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Individuality In Kurt Vonnegut's Harrison Bergeron

775 Words4 Pages

In the short story, Harrison Bergeron, Kurt Vonnegut depicts, through the use of satire and the setting of a future dystopian society, the harmful effects of conformity. Set in the year 2081, this society declares complete ‘equality’ for all, a baseline in which no human’s ability can surmount anothers. This is achieved by handicapping everyone, conforming the potential of human beings, crippling people to create supposed equality. Through the protagonist Harrison, a fourteen-year-old boy with a plethora of god-like, superhuman talents and abilities, the author illustrates the tension and conflict of individuality trying to prevail in a society so ingrained in the system of conformity. The cost of conformity is the loss of individualism, …show more content…

Symbolism and conflict were used to enhance the meaning and interpretation of the text and its relation to groupthink. Vonnegut’s use of symbolism was exemplary when he described Harrison and the ballerina “kiss the ceiling”; he describes how “not only where the laws of the land abandoned, but the law of gravity and laws of motion as well.” (pg. 4 par.17). Here, Vonnegut is portraying their individualism as so ‘alien’ in this society of conformity that they have the ability to not abide to even the physical rules which govern the earth. An alternate use of symbolism was the weights which were placed on Harrison and his father. They infer to the control over the will and ability of human beings and their individuality in order to conform them to the system imposed by Diana Moon Glampers and the constitutional amendments. Another literary device used in this short story was conflict. Vonnegut creates tension through the Protagonist, as Harrison wants to be free from the handicaps placed on him by society, and showcase his individual ability. The society echoes the threat as they try to tame his aspiration of a word which he can express himself to the full length of his potential. Harrison ends up paying the ultimate price for his defiance of conformity, as he became a martyr for his trial at questioning the mainstream

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