“Repent, Harlequin” Said the Ticktockman was written by Harlan Ellison. Ellison’s story depicts a totalitarian society about a character named the Ticktockman who controls and keeps activities running perfectly on time. However, Harlequin rebels against the Ticktockman’s rule in order to liberate the people from the Ticktockman’s control. Ellison’s story is viewed as a dystopian future because all people must complete all of their tasks in a precise time. The Ticktockman’s punishment for failing to be on time is decreasing the amount of time from one’s life. A totalitarian society should not exist because it degrades the uniqueness and individuality of its members for its own utilitarian purposes. Ellison’s story portrays how a person should never be reduced to their functionality by eliminating their personality. …show more content…
The story begins with a section from Henry Thoreau’s Civil Disobedience explaining how societies should not be totally controlled by the government since the citizens do not have the cherished freedoms they desire.
This insert aptly describes how the state unfortunately, but veritably makes, “The mass of men serve the state thus, not as men mainly, but as machines with their bodies.” (429) Thoreau was concerned consciences were not developed or ignored in the process of incorporating them into the state system. Thoreau makes a piercing observation that “… as most legislators, politicians, lawyers, ministers, and office holders – serve the state chiefly with their heads; and as they rarely make any moral distinctions, they are as likely to serve the Devil, without intending it, as God.”(429) Freedom is an inherent right that men are intrinsically entitled to, especially elaborated in the United States Constitution by our founding
fathers. Modern day society is getting closer to this dystopian utilitarianism by putting productivity above employees’ personal welfare and benefits. This mentality is very much comparable to the Ticktockman’s system, “… The shift was delayed seven minutes. They did not get home for seven minutes. The master schedule was thrown off by seven minutes. Quotas were delayed by inoperative slidewalks for seven minutes.” (431) If a modern day work schedule is disrupted and its productivities delayed, the employer still holds the employee responsible to make up the setback, even if it is not his fault. The employer’s supervisor will hold the employee accountable and push the employee to work harder and faster to make up for the loss of time. The slower employee will not lose his "time life", but will lose his job. Modern day unions are supposed to protect the current employees, but they are more interested in adding new members, even if they are paid a lower rate than that of their predecessors. Unions have become big businesses themselves and truly do not represent their members. The union system is becoming very similar to that of the “Machine System” in Ellison’s story. Time is essential to develop authentic human relationships and mature our children. In today's society, time is taken from the family by forcing the mothers to work to maintain a minimal standard of living. Unfortunately, many children end up in jail because they are left unsupervised and left to fend for themselves by necessity. Children need parents to develop well-formed consciences that they can rely on to make sound moral judgments. Due to this lack of development, the most heinous and unconscionable crimes have been committed. One cannot sacrifice quantity time for quality time. When economic productivity is put before our children, all of society suffers. In this story, Harlequin's personality which had "form and substance" unlike the other members of the state who had forsaken their conscientious objections to just fit into the reigning totalitarian system finally succumbs to become an automaton in the system. (429) Initially Ellison stated beautifully, “He had allowed to become too real." (429) When men forsake their conscience they become robotic with no depth of feeling. Unfortunately Harlequin despite his best resistance efforts gave up; the pressure of tackling the system alone was too much for him. “A very few, as heroes, patriots, martyrs, reformers, in the great sense, and men, serve the state with their consciences also, and so necessarily resist it for the most part; and they commonly treated as enemies by it." (429). It is obvious people in communist countries face the same bleak prognosis of their government actually serving the people instead of using them as disposable pawns to benefit their economic system. However, unfortunately, even in developed countries governments use oppressive and coercive systems, to make their citizens comform to their economic agendas. Ellison's short story is definitely analogous to many systems employed unscrupulously by powerful people worldwide.
1. Our great country was founded upon a high set of principles, values, and laws. Many of these are easily seen when looking at the United States constitution. The first ten amendments are what is commonly known as the Bill of Rights. This is good and all, but until the fourteenth amendment was passed, the Bill of Rights only was applied to the Federal government. The 14th amendment has a clause that says, "no state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States." The Supreme Court ruled against “Total Incorporation”, but instead ruled in favor of “Selective Incorporation”. This meaning that the Supreme Court would define the constitutionality of the treatment of a citizen by the state.
In 1848, David Thoreau addressed and lectured civil disobedience to the Concord Lyceum in response to his jail time related to his protest of slavery and the Mexican War. In his lecture, Thoreau expresses in the beginning “That government is best which governs least,” which sets the topic for the rest of the lecture, and is arguably the overall theme of his speech. He chastises American institutions and policies, attempting to expand his views to others. In addition, he advances his views to his audience by way of urgency, analyzing the misdeeds of the government while stressing the time-critical importance of civil disobedience. Thoreau addresses civil disobedience to apprise the people the need for a civil protest to the unjust laws created
...hniques in the book that lead to conformity, to make the people ultimately follow the way the government wants everyone to follow, to be an unintelligent and unquestionable people.
