Aristotle’s literary theory of recognition, reversal, and katharsis can be seen in the short story, “Harrison Bergeron”, by Kurt Vonnegut. According to Aristotle’s theory of katharsis, the feelings of pity and fear helps the reader to purge these emotions to feel better in the end. Recognition is a grand revelation that the main character or readers realize. Reversal is the unexpected change of direction that the story takes. Aristotle believes that the best tragedies include both recognition and reversal at the same time. In the story of “Harrison Bergeron”, Americans have become completely equal by the year 2081. Everyone is average and there are laws and equipment that makes sure that the population is identical in appearance, intelligence, …show more content…
Bergeron asks everyone at the television station to join him in rebelling because he realized that he can be who he wants to be and not what the government wants him to be. That was the moment that Harrison realized that he did not have to be the same as everyone else. Vonnegut shows the theory of recognition in the scene where “Harrison tore the straps of his handicap harness like wet tissue paper, tore the straps guaranteed to support five thousand pounds” (229). The theory of recognition is applied here as Bergeron breaks free of his physical and mental confinement and tries to help others do the same. It is in this scene where the main character gives himself and others hope that the government can be beaten as he sheds off his restraints. Vonnegut did not just randomly put in that scene of recognition into his story. As Aristotle says, “events must not seem to occur randomly or by coincidence, but should seem to proceed according to the laws of cause and effect” (Handout). Vonnegut purposely put in the recognition scene so that the tragedy would have a protagonist. Nothing that Vonnegut wrote into his story was on accident. His story about a grim, hopeless future needed a hero and the moment of recognition gave him the opportunity to introduce Harrison Bergeron as the main hero as he stands up for himself against the oppressive government. Without Aristotle’s theory of recognition applied …show more content…
The double dose of reversal occurred back-to-back as Bergeron realized that he and others should embrace their individuality andthe scene where the handicap general kills Bergeron for breaking the law. The first scene of reversal, where Bergeron strips off his handicap equipment, occurs at the same time as the scene of recognition. Not only does Bergeron realize that the government should not suppress people’s uniqueness but the scene also turns the story around and shows the reader that it is possible for a revolt to happen against the authoritarian government. Vonnegut gives Bergeron and his empress a taste of freedom as “they remained suspended in the air inches below the ceiling, and they kissed each other for a long, long time” (230). This moment of reversal is meant to give the reader and the people watching this happen on television that citizens do not have to be controlled anymore. The next moment of reversal happens right after Bergeron is enjoying his brief experience of freedom as the handicap general shoots Bergeron with a shotgun. The plot is turned around again as hope is taken away from the reader and the Americans as Bergeron’s death became an example of what would happen if any American defied the government. These moments of reversal are applied to the story in order to keep the reader engaged. Readers were captivated as Bergeron danced freely with his empress, but then the heartwarming scene
Toni Marrison’s “Recitatif” describes his main characters, Twyla’s characteristic appearance on how Twyla seems to be happier on praising her mother’s beauty even she was abandoned. While in “Harrison” Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut defines as his hero who desires to change an equal society in which everyone is equal to anyone including physical appearance, such as beauty. Thus, both authors argue differently on beauty. Making everything and everyone to appear gorgeous could help to build a better society.
Kurt Vonnegut, a modern American writer, composed stories about fictional situations that occurred in futuristic versions of today’s world. His stories included violence, both upon oneself and one another, and characters who sought out revenge. In “2BR02B” and “Harrison Bergeron”, Vonnegut conveys physical violence most likely experienced while a prisoner of World War 2, as a way to show how war brings pain and destruction.
Hattenhauer, Darryl. “The Politics of Kurt Vonnegut’s ‘Harrison Bergeron’.” Studies in Short Fiction. 35-4. (1998): 387. EBSCOhost. Web. 12 Mar. 2014.
Vonnegut and Jackson, through the use of well written short stories, have managed to address concerning issues in today’s societies. Through the use of Harrison Bergeron Kurt Vonnegut was able to address the growing issue of equality, this is a very important issue as many people in modern societies view the idea of equality to be incredible. Shirley Jackson through The Lottery addressed the concerning issue of societies blindly following religions and traditions due to superstitions and the unwillingness to change. These dystopian texts demonstrate the inevitable outcome these problems will eventually cause.
