Harrison Bergeron: A Dystopian Society

A dystopian society is the complete opposite of an idealistic utopia where something has gone wrong, making the situation horrible and dehumanizing. In both “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas” and “Harrison Bergeron”, the quest for total happiness and equality respectfully is twisted, making the circumstances of the the society unthinkable. The theme of “Harrison Bergeron” is that a world that oppresses its minority to benefit the majority will never succeed be free. In “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas”, the theme is that a society that exploits its minority in order to benefit the majority can never be free as well.
In “Harrison Bergeron”, everyone is seemingly equal in every possible way, yet their equality comes with a cost. In this society, the individuality of those who are deemed stronger, smarter, or in any way superior to another is impaired through handicaps. For example, George is considered as having above average intelligence, so he has to wear a handicap in his ear at all times to distrubt his thoughts. Any time he starts to make any type of coherent thought, a deafening noise goes off, “his thoughts fled in panic, like bandits from a burglar alarm,” and he can no longer remember what just happened (Vonnegut 38). This simile shows how handicapped George truly is,

essentially bringing him down to the lowest intelligence possible. The ballerina is also deprived the chance to exercise her individuality, in this case her ability to speak in her own voice, something taken for granted. After accidently speaking in a beautiful voice, she changes to a metaphorical “grackle squawk,” (Vonnegut 41). This shows a lack of freedom that is only too common in that world.
In “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas”, freedom is taken away when the minority is exploited. In this story, the city of Omelas is seemingly a perfect, happy utopia. However, in the basement of a building there is a small child living in absolutely dreadful conditions. All the people in the town understand that “their happiness, the beauty of their city... depend wholly on this child’s abominable misery” so they do nothing to stop it (Le Guin 2). The imagery of the wonderful city in comparison to the disparity of the child helps to define the people’s pure happiness. However, the people of Omelas are dependent upon the child, making their joy slave to the child’s pain. This can be further shown through the foil of the young boy playing the flute and the wretched child. Both are around 10 years old, but as people “pause to listen, and they smile” as the young flute boy plays, his counterpart is only looked at with “frightened, disgusted eyes” (Le Guin 2). As long as there is suffering in the basement, the boy can play. This shows that even though the citizens have no king, they are ruled by the child they are exploiting.
In both stories, the right of some are being sacrificed in order to benefit others.

A commonality in the two themes is that freedom can’t survive for anyone when even the smallest child or strongest group are unwillingly sacrificed in order to achieve it. Both stories believe that freedom is shared among people, not reserved for the chosen. A difference is how the characters react to the theme. In “Harrison Bergeron”, people are too unintelligent and unaware to realize the injustice. However, the citizens of Omelas are extremely aware of what they are doing to the wretched child, but they choose to ignore it in order to maintain their happiness at whatever cost to their

freedom.
In conclusion, “Harrison Bergeron” tells how freedom can’t thrive when the majority is exploited in order to benefit the minority. Likewise, “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas” tells how freedom cannot flourish when the minority is being wrongfully used to benefit the majority. In “Harrison Bergeron”, the pursuit for equality ends up oppressing the majority of people through government handicaps, while the citizens of Omelas are oppressed by a miserable child that provides them with absolute happiness. Overall, freedom cannot coexist with the oppression of another human, how ever extensive or concentrated this inequality reaches.