Throughout the book, Bradbury includes details pertaining to the importance of society as a whole, “People want to be happy, isn’t that right? … That’s all we live for, isn’t it? For pleasure, for titillation?” (56). By including the details that people live to strive for happiness and pleasure, Bradbury creates the way the government views societal conformity as a method to keep the people “happy”. In these details, the author emphasizes that people live for happiness, but he leaves the details of what else do people live for other than happiness in society. He shows his critical tone through his details of the strict statements regarding happiness and society. Bradbury also includes a small detail near the end of the book, which shows his critical tone towards those who had conformed in the cities compared to the individuals who had chosen to escape the cities in “I wrote a book called The Fingers in the Glove; the Proper Relationship between the Individual and Society, and here I am!” (143). By using the title, Bradbury affirms his theme of societal conformity and reiterates his critical tone. Bradbury provides important details, which assist in presenting his critical tone towards societal
Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World introduces us to a futuristic technological world where monogamy is shunned, science is used in order to maintain stability, and society is divided into 5 castes consisting of alphas(highest), betas, gammas, deltas, and epsilons(lowest). In the Brave New World, the author demonstrates how society mandates people’s beliefs, using many characters throughout the novel. John, a savage, has never been able to fit into society. Moving through two contradicting societies, John is unable to adapt to the major differences of the civilized society due to the different ways upon which it is conducted.
In the passage "Civil Disobedience" by Thoreau the author explicitly states that the current government is not sufficiently strong enough for the governed a whole. Thoreau's diction directly states his belief on improving the government into a success. He firmly displays his argument through repetition and metaphors. First, Thoreau profoundly informs the negative downsides of the American Government. For instance he utilizes an example of repetition repeatedly stating, "It does not keep the country free. It does not settle the west. It does not educate. The repeated phrase "it does not" creates a sense of ultimate disapproval. A disapproval in which the author intends the audience to consider as well. Which in fact he disapproves the modifications
One reason we must have the second amendment is to protect the freedom for which our country fought so hard to win. The Declaration of Independence states: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”[1] However, if these rights were ‘self-evident’, why did the founding fathers need to grant them to the states? We might as well ask why man is the way that he is, imperfect. We all wonder about this sad truth, but the fact remains that man is fallen. These rights are self-evident, obvious to human reason, but because humans are fallen, we are sometimes blinded to these apparent truths and we err in our rationality. King George was blind to these unalienable rights, as were Na...
Within Henry V’s St. Crispin's day speech, Henry V displays common ground within all soldiers so they feel valued. He covers three varying points in the speech, each geared toward various types of people. He starts out technical, though he briefly covers this, he states that their presence alone is a positive outlook on their country. As he moves through his speech he speaks mainly of honor and pride, which reaches across the majority of men. Henry V then ends on comparing the soldiers to a family.
There are times throughout the history of the United States when its citizens have felt the need to revolt against the government. Two such cases occurred during the time of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Henry David Thoreau. Both men courageously confronted the mighty us government; both spent time in jail as a result of their defiant actions; both men stood for a belief in a better future, and both presented their dreams through non-violent protest and civil disobedience. The similarities in their course of action are undeniable, but each man used different terms on which they based their arguments. Martin Luther King Junior's appeal through the human conscience, and Henry Thoreau's excellent use of patriotism, present similar issues in very dissimilar ways.
Kurt Vonnegut’s dystopian fiction, or a type of fiction in which the society’s attempt to create a perfect world goes very wrong, “Harrison Bergeron” was first published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction in 1961. This story is about Harrison Bergeron, who is forced to diminish his abilities because they are more enhanced than everyone else’s. This short story is an allusion of a perfect society and it is maintained through totalitarian. The author expresses his theme of the dysfunctional government of utopia through his effective use of simile, irony, and symbolism. Kurt Vonnegut was one of the most influential American writers and novelists, and his writings have left a deep influence on the American Literature of the 20th century. Vonnegut is also famous for his humanist beliefs and was the honoree of the American Humanist Association. “Harrison Bergeron” is about a fictional time in the future where everyone is forced to wear handicapping devices to ensure that everyone is equal. So can true equality ever be achieved through strict governmental control?