The story “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut is120 years in the future, which allows us to more easily accept some of the bizarre events that happen in the story such as when the character Harrison Bergeron is dancing with a ballerina and there is no law of gravity and motion, so they can almost touch the studio ceiling which is thirty feet high. The author emphasizes in his work themes such as freedom, mind manipulation, the American dream, and media influence, also the opposition between strength and weakness and knowledge and ignorance. The story illustrates that being equal to one another is not always the best way to live because everyone is different for a reason. Also, this is what makes everyone special in your particular way.
What gives the reader the false idea of utopia in Vonnegut’s “Harrison Bergeron” is the deep social control in the form handicaps where individual’s abilities and competence and even appearance are neutralized and vilified as a form of inequality. The characteristics of equality chosen by Vonnegut; beauty, athleticism, and intelligence is important to the story’s message. The main focus of the story are the characteristics of equality that are subjective, the very same characteristics we are born with that makes us different and minimally states the objective ones, the ones that plague our society today. This not only satirizes the epitome of equality itself, but rather the people’s flawed ideals and belief of what total equality is supposed to be or should be.
The future entails breakthrough technology and unknown leadership. The harsh rules of the government in, Harrison Bergeron, causes the protagonist, Harrison Bergeron, to come up with the dangerous idea to overthrow the government which leads to the violent behavior of the antagonist Diana Moon Glampers. The author, Kurt Vonnegut Jr., uses character development to show the theme of the harsh government through the eyes of the protagonist, antagonist, and the foil characters Hazel and George Bergeron in this futuristic society.
Vonnegut, Kurt. “Harrison Bergeron.” Short Stories Characters In Conflict. Ed. John E. Warner. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1981. 344-353
Although the comparisons are well hidden, both today’s society and the story ‘Harrison Bergeron’ share similar qualities. They both deal with equality, which leads to problems and consequences. A second similarity is the struggle of competition and trying to prevent it from occurring, which also leads to problems. Lastly, both struggle with normality, and the fact that it’s hard to accept that different is okay now.
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?
In a society where the talented are so handicapped that they cannot even function, the theme reflects the impracticality and dangers of egalitarianism. Harrison Bergeron symbolizes defiance and survival next tot eh TV symbolizing brainwash. The third person narrator creates an effective and fair method of detailing all the events in this futuristic society. Harrison Bergeron’s conflict creates an understanding of the result of total equality. Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. emphasizes the need for competition and individuality in society, in order to live with freedom and prosperity.
In “A Good Man is Hard to Find” Flannery O’Conner follows a family on their way to Florida. This family gets into some trouble along the way because of the grandmother and her big mouth. The focus of the narrative is on the grandmother and her not so typical lady ways. She is an older southern woman who thinks she is a lady based of what she wears and her way of speaking. Throughout the story, the grandmother acts selfishly, is judgmental and dishonest which put the family in danger. It is the grandmother’s lack of self-awareness about these characteristics that leads to the death of her family.
Never would I thought that we have a dystopian-like society in our world. Don’t know what a dystopia is? It is a society set in the future, typically portrayed in movies and books in, which everything is unpleasant. The novel Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut is a dystopian story of a fourteen-year-old boy named Harrison who grows up in a society that limits people’s individuality. When he is taken away from his parents, because of his strong idiosyncrasy, his parents do not even recall his presence because of the “mental handicaps” that the government forces onto them. Harrison eventually escapes from his imprisonment and tries to show others that they can get rid of the handicaps and be free. Though the government official, or Handicapper
A small glimmer of hope in an imperialistic world is only taken away in order to ensure equivalence in an imperfect society. Harrison Bergeron is a classic sociological tale written by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. that is based on the sociological aspect of everyone being equal - not one individual could be above another. This short story focuses on the idea of symbolism by using masks and handicaps to force the social norm of being the same while foreshadowing the courage of being unique in a seemingly perfect world, all while displaying irony through the way in which our society runs today. This story relates to today’s society in that both are alike in that individuals want to break free from societies constraints of social norms.
1. In Harrison Bergeron, Kurt Vonnegut Jr. spins a tale of warning. One that warns of the dangers of total, unadulterated equal society. A society that is so equal in informational access, that an omniscient narrator is needed to tell the whole story. A society that is so equal in intelligence, that is is almost non-existent. A society that is so equal in freedom, that nobody has it. The story of Harrison Bergeron gives the warning that when equal opportunity is confused with equal ability, society as a whole, will diminish as a result.