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Part One:
In the short story Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr, the government takes fourteen year old Harrison Bergeron away from his parent George and Hazel. This all occurs during the year of 2081, and amendments 211, 212, and 213 are in play during this time period. Hazel is only allowed to have average intelligence, and her husband George wears a helmet on his head, which limits his thinking. Hazel and George are watching the television as two ballerinas dance, but they are wearing radios, which restrict them and make them dance the same. Hazel said if she was a handicap general she would make chimes ring on Sunday to make it religious. Hazel tells George to take a nap because he look tired from wearing the handicap bag that weighs in at forty pounds. She suggests he takes some weight out but for every weight he takes out he goes to jail for that many years. Also everyone would go back to his or her competitive ways in the community, and he doesn’t want that.
As they’re watching television a reporter comes on with a speech impediment, he isn’t able to speak clearly and passes it over to a ballerina with a beautiful voice but ugly face. Hazel was proud of the reporter for trying to talk with what God gave him and thinks he should get an award. The ballerina is reporting that Harrison Bergeron had escaped from jail. He is 300 pounds, wearing metal, a red rubber nose, shaved off eyebrows, and his handicaps. An image of Harrison appears on the television as he has taken over the newsroom. He says he is the emperor and everyone must obey him. He takes off all of his handicaps, and tells the first women to arise will be his empress. A ballerina rises and he takes her up in his arms as they defy gravity while kissing. He dem...
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...ubber nose, one of the ballerinas must wear a mask to hide her beautiful face to make her look ugly. The intelligent must wear helmets that disrupt their thoughts and the strong must wear weights to keep them weighted down. The government already supplies equality but freedom will cost you a price if you want it. Television is another symbol of the story because its releases all of the important info needed to know about Harrison, and what’s going on with him.
Irony plays a part when Harrison is shown to be a stronger person as he wears his handicap gear. The weights were actually supposed to weigh him down, but instead made him stronger. Also his parents George and Hazel don’t react much when the government takes over their son to make him the same as everyone else. Also Hazel forgets how their son dies because her intelligence and memory isn’t good.
Part Five:
It's the year 2081 and there are three new amendments added to the constitution that made American fully equal in every aspect. The 211, 212, and 213 were the amendment that were added to the constitution. George and Hazel Bergeron have a son named Harrison who was taken away at the age of fourteen years old. George Bergeron was a very intelligence person, so for people like him they had a radio set in their ear. There is a little sound wave that go off sometimes to delay their thought process. His wife on the other hand was not handicap because she was not above average like her husband. One night in 2018, the Bergerons are sitting in front of the TV watching ballet, with ballerinas wearing masks to hide their beauty and weights to hold back their grace and strength. The Ballet is interrupted when one of the ballerinas has a serious government news announcement to make. The news was about Harrison Bergeron who has escaped and is one his way to the ballet show! He rips off the door to the stage and storms on screen. He declares himself Emperor and takes one of the ballerinas as his Empress. Harrison and his empress both dance, fly through the air, and kiss each other. The Handicapper General, Diana Moon Glampers, did not care about how he feel about the rules, so
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
The short novel “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut presents a futuristic portrayal of a world where everyone is equal in every way possible. In “Harrison Bergeron,” Vonnegut displays the clear flaws in society that lead to the creation of a horrific dystopia that lacks genuine human emotions, fails to develop as a civilized community and is strictly government At the beginning of the story we are introduced to George and Hazel who are an ordinary couple that consequently suffer from handicaps. They are recalling the time when their son, Harrison Bergeron, was taken from his home by the handicapper general. It was an unhappy thought “but George and Hazel couldn't think about it very hard” (Vonnegut 1) due to the mental radio that separated the two from regular functioning emotions. Although Hazel was not affected by the handicap itself, it became a societal norm to act almost robot-like.
Moreover, within the text, the significance of symbolism is apparent as there are indications of the presence of different handicaps. Notably, those with above average physical attributes and above average intelligence are required by law to wear handicaps. Thus, the application and enforcement of handicaps are metaphors for sameness, because individuals with advantageous traits are limited and refrained from using their bodies and brains to their maximum abilities, for that is considered to be unfair to those who does not possess the same level of capability. Several main examples of handicaps includes “...47 pounds of birdshot… ear radios… spectacles intended to make [one] not only half blind but to [provide] whanging headaches”. Therefore, the intensity of the handicaps is a sign of the government’s seriousness in the field of administering disabilities onto their own citizens. Unfortunately, in order to maintain the sickly “equality”, the people are stripped off of their freedom. When announcers are unable to speak properly, and ballerinas are unable to dance properly, and musicians unable to perform properly, and people are unable to formulate thoughts properly — it is not a matter of equality, but a matter how low society
In the story, Harrison Bergeron represents many symbols. A major symbolic moment occurs when Harrison breaks away from his chains. This represents Harrison's freedom.