Throughout modern American culture certain laws passed by the majority have been considered unjust by a wise minority. However, with the logical and emotional appeal of hard fought battles, voices have been heard, and the minds of the majority can sometimes be converted to see the truth. Thoreau, after spending a night in jail and seeing the truth hidden behind the propaganda of the majority, became convinced that he could no longer accept his government’s behavior of passing laws that benefit the majority with degrading the minority. It’s quite ironic that by the government imprisoning Thoreau he became freer then ever before. He was able to see how the government turned peaceably inclined men into controllable machines. Thoreau saw how the government dealt with its citizens as only a body, while completely disregarding the sense, intellect, and moral beliefs of its people. In his essay “Civil Disobedience,” Thoreau stated that “a government ruled by majority in all cases cannot be based on justice.” He further believed that “under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also prison.” This point made by Thoreau can be seen as the truth throughout history. A just man never sits by quietly watching the majority degrade the minority to suit their own immoral purposes. Like Thoreau, another just man who stood out from the quiet minority was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. King was, as well, willing to suffer for his views to put an end to racial segregation, and was arrested on numerous occasions for holding strong in his believes and spreading his message throughout the minds of all God’s children. King often cited conscience as a guide to obeying just laws and disobeying unjust ones. In an essay written by King titled “A letter from Birmingham Jail,” King clearly defines the interpretation of the differerence between the two kinds of laws. “An unjust law is a code that a numerical or power majority group compels a minority group to obey but does not make binding on itself. This is a difference made legal. By the same token, a just law is a code that a majority compels a minority to follow and that it is willing to follow itself. This is sameness made legal.” To further understand this King quotes from St. Augustine himself who once stated “any law that uplifts human personality is just.
...tee against arbitrary and malicious persecution of individuals by the state; by weakening those protections, the government has opened the doors to new encroachments on the liberties that all residents of the United States rightfully enjoy.
In Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall’s article, “An African American’s Perspective on the Constitution”, he concedes that the founding father’s Constitution contained numerous imperfections. Marshall feels it was a product of time and tremendous courage that brought forth the fourteenth amendment to the Constitution, which guarantees an individual’s Lockean rights to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”. Marshall believed the achievements that secured these individuals rights “belongs to those who refused to acquiesce in outdated notions” of life, liberty, and property. Thus, Marshall points out that the progression of time necessitates the modernization of the Constitution. Thomas Jefferson even anticipated the future evolution of our society and substituted the words “pursuit of happiness” for “property” in the Declaration of Independence having realized that someday our values would reshape. As public support for federal involvement has increased overtime, the Constitution is amended to better represent our evolving society. Although current public opinion favors federal support to provide access to healthcare, the design of our government dramatically lengthens the time necessary to implement modernize the Constitution. As the importance in maintaining one’s health has increased in America, the public has demanded the government to provide healthcare, however, the Constitutional prose recognizes the right to health but not the right to healthcare.
In 1791, the Bill of Rights, consisting of 10 amendments, was ratified into the constitution. The document’s purpose was to spell out the liberties of the people that the government could not infringe upon. Considered necessary by many at the time of its development, the Bill of Rights became the cause for a huge debate between two different factions: The Federalists and the Anti-Federalists. The Federalists were those who thought that there should be a new Union created with a strong centralized government and individual regional governments. They felt that it was not necessary for there to be a bill of rights because it was implied that those rights the Constitution did not specifically state would be handed down to the states. On the other hand, the Anti-Federalists were opposed to such a form of government on the grounds that the Constitution, in which it was outlined, lacked clarity in the protections of the individuals. The Anti-Federalists—whose memory of British oppression was still fresh in their minds—wanted certain rights and guarantees that were to be apart of the constitution (Glasser 1991). A clear demonstration of the Anti-Federalist attitude was performed by Samuel Bryan, who published a series of essays named the ‘Cenitnal Essays,’ which “assailed the sweeping power of the central government, the usurpation of state sovereignty, and the absence of a bill of rights guaranteeing individual liberties such as freedom of speech and freedom of religion (Bran 1986).” Of course, the freedoms stated above are a portion and not the whole of The Bill of Rights. Ultimately, The Bill of Rights was adopted to appease the Anti-Federalists, whose support was necessary to ratify the constitution, and who believed that without the liberties granted therein, the new constitution—that they thought was vague and granted too much power to the central government—would give way to an elite tyrannical government.
State government plays an integral part in the political system from allowing citizens to have multiple access points to influence policy to providing grants to improve communities. Local governments are a part of that state government which couldn’t function without the role that local communities contribute. State governments give their residents an opportunity to feel connected and influential in the policy making process. If America was only governed at the national level and not the federal level then the interests of the everyday citizen could not be heard. It would be more like a class system where only the elite had access to influence the policy makers. They also provide services that the federal government may not feel the need to implement yet or just to see how it works out within the states. “It was states that designed the first family leave legislation giving workers ti...