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Harrison bergeron by kurt vonnegut jr. Critical Response
What is kurt vonnegut worried about in the world of harrison bergeron
Harrison bergeron by kurt vonnegut jr. Critical Response
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Harrison Bergeron
Imagine a world where an oppressive government captures what many call diversity. Where ugly is known as beauty and intelligence is insignificant. “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.” (Vonnegut) This is the future that Harrison experiences, in the short story “Harrison Bergeron,” by Kurt Vonnegut. It is the year 2081 and the government handicaps every citizen with make up or weights to create equality. Where there are over than 200 amendments and the government has full control of all citizens, this is indeed against what America had been built on. Harrison Bergeron touches on the civil rights and how communist a government has become. Freedom of independent thinking, freedom of speech and the people’s diversity were taken in this new government. Government has no right to take away the people’s freedom of speech, thought or diversity for any reason.
Free thinking is what allows humans to exceed others and create unique ideas. Without free thinking people would be brain-dead zombies who listen to anyone, even an oppressive government. “…Stupidly repeating her comment that "that one was a doozy"” (Gale) this is what a person without free thinking becomes. A dumb witted, easy to control citizen who forgets all thoughts in a matter of minutes is the future most average men and women have to look forward to in this short story. In the story, Harrison’s father, George, is forced to wear a machine that has been developed to scramble the brains of those who think too much. The government to not only takes away the free thinking of...
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...rt Vonnegut stresses the dangers of a communist government in his short story, and urges people to take a hint of this possible future and carefully decide the fate of their new government.
Works Cited
Farrell, Susan. "'Harrison Bergeron'." Critical Companion to Kurt Vonnegut: A Literary Reference to His Life and Work, Critical Companion. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2008. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts on File, Inc. 9 March 2010. http://www.fofweb.com
Reed, Peter J. "Harrison Bergeron." Literary Reference Center. Ebsco Host, 1961. Web. Feb. & March 2010.
"Themes and Construction: 'Harrison Bergeron'." EXPLORING Short Stories. Detroit: Gale, 2003. Discovering Collection. Gale. Cherokee High School - NJ. 9 Feb. 2010
Vonnegut, Kurt. Harrison Bergeron. New York: Mercury, 1961. Print.
Kurt Vonnegut, a modern American writer, composed stories about fictional situations that occurred in futuristic versions of today’s world. His stories included violence, both upon oneself and one another, and characters who sought out revenge. In “2BR02B” and “Harrison Bergeron”, Vonnegut conveys physical violence most likely experienced while a prisoner of World War 2, as a way to show how war brings pain and destruction.
Kurt Vonnegut places his experiences and his views in the text. He begins the book by stating, “All this happened, more or less. The war parts, anyway, are pretty much true...I’ve changed all of the names.” Viewing war as a sen...
...dons the glimmer of hope that accompanies the fact that life has its moments of grandeur. He encourages the modern reader to escape the question "why me" and urges us to embrace a philosophy that consistently reminds us that even in the midst of the most cruel (and the most celebrated) events, humanity retains all of its virtue and vice. So it goes. Vonnegut allows us to laugh out loud, despite the tragedies of war and the anxiety of the post-modern world. His picture of the modern man is simultaneously dismal and hopeful. His unique style, satiric overview and astute ability to capture the multiple faces of mankind, properly place him in the realm of the most accomplished authors of the Twentieth Century.
Merrill, Robert. “Kurt Vonnegut as a German American.” The Vonnegut Chronicles. Westport: Greenwood, 1996. 73-83.
Hattenhauer, Darryl. “The Politics of Kurt Vonnegut’s ‘Harrison Bergeron’.” Studies in Short Fiction. 35-4. (1998): 387. EBSCOhost. Web. 12 Mar. 2014.
“Harrison Bergeron” is a short fiction written by Kurt Vonnegut, the story is set in the year 2081, and it talks about a futuristic society where all individuals are equal. No one is cleverer, beautiful or stronger than the other, and if somebody is better than the others, they find themselves compelled by The United States Handicapper General to put on what they call “handicaps” to bring down their abilities to the most basic levels as the others. Throughout the story, Vonnegut expresses a bold and vigorous political and social criticism of some historical events in the US during the 1960s such as the Cold War and Communism, television and American Culture and Civil Rights Movement.
