Through a lifespan, people will endure many stressful events and experiences. The severity of these events easily overwhelm them and as a result they will let their emotions overshadow sensible decisions. When in such an emotional state, it is common that people make impulsive decisions based off their feelings, but, this could lead to permanent consequences. Of the numerous emotions, fear predominantly is seen in times of crisis. Fear can be defined as, “An emotion of uneasiness that arises as a normal response to perceived threat that may be real or imagined” (Adamec). Fear may arise from a confrontation or from avoiding a threat, or it may come in the form of a discovery. Fear is often a direct result of one being scared due to a crisis …show more content…
involving danger. Some symptoms include, “ a pounding heart, muscular tenseness, trembling, dryness of the throat and mouth...nausea...difficulty in breathing” (Adamec). These symptoms can lead to impulsive decisions as well as influence the choices made in those decisions. Given that many crises are based off of danger, majority if not all humans experience fear during a crisis. Therefore, fear most influence one during a time of crisis by creating trust issues and provoking impulsivity. After a catastrophic event, most often the victims of the event experience trust issues that impact their future plans. Of all crises, mass shootings are one of the most dangerous and disastrous events that could take place. On Sunday, October 1 a gunman fired on a crowd of concertgoers. Being the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history, at least 58 people were killed and more than 500 were hurt (“Las Vegas Shooting: What”). Following this devastating event, fear in the form of trust issues is seen in future travelers as well as the companies surrounding the incident. Jason Bracelin explains the impact of the shooting two months later. He stated, “The Mandalay Bay experienced a spike in room cancellations shortly after the shooting, MGM Chief Executive Officer Jim Murren told investors during a conference call on Nov. 8”. Many travelers planning to stay at the Mandalay Bay where fearful of another crisis and they lacked trust in the security and safety of the hotel as well as the general tourist area. As a result, they handled their trust issues by cancelling their vacation or deciding to travel somewhere else that posed less danger. While many tourists were fearful, business such as the Mandalay Bay showed great concern. The Mandalay Bay is both fearful of new potential terrorist attacks as well as another decline in business. As a result, they have implemented more security to hopefully prevent any attack as well as growing the business (Barcelin). As a whole, the Mandalay Bay also lacked trust in the security. As a result they promptly increased the security to both increase the trust of security in themselves as well as in the guests. To conclude, fear has influenced the decisions of those experiencing a crisis. Fear is often seen in literature because it provokes the actions of the characters.
More often than not, when a character experiences fear, the emotion results in impulsive decisions. Impulsive characters create suspense in a story and keep the reader engaged. Many characters experience fear and deal with it impulsively in Kurt Vonnegut’s Harrison Bergeron. The people of the society are living in dystopia where everyone is equal. Those who are above average are forced to wear handicaps to limit them. During a ballet, Harrison Bergeron, an arrested civilian who was far superior than the average human emerged on the stage to overthrow the government. While he is on the stage he demands the the musicians to play music with their handicaps off (Vonnegut). The musicians are not accustomed to such danger because they live in a society where everything is the same. As a result, they are clearly fearful of the possible danger. To manage this fear, they impulsively follow the words of Harrison and remove their handicaps even though it is strictly prohibited. Moreover, Harrison and his empress were dancing on the stage while violating many rules. Vonnegut states, “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.” The Handicapper General was fearful that Harrison would facilitate rebellion and ruin the perfect society. As a result, she …show more content…
quickly made a decision to shoot him. Although she believed this would end the riot, her violence incited it. With more thought, she would have been able to make a better decision to handle Harrison. Hence, it is apparent that impulsivity is a direct result of fear. Now, some may believe that anger is actually the most influential emotion in human beings. Anger is defined as, “An intense emotional state in which one feels a high level of displeasure and frustration” (Fawcett). Humans can experience anger when they feel threatened or attacked as well as fustrated or powerless. In Harrison Bergeron, Harrison is dancing on the stage with his Empress. Harrison’s dad sees on the television the Handicapper General. She arrives in the theater and shoots Harrison (Vonnegut). It would be expected that Harrison’s father would be enraged to see his son killed. However, because fear mainly controls the way one acts in a crisis, Harrison acted as though the event never happened. After the father views his son being shot, he stated, “Forget sad thing” (Vonnegut). Clearly, Harrison’s father is fearful of the society in which he has become accustomed to not expressing his emotions due to the harsh consequences if he were to do so. If anger most influences one during a crisis, Harrison’s dad would have acted differently. Thus, fear is surely the most influential emotion during a crisis. Fear causes one's mental emotions to overtake their rational thoughts.
