Equality In the short story, “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut Jr., the author explores the idea of equality within mankind. Most of the characters get forced into equality by getting handicapped and masked. In theory, the idea of striving for equality may seem like the perfect society, but once everything is said and done, it turns out that equality is not an ideal situation. In the process of creating forced equality, everyone gets weighed down to the weakest link. Kurt Vonnegut Jr. concludes that through the story of “Harrison Bergeron” the gain of forced equality is not worth the loss of excellence. Equality can seem like an amazing idea, but it is how you execute it that makes all the difference. In the short story, Kurt Vonnegut
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In present day society thinking outside of the box is a good thing, but the government In “Harrison Bergeron” punishes those who accidentally use their superior mental abilities, “George was toying with the vague notion that maybe dancers shouldn’t be handicapped. But he didn’t get very far with it before another noise in his ear radio scattered his thoughts. George winced. So did two out of eight ballerinas” (1). As hard as the mentally handicapped try, they will not be able erase all intelligent thoughts from their brain. So without even realizing it, they form these thoughts and sharp noises encompass their bodies, as a type of punishment for “taking unfair advantage of their brains”. The mentally handicapped are not the only ones who get punished; basically anyone with a handicap will experience some sort of negative experience. Although the physically strong humans do not get a direct punishment, they do face a couple of hardships along the way, “’All of a sudden you look so tired,’ said Hazel. ‘Why don’t you stretch out one the sofa, so you can rest you handicap bag on the pillows, honeybunch.’ She was referring to the forty-seven pounds of birdshot in a canvas bag, which was padlocked around George’s neck” (2). The amount of handicap you get is solely based on how muscular and strong you are. So essentially the birdshot is actually making you stronger, which results in getting more lead balls added into you canvas bag. But there is a limit for everyone and, any human, even the strongest will get tired sooner or later. This represents how flawed their system is because ultimately, no matter what handicap a person has, there will always be a
In present day society thinking outside of the box is a good thing, but the government In “Harrison Bergeron” punishes those who accidentally use their superior mental abilities, “George was toying with the vague notion that maybe dancers shouldn’t be handicapped. But he didn’t get very far with it before another noise in his ear radio scattered his thoughts. George winced. So did two out of eight ballerinas” (1). As hard as the mentally handicapped try, they will not be able erase all intelligent thoughts from their brain. So without even realizing it, they form these thoughts and sharp noises encompass their bodies, as a type of punishment for “taking unfair advantage of their brains”. The mentally handicapped are not the only ones who get punished; basically anyone with a handicap will experience some sort of negative experience. Although the physically strong humans do not get a direct punishment, they do face a couple of hardships along the way, “’All of a sudden you look so tired,’ said Hazel. ‘Why don’t you stretch out one the sofa, so you can rest you handicap bag on the pillows, honeybunch.’ She was referring to the forty-seven pounds of birdshot in a canvas bag, which was padlocked around George’s neck” (2). The amount of handicap you get is solely based on how muscular and strong you are. So essentially the birdshot is actually making you stronger, which results in getting more lead balls added into you canvas bag. But there is a limit for everyone and, any human, even the strongest will get tired sooner or later. This represents how flawed their system is because ultimately, no matter what handicap a person has, there will always be a