What Is The Theme Of Harrison Bergeron By Kurt Vonnegut

In “Harrison Bergeron”, Vonnegut uses characterization, symbolism, and figurative language to satirize extreme equality in society. In “Harrison Bergeron,” the author satirizes extreme equality in society by using characterization. Vonnegut teaches the readers by showing them what the future could be like if equality is taken too literally. The government imposed handicaps that make the people in Vonnegut’s story all equal.

The short story "Harrison Bergeron" by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. portrays a future in which humanity is being made equals in all aspects which is ultimately the downfall of society. This beaurocratic dystopia forces society to be all equal through the use of handicaps and masks. The handicaps used are items such as ear pieces and weights. The ear pieces send out noises that will counter creative and academic thinking. The weights are hung around necks to balance the strength when compared to others.

This is what happens in Kurt Vonnegut Jrs. dystopian story, “Harrison Bergeron.” The government put handicaps on people so no one is better than each other. There is no more competition. Harrison, the protagonist, is different than everyone else.

This is due to technology. For example, on page 13 it states, “Got so many, starting a few years ago, we had the special machines built.” This shows that the technology has gotten out of control by allowing simple minding people to do extreme tasks. No one cares how little they know, because it’s as simple as that; that is all that they know. In “Harrison Bergeron”, the theme is exhibited in a different way.

Sameness allows for the cultivation of insecurity and fear in lieu of the success of others. Rather than viewing differences gifts among individuals, those who desire sameness fear not being identical with others. Sameness is uniformity; it is the printing of one piece of art, rather than several unique original pieces. A cautionary tale regarding sameness can be found in Kurt Vonnegut’s “Harrison Bergeron.” In “Harrison Bergeron,” Vonnegut crafts a dystopian future America that has concerned itself with sameness.

However, we can see in the upper classes, some kind of model or a goal to reach. It is normal to aspire of a better life and to look like what is impossible to achieve or to denigrate what one really is. That is what George Orwell wants to say in his autobriography entitled The Road to Wigan Pier (Doc A2), “it is in fact very difficult to escape, culturally, from the class into which you have born.” We can then implement any strategy to avoid looking like ours. This is what George Orwell is trying to show us in these examples like the millionaire who wants to improve his speech but it doesn't change who he really is.

They use the characters in this book to demonstrate why certain rules exist, as well as to prove why said rules shouldn’t exist. This book portrays that the rules of the society exist because the government believes they will help create complete equality among the society 's citizens. The main character, whose name happens to be Equality, realizes near the end of the Anthem that utopia is unachievable, especially by way of equality. With this new insight, he begins to develop

In their terms, Myatt described fairness in a realistic term that was life-related, of always using the term in an imperfect way. Furthermore, he wanted to change so that people could have the good healthy state of mind. The term fairness to Kubic means that the world does not know how to be equal to everybody and he used the Electoral College to explain his own term of fairness. In the story “Life Isn’t Fair - Deal With It,” he explained why life is not fair and how you can deal with it by doing it yourself instead of blaming other people for your mistakes. This is why he concurs that life is not fair so deal with whatever our own lives throw at us now because that is is based off mainly on the decisions you devise.

Everyone today wants to belong. Everyone wants to be like everyone, but it can be misread on what oneself is .Contrary to popular belief, though, individuality brings more success and happiness than conformity. Everyone is unique in their own way and people shouldn’t be fearful of each other’s differences. In the short story Harrison Bergeron the protagonist Harrison is very different from others and has a lot of good aspects but also has some crucial flaws. In the story, everyone is being controlled by the government to be equal to one another.

In several different ways, the principle of equality of opportunity is relevant to the criminal justice system in the twenty-first century. John Rawls “assumes that we are self-interested, rational beings motivated to select laws, rules, and ways-of-life that are most advantageous to ourselves” (p. 117). The principle of equality is a theory that we all wish truly existed; however, it is unfortunate that it does not exist due to our own personal biases. Unconsciously, we all have biased and prejudicial thoughts—we are human and this tends to result on a reality based on social values; however, it does not make it correct. Unfortunately, we have not all learned to put our differences aside in order to get along.