Equality In Kurt Vonnegut's Harrison Bergeron

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What would a perfect society look like? How would it end up? In “Harrison Bergeron,” by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr, complete equality causes a horrible society. The laws don’t allow people people do be unique and different; the government’s controlling people to get everyone to be equal; people are rebelling because of all the stress. In this story everybody is restricted to having freedom to be themselves. The government has very strict laws that say everybody has to be equal. In order for the government to achieve this, they have people wear handicaps to prevent them from being unique. One example is that people who are intelligent have to wear buzzers and ballerinas have to wear masks and weights. Furthermore, this country has a horrible society because people are rebelling (because of the government). It states,” A …show more content…

It states,” She fired twice, and the Emperor and the Empress were dead before they hit the floor,” (Vonnegut,5). Talk about the government controlling in any way possible! They are literally killing people because they are disobeying the law, which seems pretty insane. The government is so intense with their mandatory laws, they are killing people to keep everyone equal. Putting people in jail is probably a normal consequence, but they don’t want anyone that is rebelling laws. Another piece of evidence is where is says,” I don’t notice my handicap bag any more. It’s just a part of me,” (Vonnegut,2). The government, again, really just has an idea of complete equality. This is what their perfect world is. George hasn’t, probably, ever taken his handicaps off. He doesn’t want to take the risk of disobeying laws. That’s why he doesn’t seem to even notice them anymore. The government and their rules are so strict, they are controlling the country in any way possible. They don’t care, they just want everyone to be/feel equal, (or be the

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