Harrison Bergeron And Fahrenheit 451: An Analysis

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.

In “Harrison Bergeron” the handicaps make all of the citizens exactly the same. The handicaps do not let people be who they really are and actually holds back the citizens ability to do things. It seems like the handicaps actually make it worse for the advanced people because it makes them suffer. “They weren’t really very good-no better than anybody else would have been anyway.... George was toying with the vague notion that maybe dancers shouldn’t be handicapped.

The government enforces this equality through the use of handicaps. For example, Harrison’s extraordinary intelligence is dulled through the use of ear implants that emit loud noises to disrupt his thoughts. The handicaps serve as a powerful metaphor for the ways in which society often seeks to suppress individuality. We are all encouraged to conform to certain societal norms and expectations, and those who deviate from those norms are often ostracized or punished. In many cases, people are forced to wear “handicaps” in the form of societal expectations, which can limit their ability to express their true selves.

At this point in the story, the author is emphasizing the extremity of the situation with the fact that the government considers natural brain power an “unfair advantage.” The author also mentions the issues and discomfort that the handicaps cause the citizens. Another one of George’s handicaps is “forty-seven pounds of birdshot in a canvas bag, which was padlocked around George’s neck” in order to get rid of his athleticism (Vonnegut 2) The reason that the citizens put up with the handicaps and their inconvenience is because if they do not “we’d be back in the dark ages again, with everybody competent against everybody else.” (Vonnegut 2)

In Harrison Bergeron, the year is 2081 and everyone is ‘equal’ on literally all levels which is due to the over exaggerated amount of amendments that have been added over time. For example,“They were equal every which way. Nobody was smarter than anybody else. Nobody was better looking than anybody else. Nobody was stronger or quicker than anybody else.”

In “Harrison Bergeron”, each person was not truly equal. For example, the ballerinas in the story were prettier than the maximum people, so they were required to wear masks. Hazel, the mother of Harrison, believed that the ballerinas were beautiful since her mask was extremely ugly. Diana Moon Glampers, the Handicap General, forces them to be like the public and will punish anyone who says different. Consequently a few people enjoy being the same, it is not easy, and following the Handicap General’s rules is challenging.

In “Harrison Bergeron” people aren’t truly equal. In this short story, they took equality to the next level. Most people think that equality is everyone being treated with the same amount of respect. Appearance has nothing to do with equality in today’s society. Although looking the same and having the same level of intelligence may decrease jealousy, people shouldn’t force others to change because of this.

Once a person is introduced into different ways of thinking, they feel that they are restricted to think in other ways. This restriction, is the handicap. The handicap prevents George from thinking too much. From using his ability to think in a different way. In this society, many people appear that they are not open minded.

In the short story, “Harrison Bergeron” Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. relies on the use of irony to indicate where our country will stand once we have gained total equality amongst each other. The theme in “Harrison Bergeron” is that the government cannot enforce equality within the people. The author creates a fictional visualization of the future in the year 2081, where the government controls the people and tortures them in order to maintain “equal opportunity” in their world to prove why it is impossible to achieve absolute equality in the world. Vonnegut dives into a whole other level of uniformity in Harrison Bergeron by focusing on eliminating advantages in appearance, intelligence, strength, and other unique abilities rather than focusing on

Comparing and contrasting 2081 to Harrison Bergeron Admit it, one time you were bored or sat down with nothing to do and couldn’t help but imagine how life would be if everyone was equal, don’t even try denying it, you’ve thought of that at least once in your life, but as any good writer would do, they’d write their thoughts down and turn it into a story, that’s exactly what Kurt Vonnegut did. Just imagine living a life where no one gets compared to others in any way. We all wish for a society like that, but Kurt showed us how equality can negatively affect our society. But that’s not the our main idea in this essay, our main idea is to highlight the comparisons and contrasts between the story “Harrison Bergeron” and the movie version “2081”. To begin with, Both the story and the movie had the same introduction/ Opening; “Everybody was finally equal.

in Harrison Bergeron they solve the problem of inequality by giving people handicaps. These would restrict people who were prettier, smarter, or stronger than average. They censored their knowledge and their thoughts specifically with a brain handicap that was "tuned to a government transmitter. Every twenty seconds or so, the transmitter would send out some sharp noise to keep [smart] people…from taking unfair advantage of their brains." (Vonnegut 1)

The two stories, “Harrison Bergeron” and Fahrenheit 451, both have common themes. The common themes of the stories may include; our reliance on technology can spiral out of control if we let it, knowledge is joyful and painful, and that we can be confined by our own self-censorship. All of these themes are exhibited throughout both stories frequently. Whether it is as Montag has conflict with his wife over books or as Harrison’s parents forget right from wrong in their society. In Fahrenheit 451, their technology definitely gets out of control.

One common afternoon in the year of 2081, when everyone was equal, Hazel and George Bergeron were in their lovely living room watching television. Suddenly, a news reporter with a severe speech impediment came on. After trying many times to say, “Good morning ladies and gentlemen,” he handed it off to a ballerina who read, “Harrison Bergeron, age 14, has just escaped from jail, where he was held on suspicion of plotting to overthrow the government. He is a genius and an athlete, is under-handicapped, and should be regarded as extremely dangerous.” However, in this short story “Harrison Bergeron”, Kurt Vonnegut uses irony, shift and mood, and allusion to illustrated haw society would be if everyone was under the law of equality.

However, people do not have to conform to the standards set by society. In Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut, society forced people to be alike, in every way possible. No one person better than another. However, it shows that handicapping those who have excelled in an area of life or have greater ability than another is an injustice.

People who are not equal get handicapped in a way. George and Hazel Bergeron are the parents of Harrison, who was taken away from them when he was fourteen by the Handicapper General. George and Hazel are not even sad that their son was taken away. Hazel has average intelligence so she can only think of things in short bursts. On the other