These emotions eventually lead to lasting consequences. The Las Vegas shooting has proven that fear has prompted many people planning to visit or staying at the scene to rethink their decisions due to the lack of trust. Trust issues prevented the future travelers from staying at the hotel as well as motivated an increase in security. In Harrison Bergeron, fear surrounded the society due to the strict rules. The musicians simply listened to Harrison because of his commanding presence. With more thought and less impulsivity they would not have broken the law. Meanwhile, because the Handicapper General rushed to kill Harrison, she created a riot due to the fact the shooting was broadcasted. As humans, people fear situations that are far from life-or-death, and thus hang back for no good reason. Bad experiences can trigger a fear response within us that is hard to overcome. Yet exposing ourselves to our personal demons is the best way to move past them. Once people are able to overcome their fear, they can continue to flourish and
thrive.
The theme of the text “Harrison Bergeron” is equality has its pro’s and con’s,the author's use of similes and metaphors helps develop the theme.First off,one element that help support this theme is honor. Humor helps support the theme because in the text,”Harrison Bergeron” it shows how employees can’t even do their jobs because they have their handicaps on,but Know one earns a better profit because they're the same.Another type of element the author uses is similes .In the text it says,”but Harrison looked like a walking junkyard”.That helps support the theme because if the leader or government puts handicaps com people they will get mad and try to escape their state or country.The theme in the article is equality has its pro’s and con’s this
Harrison Bergeron is a short story that creates many images and feelings while using symbols and themes to critique aspects of our lives. In the story, the future US government implements a mandatory handicap for any citizens who is over their standards of normal. The goal of the program is to make everyone equal in physical capabilities, mental aptitude and even outward appearance. The story is focused around a husband and wife whose son, Harrison, was taken by the government because he is very strong and smart, and therefore too above normal not to be locked up. But, Harrison’s will is too great. He ends up breaking out of prison, and into a TV studio where he appears on TV. There, he removes the government’s equipment off of himself, and a dancer, before beginning to dance beautifully until they are both killed by the authorities. The author uses this story to satire
The emotions that stem from core beliefs influence how people act and react in society. Some emotions that influence people are anger, fear, shame, and pride. In “Samuel” a woman wants to turn and tell the kids to stop jumping recklessly, and even threaten to call a police officer (Paley 349). The boys who are of different ethnic background other than white scare the woman. The narrator states from the woman’s point of view, “But three of the boys were Negroes and the other was something else she couldn’t tell for sure. She was afraid they’d be fresh and laugh at her and embarrass her. She wasn’t afraid they would hit her, but she was afraid of embarrassment.” (Paley 349). The stereotype of these boys causes the woman to fear the feeling of embarrassment causing her to do nothing to alter the boys’ behaviors. If the woman had intervened the outcome could had turned out different. The man who "citizenly" (Paley 350) walks to the end of the car to pull the emergency stop discussed earlier feels a moral obligation to take matter into his own hands to stop the boys’ behaviors. The man feels his duty is to intervene; although his actions lead to a tragic outcome. Désirée is also affected by her husband’s cultural
Harrison Bergeron’s mother, Hazel Bergeron, is the definition of the Handicapper General’s “normal” and model for enforced equality. Everyone must be leveled and thereby oppressed to her standards. Hazel’s husband, George Bergeron, is no exception. “‘I’d think it would be real interesting, hearing all the different sounds,’ said Hazel, a little envious. ‘All the things they think up.’” (Vonnegut 910). George suffers from his own comically ludicrous mental handicap. The fact that this incites jealousy in Hazel reaffirms the artificial equality Vonnegut ridicules. The author satirizes oppression in American society through his depictions of misery and restraint exhibited in his characters’ ordeals. “The different times that George is interrupted from thinking, and his inner monologue is cut, we have a sort of stopping his having dialogue with himself. So he can’t have a unique personality, which itself involves his worldviews” (Joodaki 71). Not being able to know oneself epitomizes
The pages of history have longed been stained with the works of man written in blood. Wars and conflicts and bloodshed were all too common. But why? What could drive a man to kill another? Many would say it is man’s evil nature, his greed, envy, and wrath. And certainly, they all have a roll in it. But in reality, it is something far less malevolent, at least at first. The sole reason why conflicts grow and spread comes from the individuality that every human cherishes so dearly. This can easily be shown in the story “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut, in which a society has been created where everyone of talent has been handicapped so they are not better than anyone else, all for the sake of equality. This text will show that Individuality
The balance between fear and foresight is a necessary component for an individual to maintain a healthy lifestyle, an imbalance of these components can potentially put people in difficult situations as it relates to their survival. Fear can be a humbling experience when it is not balanced with foresight, the nuances of that particular experience instills a subconscious thought in an individual that resonates with fear, in terms of people realizing their mistakes and making the necessary adjustments in life.