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
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 most important theme that we can easily notice in the story is the lack of freedom, which is extremely significant to the American ideals, and Harrison demonstrates it as his escapes from jail, remove his handicaps, and influence others around him. In order to have a completely equal society in Harrison Bergeron’s world, people cannot choose what they want to take part in or what they are good at because if a person is above average in anything, even appearance, they are handicapped. These brain and body devices are implanted in an effort to make everyone equal. However, instead of raising everyone up to the better level, the government chooses instead to lower people to the lowest common level of human thought and action, which means that people with beautiful faces wear masks. Also, people with above average intelligence wear a device that gives a soul-shattering piercing noise directly into the ear to destroy any train of thought. Larger and stronger people have bags of buckshot padlocked a...
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
Kurt Vonnegut’s science fiction, short story, “Harrison Bergeron” satirizes the defective side of an ideal, utopian American society in 2081, where “everyone was finally equal” (Vonnegut 1). When you first begin to read “Harrison Bergeron”, through an objective, nonchalant voice of the narrator, nothing really overly suggests negativity, yet the conclusion and the narrator's subtle description of the events show how comically tragic it really is. Vonnegut’s use of morbid satire elicits a strong response from the readers as it makes you quickly realize that this scenario does not resemble a utopian society at all, but an oppressive, government and technology-controlled society. “A dystopian society is a
This short story takes place in the future around the year 2081. Due to the 211th, 212th, and 213th Amendments under the law, everyone is treated as an equal. With that being said, no one is prettier, smarter or stronger than anyone else. These laws of equality were created so that everyone is made to be equal by placing mental and physical handicaps onto them. A Handicapper General named Dianna Moon Glampers is the one who enforces all the laws for this society as they are designed to keep everyone the same. Harrison Bergeron is the main character in this story and he was taken away from his parents George and Hazel at the age of fourteen by the government. Harrison is not only intelligent but also tall and handsome. Living in a world where everyone is forced to be equal make him a big threat to society. Dianna Glampers
George a willfully ignorant man who has handicaps because of a society full of equality if one is not as good as another than the others have to have handicaps in order to be equivalent to everyone else. Hazel ignorant women who can only think of things in short bursts. George and Hazel are parents of Harrison Bergeron. George and Hazel are not likable people they unintentionally frustrate
The compelling short story Harrison Bergeron, by Kurt Vonnegut, is set in a future dystopian society. The plot follows an “average family” in the year 2081 after the 211th, 212th, and 213th amendments to the constitution were added. These three laws establish the principle of equality; everyone must be equal in every aspect of life. To ensure this, the government utilizes “handicaps”, small machines or even body weights, to make certain no one person is better than anyone else. The center of the story, married couple Hazel and George, both have handicaps given to them by the Handicap General. As they are watching television one day, their incarcerated son appears on screen claiming to want to overthrow the government. Known as Harrison Bergeron, he was long ago locked up because of his in- humanlike strength and inability to be tamed by handicaps. But while broadcasted live, he proceeds to rip off his handicaps and dance around until he is shot and killed by Diana Moon, the Handicap General. The story ends with Hazel’s “average” intelligence forcing her to forget what she just witnessed, as her and George’s day goes on as normal. Completely unsettling, this story rem...
Imagine it is the year 2081, where society is thriving in an undesirable society that is being controlled by a government deeming everyone equal by handicapping unique abilities.(Vonnegut) How would a person feel under these conditions? At one time or another, individuals may have felt trapped in not being able to fully express their uniqueness without the fear of humiliation. “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut Jr, highlights the causes and effects of this disturbing dystopia that regards to future happenings. Nevertheless, The short story, “Harrison Bergeron”, highlights three prominent themes that greatly influences the story such as the resulting damage of equality on the people imposed conformity
In the story of Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut introduces a world ruled by the Handicapper General. To control the citizens the Handicapper General changes the amendments and creates a new one. In order to prevent any rebellion the Handicapper General enforces handicapes on the citizens. Handicaps prevent people from using their own talent and makes them equal. Ugly Masks, Ear pieces that scatter thoughts and Bags filled with lead balls are just a few of the Handicapes force people not to be unique. George and Harrison are a few examples of people who have been forced to wear Handicaps. The plot of the story is about being trapped in a word of equality. Harrison Bergeron son of George Bergeron is a main character of the story who realizes he has no freedom breaks into a T.V studio and announces that he the new ruler. Of course eventually in the end of the story he dies by the Handicapper General because of his actions. The citizens of course did not react to the event what so ever because of the ear piece that wiped their memories. The theme of the story is control being enforced by the Handicapper General. She enforces control by her influence on the citizens, and the handicapes are enforced upon the citizens.