Harrison Bergeron Essay

Kurt Vonneguts short story Harrison Bergeron is about a futuristic order where beauty is destroyed to create equality. It centers around the highest official, suitably named, the General Handicapper. His only role to to seek out and find to people who are skilled, pretty, or good at sports and forced them to hide away these talents with masks and waits. It is through basic literary elements that Vonnegut creates and develops the story that general conformity leads to the deformation of humanity.The short story begins in the prox, The year was 2081 and Vonnegut immediately puts out the benefits of this futuristic society, stating everybody was last equal and not adept equal before God but in every way possible (Vonnegut, 1968, p. 7). Vonneguts description foreshadows what is to come in the novel and certainly this forced equality stop only lead to a dangerous and potentially deadly ending. Conformity and the effects of uniformity is a common theme in the bulk of science fictio n literature and Vonneguts short stories are no different.However, in Harrison Bergergon not just the theme of uniformity is explore but also the stripping away of humanity. This short story, the government forces every iodine to be equal nobody was smarter than anybody else. nonentity was better looking than anybody else. Nobody was stronger or quicker than anybody else. (Vonnegut, 1968, p. 7). Government agents force people who are beautiful to wear ugly masks and people who are thin are forced to backpack around weights. The goal of all this control is to make sure that everyone has the same handicaps, the same features, and the same feelings.Even odder is that smart people were forced to wear radios which interfered with in that respect brain functional creating a human society where everyone was equally stupid. By eliminating the the issues, which modern society still deals with, of racism, sexism, and discrimination based on looks, Vonneguts future society should be health y and happy because everyone is the same. However, in the pursuit of equality the loss of humanity took place. Humanity is based on the idea of independence and individualism. The have protagonist of this short story and namesake is Harrison Bergeron.He is a bright and friendly boy who has the most hated qualities in his society. He is intelligent, hand whatsoever, tall, and strong. Due to Harrisions features he is require to do several things to compensate for all his good quality. He is subject to radio noises which stops his concentration and focus. He has to carry hundreds of pounds of extra weight. He also have to wear sun glasses which gives him a head and he has to undergo operating room fort o make him ugly. While awaiting his surgery he escapes and takes over a news station. On air he takes off his handicaps and is revealed to society.When enters the station he is looks like a walking junk yard, required to wear a red rubber ball for a nose, keep his eyebrows shaved off, a nd cover his even white teeth with black caps at snaggle-tooth ergodic ( Vonnegut, 1968, p. 21). He also meets up with a ballerina and she too casts off her imposed disabilities. When the couple dances they shrug off the law of gravity and the laws of motion as well, leaping to kiss the thirty-foot ceiling until finally they remained suspended in air inches below the ceiling, and they kissed each other for a long, long time. It is then that Glampers enters with her shotgun (Vonnegut, 1968, p.22). unfortunately both are killed by the General Handicapper. As a sub plot his parents are watching the news station but once everything is verbalise and done they can not remember what has happened due their forced handicaps. Irony is another literary device that Vonnegut uses in this short story. Vonnegut comments on the look-ism which is apparent in American society. Vonnegut even appears cynical about what passes as average in America. Hazel had a perfectly average intelligence, which m eant she couldnt think about anything draw out in short bursts (Vonnegut, 1968, p. 20).The observation on the ballerinas continues the undercutting humor They werent really very goodno better than anybody else would have been, anyway (Vonnegut, 1968, p. 20). Heavy raillery emerges in the plodding Hazels missing the point, as when she sympathizes with the stuttering announcer for trying real hard to do his best or suggests George might remove some of his weights in the evenings. Compounding the irony she says, I think Id make a good Handicapper General. Good as anybody else, said George. The depart of sounds and the comic brutality of their effect provides another source of comedy.One of Georges winces prompts Hazel to ask the cause. Sounded like somebody hitting a milk nursing bottle with a hammer, he replies. Another sounds like a twenty-one gun salute that leaves George white and trembling and leaves two of the ballerinas on the floor clutching their temples. The final one i s a riveting gun. GeeI could tell that one was a doozy, said Hazel. You can say that again, said George. Gee said HazelI could tell that one was a doozy. (Vonnegut, 1968, p. 41) Hazels stupid behavior and mindset symbolizes the dumbing down of America.In addition the picture is equally symbolic. When this book was written, the television was now found in every home throughout the country. It became the way that people communicated and received news. Reading, literature, and human interaction decreased and was replaced by the mindless sink in of television shows and governmentally run news broadcasts. Hazels aversion to the old days when she could be made to feel like something the cat dragged in (Vonnegut, 1968, p. 22) obviously is not very persuasive The narration in Harrison Bergeron is also interesting.This is because the narration is third person, as if person is looking back on the events that just happened. Third person omnipresent is an interesting choice for narration bec ause it allows the reader into the minds of all constitutions. For example Vonnegut reminds the readers, in third person narration Nobody can be in any way superior to anybody else, as guaranteed by the 211th, 212th, and 213th Amendments to the Constitution, and to the unceasing vigilance of the agents of the United States Handicapper General (Vonnegut, 1968, p. 20). In particular, the motivations of each character which inspire their actions and words.Harrison Bergeron is a very unique short story because Vonnegut manipulates basic literary elements and creates a satire of American ideals and societal norms. Vonnegut is able too, in a tongue and cheek manner, show how the government can create a society which lacks humanity. A government that is left uncontrolled can exert such(prenominal) great power that it can destroy what makes human unique creatures on this planet. In doing so, people become mindless and vulnerable to the governmental propaganda that tells the citizens of a s ociety that these rules are for their own good.