Harrison Bergeron Freedom

As Free As a Bird

“I am no bird; and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an independent will.” ― Charlotte Brontë. Freedom is an idea with no concrete explanation. Every person has their own beliefs of what it means to be free because no one has the same experiences. Experiences vary from person to person and influence their view on the seven letter word - freedom. Because of differing perspectives, freedom generally translates into the ability to do as one desires; it is defined as having freewill. To be free is to have no restraints upon one’s being.

Restraints upon one’s body and mind prevent one from being free. Physical restraints hold the body and leave it immobile. Mental restraints take away one’s own independent and fruitful

The short story Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut follows the story of a man and his wife, George and Hazel, who live in a society where everyone is equal in every way possible. This is not necessarily a good advancement because the people cannot express their uniqueness and there are severe repercussions if something of that nature does transpire. George and Hazel Bergeron had their child, Harrison, taken away from them due to his retaliation to the odd equality, but they were not even allowed to properly mourn or analyze the situation because the government banned their freewill and ability to think deeply. These two people and everyone else who lives in this world are forced to abide by rules placed by the authority and have no say in what is done to them. This story artistically demonstrates what freedom is not. As proclaimed in the short story, “They were burdened with sash-weights and bags of birdshot, and their faces were masked, so that no one, seeing a free and graceful gesture or a pretty face, would feel like something the cat drug in.” The people who live in this futuristic world have the weight of those sacks restricting them and this can also be seen in the metaphorical sense where the weight of having to follow strict rules and not being free falls onto their shoulders. They also don’t have the freedom to get rid of the objects which prevent them from being themselves. Jim Morrison once stated, “The most important kind of freedom is to be what you really are. You trade in your reality for a role. You trade in your sense for an act. You give up your ability to feel, and in exchange, put on a mask.” The people written into this story are not being who they are and quite literally have to make use of a mask. They are not experiencing this important freedom. The sash-weights, for example, cannot be removed. It is stated in the story “Two years in prison and two