Have you ever wondered what life would be if everyone was equal? Well, in the year 2081, the government made everyone equal with handicaps. In the story “Harrison Bergeron”, the government makes people with special talents or abilities wear handicaps. I agree with the claim,”Everyone was not truly equal in “Harrison Bergeron”. Some reasons why I believe that this statement wasn’t true is that the handicaps don’t take away your abilities, handicaps are not useful, and it is not fair for the people with abilities to wear handicaps. Everyone is truly equal in “Harrison Bergeron” because it made average people and below average people feel equal to the higher and better people.
Vonnegut Jr., Kurt. “Harrison Bergeron”. Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing. Ed. X.J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. 11th Ed. New York: Longman, 2010.215-219. Print
Have you wondered what the world would be like if everyone was forced into the government’s opinion of equality? In Kurt Vonnegut Jr.’s story “Harrison Bergeron”, it is the year 2081 and the government has altered the society into being physically and socially equal. The most charming people are left to wear hideous masks, the intelligent are to be equipped with a earpiece that plays ear piercing noises, and the strong people have to wear excessive heavy weights so they resemble the weak. I believe that the society of “Harrison Bergeron” is not truly equal, because no one can be changed unless they want to be.
Schatt, Stanley. "The World of Kurt Vonnegut, Jr." in Critique: Studies in Modern Fiction. Vol. XII, No. 3, 1971. Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism, Vol. 1. Detroit: Gale,1973.
Vonnegut, Kurt. “Harrison Bergeron.” Short Stories Characters In Conflict. Ed. John E. Warner. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1981. 344-353
Would a regular citizen enjoy being as skilled of a dancer as a ballerina? Or as intelligent as the next guy? In Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.’s story of Harrison Bergeron, handicaps, such as small radio’s that blast sharp sounds are used to prevent individuals from having more intellectual thoughts than others. The year is 2081 and everyone is equal in every which way. Handicapped George and his wife Hazel are watching a ballerina performance. The show is interrupted by an announcement to watch out for their son, Harrison Bergeron as he is under-handicapped and dangerous. The conflict begins when Harrison enters the studio and declares he is Emperor. He finds his ballerina Empress, and dances with her before being shot and killed by Handicapper General Diana, resolving the conflict. This event is a more specific account of Harrison’s conflict with the current society as a whole, which is reflected through the use of theme, symbolism, and point of view.
“The narrator of the story Harrison Bergeron definitions’ of America’s equality begins not by positing a future equality as much as exposing the misunderstanding of it in the past and the present” (Hattenhauer). The story Harrison Bergeron has two meanings: too much equality and too much inequality. Too much equality is expressed through the Handicap General, Diana Glampers, as she wants everyone to be equal because she envies the talented and beautiful. However, “it is not fair to the productive, the risk taking, or the hard working, to deprive them of what they have produced, merely to make them equal to others who have worked less, taken less risk, and produced less” (Moore). This society would never work because “no one who has lived very long can think that all men are equal in physical, prowess, mental capacity, willingness to work or save, to assume leadership, to design or invent new products or processes, to get votes, to preach sermons, to play the violin, or even to make love” (Even Fingerprints Differ). In any society one should not have the power to make people equal for each “were endowed by our creator” (Moore). In a society where there is too much inequality, or a potential dictatorship- Harrison Bergeron, society would fail as well. Kurt Vonnegut wrote Harrison Bergeron in order to show the world that we cannot take away talent or
Rackstraw, Loree. “The Vonnegut Cosmos.” The North American Review 267.4 (Dec. 1982): 63-67. JSTOR. Web. 25 Sept. 2011.
Klinkowitz, Jerome and Patricia B Wallace. The Norton Anthology of Americal Literature. Seventh. Vol. Volume D. New York City: Norton, 2007, 2003, 1998, 1994, 1989, 1985, 1979. 5 vols.