Harrison Bergeron Letters From Birmingham Jail Analysis

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Together Rather than Apart Enacting social change is one of the hardest feats anyone can undertake. It is difficult to make others listen, let alone do anything. This is the main conflict in both “Harrison Bergeron” and “Letters from Birmingham Jail.” Both describe a need for social change, but the methods, and the outcomes, are very different.” In “Harrison Bergeron,” the main character goes out on his own to change the injustices of his world, and in “Letters from Birmingham Jail,” Martin Luther King Jr. writes of the struggles the massive Civil Rights movement. “Harrison Bergeron” ends with no social change, while the main concern in “Letters from Birmingham Jail,” as known now, is resolved. The main difference between the outcomes of …show more content…

This is done by adding handicaps to advanced citizens in order to drag them down to the level of the least advanced citizens. One such citizen, Harrison Bergeron, was extremely advanced and therefore had several handicaps. Harrison, on his own, rebelled against the government; however, a government official was able to kill him and smother his insurrection. What did Harrison do wrong? What Harrison should have done is assembled a large group of people to rebel against the government. A large group is much harder for the people to ignore and the government to suppress; however, Harrison went out on his own and was in the eye of the public for no more than a couple of minutes before he and one other were “dead before they hit the floor,” as well as their rebellion (Vonnegut 913). His actions never amounted to much in the story, his own mother forgot immediately and his father did not see or hear of his death. Harrison Bergeron could have made a significant difference, but he just could not do everything needed for the change to happen; the government was just too powerful. He needed to assemble the people of the society to call out the government, but as the second author also points out, getting people to take a stand is easier said than …show more content…

was the master of generating widespread support for the Civil Rights movement. It was his words in this letter that persuaded many, even those not of his race. However, King repeatedly states that he was immensely disappointed by those who did not take a direct stand against wrongdoings:“Never again can we afford to live with the narrow, provincial "outside agitator" idea” ( 970). King believed that the only way to combat the injustices of the world was for everyone to join forces and speak together so that everyone’s voice can be heard, not stand alone as an “outside agitator” that the government can easily ignore or quell. If social change is a necessary action, than people should not act as if they are the sole person to make a difference, as King said, “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly” (970). Every injustice in the world affects every person; if people do not take a stand together, then it will continue to tear apart society; people cannot just stand idly by and call out grievances every once in a while. Injustice is “like a boil that can never be cured so long as it is covered up but must be opened with all its ugliness to the natural medicines of air and light” (King 974). If people just continue to pick at an issue, then it will only become worse. However, if they open it wide

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