovering them. In Vonnegut’s “ Harrison Bergeron” and Rand’s “Anthem” their societies are the similar in equality but different in their relationships. Both novels show the characteristics that they are exactly equal because collectivism is practiced upon society by the close minded government.

Malcolm was changing America and the trip he took to Mecca was exactly like the trip Americans, at that time, needed to take to realize that everyone is equal. The Americans need to see that everyone was created equally. The people needed to see that they all were Americans and they all had a purpose. Americans shouldn’t have to fight for rights that were already given to them. On Malcolm’s trip to Mecca he realized that everyone can live peacefully together, they just need to put their differences behind them.

In dystopian novels like Divergent and The Hunger Games, characters fought through severe governmental control and discrimination to take back their freedoms. The people of Kaivotopolis have come to a much simpler and less bloody solution to end their displeasure with the current United States of America. Rather than cause war and endanger thousands of lives, they have severed their ties with the US and have formed a new republic. Kaivotopolis is a meritocratic, innovation driven society that allows its citizens to have a major part in both government and education decisions. Its citizens believe this is a superior society compared to their current one because the leaders are implementing strategies used by the world 's top countries that have been proven the most effective.

Civil Rights Struggle Barrack Obama once stated, “Because of the Civil Rights movement, new doors of opportunity and education swung open for everybody …”(Nguyen et al.). The civil rights movement is one of the biggest achievements in American history as a country who 's founding fathers once said all men are created equal. It was all possible because of millions of people who wanted to see change, and give better lives to the children of the future. The United States Supreme Court has experienced many important cases, but some have changed America for the greater good: Dread Scott vs. Sanford, Plessy vs. Ferguson, and Brown vs. Board of Education. Dread Scott vs. Sanford is debatably the Supreme Court 's biggest failure and

Human life is vibrant, yet so frail and so fertile yet so poisonous. When President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 he did this thinking about the American and non- American public. He approved this law to prohibit discrimination, create integration and bring equality to the citizens of America. Although we may not think about it during our day to day life it is thanks to documents like these that we are able to live in a society that can expand and be improved if the community as a whole works towards that. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 specifically address the issues of voting rights, public accommodations, the desegregation of schools, funding programs that are nondiscriminatory and so on.