The idea of utopian and dystopian societies is noticeably popular due to the fact that society wants equality, however authors show when attempting to have total equality the public can become unethical. Harrison Bergeron shows a corrupt government and society in hopes of a utopia. After Harrison broke out of jail and made the musicians play without their handicaps the text says, “The music began again and was much improved.” This demonstrates how total equality takes away talents and strips people of their individuality. However, for most people their talents are what brings them joy and purpose. The leader or ruler in Harrison Bergeron, The Handicapper General, was also unprincipled. According to the text, “She (The Handicapper General) fired
"Harrison Bergernon" Hero or Danger? "I am the Emperor! Do you hear? I am the Emperor! Everybody must do what i say at once!
In the books of 1984 and Harrison Bergeron, they share a common theme for the future. The author’s message from each of these books gives a prophecy in which our society might be headed to a utopian society. In 1984, the book was published in 1949, but George Orwell provides a predictable story of our society becoming “equal” towards one another due to the government. Also, in Harrison Bergeron, the author gives its message by the story taking place in the future of 2081, while right now it 's 2017, to predict that we the people might actually turn this democratic republic government into a more centralized bureaucracy. Although these two books share a common theme, what makes each one of them similar and different towards one another are the literary elements incorporated into the book.
“Repent Harlequin Said the Tictockman” by Harlan Ellison wrote in 1965 is about a time keeping government trying to achieve complete efficiency. The 1961 science fiction short story “Harrison Bergeron,” by Kurt Vonnegut Jr., is about complete equality, disabling humanity from success. By examining elements of character analysis, tone, plot, setting, and diction, readers can see that these two dystopian stories can be compared and contrasted. “Repent Harlequin…” and “Harrison Bergeron” take place in alternate futures where the government has either taken control of everyone’s schedules or removed things that would make them unequal. Both stories are led by an antagonist and by someone who rebelled against them, but eventually, the rebellion fails and as far as we know the oppression goes on.
In his short story Harrison Bergeron, Kurt Vonnegut uses an astounding amount of powerful imagery and diction to create the perfect scenes of the dystopian reality he creates. Throughout his use of imagery, Vonnegut creates scenes palpably imagined by readers. He uses underlying humor to lighten scenes of the morbid and macabre nature of the future where being different can be a death sentence. The future that is created in totality by Vonnegut is a dire scene created to be filled with a pastiche of people strung with handicaps to make them to be exactly the same as the “perfectly average citizen.” Vonnegut’s tone throughout is both dreary towards the bizarre and twisted dystopia that makes everyone equal, but is also somewhat insulting to those who do not bear handicaps due to being lacking both mentally and physically.
So much so the he becomes reckless, even disobeying the Handicapper General. Becoming the emperor would give too much power to Harrison Bergeron and would most likely become a tyrant. For this reason alone, he is a threat to society. Another reason Harrison Bergeron is a threat to society is because of his influence over others and the potential harm that may cause if others started breaking laws.
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.
“Government 's first duty is to protect the people, not run their lives”. The short story Harrison Bergeron is written by Kurt Vonnegut. It is the year 2081; because of the new Amendments to the constitution everyone is now equal. One day, Harrison Bergeron is taken away from his parents’ home, George and Hazel. They are both unaware of what is happening because George is required to wear a radio in his ear that makes it so he cannot comprehend what is happening around him, the reason he must wear this is because he is smart.
“They were not simple folk, you see, though they were happy. But we do not say the words of cheer, much anymore”. The authors Vonnegut and LeGuin expresses the importance of individuality in the stories “Harrison Bergeron” and “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas”. “Harrison Bergeron” is about how the government makes society “equal” by using gadgets known as handicappers to stop the people from thinking freely. But there’s one person who rebels against the government and he has to face the punishment.
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”, 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.
Books and movies have been around for many years and lately movie directors have been making more and more movies based off of books. Most people do not know that around 50% of movies are based off of books. Although, it really depends on what people mean when a movie is “based” off a book. Some directors say a movie is based off a book, but has a different plot and seems totally different. So, in order to keep true to the book, directors keep the plot relatively the same, but there are a few times they decide to change the message entirely by changing just a few key events.
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.
Harrison Bergeron Essay Claim: Being equal isn’t always fair. Intro: What if someone had to wear a handicap? Or what if someone had to be treated exactly like everyone else?
“Harrison Bergeron” Discussion Questions: Question Two: What is the significance of the dance that Harrison performs with the ballerina? How does the style in which the story is written change in this passage? The significance of the dance that Harrison performs with the ballerina is to represent the way the world would be like if they were allowed to express themselves and show the world their beauty, intelligence, and any other physical attributes. According to page 4, it says “Harrison and his Empress merely listened to the music for a while-listened gravely, as though synchronizing their heartbeats with it…
Dystopian stories are usually set in an unfavorable society in which to live, where the antagonist is the society itself, and the protagonist is the person who is looking towards changing this society and fixing its flaws, who believes that they can make a difference by overthrowing the government or escaping from it. The conflict is often not solved, or the hero fails to solve it, and the dystopian society continues as it was before. Harrison Bergeron is an example of a dystopian story where society has intensely controlled the population’s unique qualities to make everyone exactly equal. People’s talent, beauty, intelligence, and any other quality that makes them different is brought down and destroyed by forcing them to wear handicaps, masks, and weights. Harrison Bergeron is the protagonist of the story.