Use Of Imagery In Harrison Bergeron

Fatima Al Otaibi Ms. Linette Booysen October 6, 2015 H a r r i s o n B e r g e r o n :​T o n e  Evidently, the world of 2081 conveys the impression of a very flawed dystopian story. And that is displayed through the tone of the story in which it suggests the emotion the writer enforces in the story. To clarify the particular tone of the story, there are many critical factors that collaborate to attain that aim.

The perfect world, everyone will say we need world peace, and end hunger, but sometimes we just have to look at the world we are living in. Realize that we have a roof over our heads a transportation system to get us where we need to be, and friends and family always there. In the short story Harrison Bergeron satire and dystopian literature elements are used to create a tale of society creating an illusion of perfection, when limiting the gifted and ruining the human brain to be less than it can be. In the story Harrison Bergeron Kurt Vonnegut creates the ideal dystopian society making everyone equal.

In the dystopian short stories “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, and “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. both display a society that strives to make a better system, yet the participants are blind to the moral flaws that they are constructed against. While “The Lottery” strives for population control, the means of achieving it comes at the cost of a life. However “Harrison Bergeron” is the most effective in achieving equality because it attempts to make all citizens equal , and by using the ''handicap'' approach it permits society to function on a level that allows each individual to be treated the same regardless of what other qualities they may have. To begin, in “Harrison Bergeron” the society was based on fairness because anything

In this society nobody can be smarter than each other, while everyone is basically brain dead nobody is coming up with new ideas or solutions. People who are naturally quicker than others are weighted down by sandbags. This way of trying to make everyone equal will slow the society down to make the citizens sluggish in the result of this nothing will get accomplished. To top this dystopian society off there is one person who isn’t exactly the same as everyone else. Diana Moon Glampers, the Handicapper General, gets to live her life perfectly normal without any imperfections.

In the short story Harrison Bergeron social injustice lies at the heart of the conflict. Vonnegut paints the picture of what seems like equality but it’s not. Throughout this satirical and dystopian story the author tries to convey how society forces people to lose their individuality, yet depicts how some individuals try to rebel to it. Vonnegut highlights this aspect by attributing to each character of the story a handicap with which they are forced to cohabit obliging everybody to be equal and how television can be utilized for persuasion. Harrison Bergeron is set in 2081 in the United States.

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.

Skilled authors know how to utilize diction, details, and language, just to name a few, to create a tone or central message. In a short story, Harrison Bergeron, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. was able to manipulate details to create his own theme in his work. Vonnegut was able to generate a dystopian society in this particular writing with elements such as imagery, details, and language. With these three factors, he shows us his thoughts on what a society with total equality can be like.

Imagine a society in which everyone is equal, sounds perfect right? You would be wrong in this case of forced equality. In Kurt Vonnegut's short story "Harrison Bergeron," Harrison is a one in a million intellectual who is taken away by the government at the age of fourteen. Typically, those with knowledge are handicapped to become average. He eventually becomes incarcerated on "suspicion of plotting to overthrow the government" (Vonnegut 3).

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," written by Kurt Vonnegut during the 1960s, portrays vigorous political and social criticisms of America. The political system depicted in Vonnegut's story distinctly enforces the concept that people should be equal in every way. This concept, however, is taken literal. It is the year 2081 and every individual in America is forced by law to be completely equal. No one is allowed to be smarter, good-looking, or physically superior than anyone else.

In society today, normalcy is average; some are above, and some are below. In this short story, that is removed.

Due to regulations instituted by the futuristic government, and enforced by the Handicapper General, all superior characteristics possessed by people were made obsolete, and the entire population became equally strong both mentally and physically. “The year was 2081, and everybody was finally equal. They weren’t only equal before God and the law. They were equal every which way. Nobody was smarter than anybody else.

Thesis: In Kurt Vonnegut 's story, "Harrison Bergeron," symbolism, tone, and irony reveal the author 's message to the reader which is his perspective on equality. Notably, there are countless symbols in the narrative "Harrison Bergeron" all of which trace back to the theme of the story. The handicaps people are forced to wear are symbols for the control the government has over people. "George was toying with the vague notion that maybe dancers shouldn 't be handicapped.

If Vonnegut’s society were to raised the ungifted instead of handicap the gifted than readers would see it as an acceptable society, however it would not be seen as dystopian anymore because of societies numbness to self modification and overall attitude towards it. Pain is a big reason why Vonnegut’s society is flawed and seen as unacceptable. The physical pain is the most obvious form of pain readers can see in the characters in “Harrison Bergeron”. One of the main characters, Hazel, who has no handicaps can tell George is in pain, saying “boy!...

Science and technology has changed the future and way of thinking. According to Kurt Vonnegut in his short story “Harrison Bergeron” government and technology will control the people resulting in a society with limitations. Vonnegut illustrates that the Handicapper General is an agent of equality; however, throughout the story it does not demonstrate that the Handicapper Generals wear a “mental handicap radio” (Bergeron) in their ears. The reader assumes that the government does not use the ear devices since it is a “government transmitter” (Bergeron), and “the transmitter would send out some sharp noise to keep people like George from taking advantage of their brains” (Bergeron). The government not only controls their mind, they control