Backpack Literature By Harrison Bergeron Summary

Backpack Literature by X. J. Kennedy is full of short stories that compel the readers into looking between the lines of what they read and come up with their own underlining conclusions. Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut is set in a dystopian future where the American government regulates the abilities of the population so no one is better than anyone else. It was an interesting read with an equally interesting theme. The theme of a story is a general idea or message that the story is trying to convey. This story has a strong theme of conformity and how it deals with individualism.

Conformity is behavior following socially accepted standards, this story conveys this to an extreme. “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. Nobody was better looking than anybody else. Nobody was stronger or quicker than anybody else (195 Kennedy).“ Everyone in this dystopian future is average in every aspect. If not, the government gives the person a series of handicaps to hinder them. It is a law that everyone must be the same in aptitude. This shows that the government has an average standard for their people. Later it is revealed that they even in prison those that aren’t fully

affected by their handicaps. If someone doesn’t fit the standard then they are penalized.

It can be inferred that the government thinks this course of action is what is best for the population.

“They weren't really very good-no better than anybody else would have been, anyway. They were burdened with sashweights and bags of birdshot, and their faces were masked, so that no one, seeing a free and graceful gesture or a pretty face, would feel like something the cat drug in (195 Kennedy).” This passage illustrates the why to the government-run conformity standard. If everyone was the same, there would be no reason to be envious, sad, angry. There would be no reason to fight. It would be a nation in compliance. Unfortunately, there would not be much left to be

desired.

To be your own person or fit in with everyone else? Conformity is in a struggle with individuality. “It was then that Diana Moon Glampers, the Handicapper General, came into the studio with a double-barreled ten-gauge shotgun. She fired twice, and the Emperor and the Empress were dead before they hit the floor. Diana Moon Glampers loaded the gun again. She aimed it at the musicians and told them they had ten seconds to get their handicaps back on (199 Kennedy).” Here shows the struggle between conformity and individualism. The Empress and Emperor were happy and lively once they shucked their handicaps. As soon as they did, they had a target painted on their backs. The Conformity Standard came in and snuffed out individualism, then it turned it’s gun on the others and demanded they conform once again. Individuals in the story and in real life are judged by the standard of society. Sometimes they meet the same fate as in the story.

This story shows different points of conformity. Conformity is something that people struggle with every day. Do they be themselves or just go with the group so they are not ridiculed? The people in this story, unfortunately, do not have a choice. They are forced to be the same or they get punished. If you do not fit into the mold and resist? You are purged. Conformity or individualism, it’s a scary choice that can have repercussions no matter what.