The short story "Harrison Bergeron" by Kurt Vonnegut epitomizes what solid convictions can make people do and where this, thusly, can lead society to. The inventors of this general public firmly trust that the fundamental driver of friction is contrast among individuals. This solid conviction makes them take great measures to make everybody in the general public equivalent. As indicated by them, a definitive perfect world is the place each individual is equivalent. Be that as it may, as demonstrated further in the paper, their error of the expressions "fairness" and "joy" drives the general public well on a descending way to being an oppressed world.
“Tears stood on the rims of his red eyes.” George hears a sharp painful buzzer go off in his headset handicap, which makes him inevitable cry and tremble. This noise is meant to break up George’s mind so he cannot think properly. This restriction enforced by the government allows the government to control it’s citizen’s thoughts. Although it brings pain and misery to George, it does prevent him from forming rebellious thoughts against the government and its system. George, as well as the people imprisoned by these handicaps are incapable of experiencing normal daily activities such as dancing, which is something the ballerinas have trouble doing in this story due to the handicaps. George’s reaction to the painful buzzer results in him to “turn white and tremble” which shows the level of misery the handicaps can impose on someone. Instead of equalizing the society, the handicaps mainly take away the people’s freedom and free will which causes their happiness to dwindle. The handicaps not only restrict the people’s thoughts and actions but also their emotional, physical, and mental
Have you ever had something ever get to you or make you you scared? That is called fear and tons an tons of people have different fears. Fear is an emotion that makes you feel afraid or something is frighten. Some fears many include spiders, clowns and even death. ‘’Fear Prompts Teens To Act Impulsively’’ by Laura Sanders, ‘’Stress for Success’’ by Alison Pearce, and ‘’And Uncomfortable Bed’’ By Guy Maupassant all explain the idea of fear.
As humans every individual on planet earth was created to be equal .Meaning despite race, colour, gender, sexuality, appearance or ability to perform a task everybody is the same.In the present society and generation its very difficult for everybody to be seen in the same way or treated equally. Harrison Bergeron takes place in 2081 and the government has been modified due to the government affirming laws in attempt to achieve total equality amongst everyone in society.Individuality is not supported by the government in fear of the idea of equality not being successful .Throughout the story characters such as Harrison, George ,and Hazel Bergeron encounter overwhelming events.In the short story Harrison Bergeron the author Kurt Vonnegut develops the idea of the dangers associated with total equality and the absence of individuality resulting in disastrous consequences.The outcome of the laws lead to lack of individualism and absence of freedom .Vonnegut also brings forward the actions the government takes in attempt to eliminate any threating forces.
The definition of dystopia goes as follows, “an imagined place or state in which everything is unpleasant or bad, typically a totalitarian or environmentally degraded one”. Some today believe that this world is heading to a dystopian era in the near future due to recent events. According to a CBS News article, sales of one edition of 1984 has seen a sale jump of 10,000% since January, after President Trump was elected. Many books have a dystopian theme to them and they are getting more and more popular because of this. Animal Farm, The Hunger Games, and the short story “Harrison Bergeron” are some examples of dystopia, and they are far off of what they think is coming.
One of the most complex emotions in existence, fear is the primary emotion that triggers any kind of change, as it is capable of linking with any existing emotion to create entirely different lives upon lives. For any change that happens, fear is always present to turn the tide whichever way it pleases.
Fear motivates many people to act upon matters, right or wrong. This emotion has been important in many events in both works of literature, and in the real world. It has forced military geniuses into retreat, and influenced them to plan another method of attack. Fear can be both a positive and a negative acting force in one’s life, a quality that can motivate one to success as well as to downfall.
Fear influences people to make irrational decisions and take extreme measures. Often times, these actions are done to protect one’s reputation. Fear causes people to lie and manipulate to those they care about in order to escape what they are scared of most. Fear of failure has caused higher levels of anxiety, and has made society put blame on each other, rather than owning up to their mistakes. Fear can also cause one to forget one’s true identity and lose one’s values. There are two options that one can take when being faced with a fear: run away from the fear, or go through it and learn a valuable lesson in the end that will make you a stronger person. Fear is a harmful emotion that everyone has to go through in order to succeed.
In the words of Bertrand Russell, “Fear is the main source of superstition, and one of the main sources of cruelty. To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom” (Russell). Fear causes many problems in our lives. Fear influences many of a person’s actions and decisions. However, people usually regret the decisions or actions they made out of fear. Also, these actions and decisions can cause problems for those people in their future. Fear is a harmful emotion, for it clouds people’s judgement, disables them from taking action, and causes them to make decisions that they will regret later.