Harrison Bergeron Essay

Have you ever imagined everyone in your society being the same in every way? In the short story “Harrison Bergeron,” by Kurt Vonnegut he shows what it would look like in life. Vonnegut illustrated the way the government is trying to control everybody. If you are more intelligent or healthier than somebody else, you would have to wear an earpiece or some type of handicapped weights to make everyone equal. Everyone wants to be different from one another, and have equal rights no matter who you are. However, i’m going to prove that everyone does not want to be the same.

Everyone can physically see that we are all different, it does not matter the way they look at it. In the story “Harrison Bergeron,” the ballerina had to wear a really hideous

mask on her face when she went out into public because she was really beautiful, but just wearing a mask when no one else is makes her different from everyone else.

The stronger you are, the more weights that you had to wear. It does not matter if you are home alone or not, they had to wear the weights all the time and could not take them off or the government would make them pay a fine or they go to prison “ two years in prison and two thousand dollars fine for every ball I took out,” (Vonnegut 4). In the short story if you are more intelligence than someone you would have to wear some type of earpiece that would send loud rings in your head just so you don’t use the extra time thinking too much. George was one of those men who was more intelligent than others, he would think of something and then lose it because of the loud ringing noise the earpiece gave off, and he had to wear those weights because he was a tad bit stronger than another human being “I could think if it was chimes,”(Vonnegut 2).

Finally, Harrison Bergeron was tired of having to be almost the same as one another. Harrison knew that everyone should be different no matter what. The government took him when he was only fourteen years old, and put him in extreme lockdown just because he was more intelligent, and stronger than the average human and he refused to wear what the government wanted him to wear. The handicapped general shot Harrison at the ballerina studio because he took off the handicapped weights, and the earpiece when he should have had them on so he is not different from one another.
Imagining everyone in the same society as you all being the same is kind of harsh isn’t it?

Well, in the story “Harrison Bergeron,” by Kurt Vonnegut it shows how it all became.In the story it gives you details on how the government is going to try to control everybody by having citizens wear handicaps, earpieces, and face masks even if they are just a slight different from somebody else ( When Harrison Bergeron and the ballerina took off their handicapped weights, everyone was shocked because they knew that something bad was about to happen.Next the ballerina and Harrison started to dance to the music with no worries, just two different people dancing to express the freedom that they now have. Later, the handicapped general shot both of them down, killing them to show that you must have to follow some type of law or you have to pay the result, and some people would say that when you fight for your freedom, sometimes it is worth dying for. Authority will enforce laws or rules even if the society doesn’t like them, When you fight for freedom, sometimes there is a cost, and when Harrison and the ballerina got shot they were fighting for theirs and others freedom. . So, the short story “Harrison Bergeron,” by Kurt Vonnegut is showing government control, and how they are trying to control everyone to all be the same in every

way.
Finally, I want to end that Harrison and the ballerina died trying to fight for their own freedom, and maybe other people too. When you sit there and just think about how miserable everyone would be if you all have to be equal in every way People fighting for their freedom sometimes always ends up passing away, while trying to succeed. When Hazel was watching television and seen her son on there she was amazed on how bad the government actually is. Seeing with her own eyes her son being shot and hitting the stage, she finally realized that the government was controlling everyone a little too much.Seeing my point of view on things should have changed or kept your mind on how the government is trying to control everyone.