Government Control In Harrison Bergeron

Nevertheless, when compared to "Harrison Bergeron", Anthem does a better job of controlling their society and expresses less government corruption, however both stories are not necessarily moral. In comparison to “Harrison Bergeron”, Anthem has more control over their society because of their severe punishments. In the beginning of Anthem, the main character Equality-7251 gives the readers background information of what type of environment he grew up in. Equality discusses how he was more advanced than others in school and through which he says, “we were lashed more often than all the other children”(22).

Imagine, you’re living in a perfect world and everything about life is great. That is until the government takes over and schemes together a plan to make everyone equal by adding handicaps to over excelled people. By making everyone equal, the whole entire world is in sake for a dangerous situation caused by the effects from the handicap. This is what the short story “Harrison Bergeron” is based about. Some dangerous possible situations that can happen from this includes: handicap effects on the human body, total charge from the government, no entertainment and a massive breakout.

His entire life people had looked at him and scorned him because he was different then his brothers, and he finally understood why. Equality was a man with a different appearance than his brothers, and he was looked down on for it. Equality was a man with a greater intelligence than his brothers, but he was nearly killed for it. Equality was a man that was different from his brothers in almost every way, and it lead to the discovery of something great. The ability for a man to be individual and to be able to think, speak, and act for themselves and be different is what was and always will be the greater good for all of

Two Dystopian Literatures “They were equal every which way”(vonnegut 1).”Harrison Bergeron” and Anthem are both a collectivist society, that try to make the world smooth and have more peace in their society, but instead becomes a dramatic dystopia. Although “Harrison Bergeron” and Anthem are both dystopian literature, they both differ in their families and technology. In harrison bergeron, they have families, and this is seen when the story says… “George and Hazel bergeron 14 years old son. ”(Vonnegut

Equalitys’ Sense of Purpose In the book Anthem written by Ayn Rand, society is now known as “the great WE” (19). Where man may not think as one, but must think as a whole; as it is the law. Even though, there is total equality, there is no right of a free mind.

The difference is that they can have a family. In Harrison Bergeron the main characters are George the father, Hazel the mother, and Harrison the son that was taken away. The reason the government took Harrison away was because he was too smart and athletic and handsome. He was a “Danger to society.” People in the society that they live in are able to have families and live together and love eachother.

Intelligence and Defiance “The measure of intelligence is the ability to change”. (Albert Einstein) In “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr talks about how everyone is equal by wearing handicaps. In the novella Anthem technological advancement is planned and the meaning of individuality is forbidden.

There are no locks on the door also they have no guards about. There was never a reason to have guards at door because no men or women defined the

Malcolm Gladwell insists that IQ is not the determining factor in one’s ability to achieve success because he believes that opportunity and chance play critical roles in one’s journey to achieve success. In Outliers, Gladwell includes Christopher Langan story growing up. Langan has an IQ of one ninety-five, “The average person has an IQ of one hundred… Einstein one fifty” (Gladwell 70). Langan is considered “the smartest man in America” and sometimes “the smartest man in the world”.

The Clerk is a character type that is encountered several times in Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Cantebury Tales. Always described as a young man attending university or at the very least knowledgeable in the fields the social and natural sciences, the clerk is a character who outwits his opponents with his superior knowledge whether it be by telling his victim that the stars foretell a second great flood like Nicholas in the Miller’s Tale, or by maneuvering a piece of furniture to bed a crook’s wife like John in the Reeve’s tale. The Clerk is written to be the smartest person in the room, if not one of them, but that was not always the case.

There is more at work in the government than just handicaps. “The rest of Harrison’s hollowed hardware. Nobody have ever born heavier handicaps… If you see this boy do not, I repeat, do not approach him” (Vonnegut 3-4). The government doesn’t want Harrison to get loose because he can expose them, show the people the truth.

In the book anthem by Ayn Rand starts off by saying that “Its is a sin to write this.” Why does he start the character by saying these words? in the book the main character is named equality 7-2521 and in his society they have taught him differently than ours. in mentioned in pg 19 “we are one in all and all in one there are no men but only the great we , one, indivisible forever.” The people in equalities society were taught by using the word “we” not

William James once said in his book “ History is a bath of blood”, “Modern man inherits all the innate pugnacity and all the love of glory of his ancestors. Showing war’s irrationality and horror is of no effect on him. The horrors make the fascination. War is the strong life; it is life in Extremis; war taxes are the only ones men never hesitate to pay, as the budgets of all nations show us.” (303)

In Anthem “equality” is not purely shown, but is attempted. Equality is held by shaming individuality and sometimes physical punishments. “There is evil in your bones, Equality 7-2521.” (Rand 18). Equality is being shamed for having grown taller than the other boys, something he cannot control, like intelligence.

Traits such as creativity, intelligence, and skepticism are highly valued and are noticeable in most famous scientists. For these reasons, it is logical that science is not highly valued in the totalitarian world in Anthem, since in the collectivist society, obedient and average people are rewarded, and people that stand out are punished. Equality 7-2521 knew he was smarter than his brothers, but stated “it is not good to be different from our brothers, but it is evil to be superior to them”, because the main concept of collectivism is unity, that “We are nothing. Mankind is all”, and by standing out, whether by being superior or inferior, you threaten that