Kurt Vonnegut’s short story "Harrison Bergeron" is a satirical science fiction tale about the dark side of a perfect, ideal American society. It is set in the future, and it is centered on the fact that constitutional Amendments were making everyone equal. All of the individuals of this time are made equal by mechanism which brings them down to the normality level in the story, which is really considered to be below-average in strength intelligence, strength, and aptitude. These individuals are deprived of their individuality. They are not even permitted to reach what is considered to be their complete potential. In a struggle to make the world a place that has no kind of competition and inequality, the Handicapper General, who makes these laws compulsory, robs individuals of their freedom. These laws then start hindering every person's aptitude to live their life to its completest. With that said, the thesis of this essay is that forcing everyone to be equal was unfair.
It is clear that in Vonnegut’s many short stories: “Vonnegut shows recurrently that women and men remain basically the same, no matter what technology encircles them." Even though "Harrison Bergeron" is at least partially about the misappropriation of technology, Vonnegut does not appear to provide a lot of emphasis focus to gender issues or the differences that were going on among men and women. Not giving that much attention to one of the most controversial equality subjects of our time in a literary work that is exactly about the idea of equality is doubtful; things like the women’s rights movement was an event that was extremely active in the during the 1960’s when Vonnegut wrote decided to write this short story. It is not a secret at all that biologically, in addition to socially, women are dissimilar from men, both in physical qualities and in behavior. In the current male-subjugated civilization, the traits of men are held greater to those of women – fierceness and emotional detachment is ideal in the competitive capitalistic type of economy. Most of all of this brings to mind income and economics, another traditional kind of equality.
Vonnegut manages to force equality on America in the places of beauty, intelligence and strength. He sets out to produce a world in which people that are people wear masks in order for them to cover their faces and strong individuals are the ones going around carrying weights to make them equal to the population looked at being weaker. For the men and women that are considered to be intelligent, headsets that blast random noises are put on so as to interfere with thoughts that are intellectual. These types of handicaps are supposed to be worn at all times and are enforced by law to match every kind of human being. Vonnegut decides to make him extremely handsome, intelligent and strong. Harrison has to wear an unusually large headset, weights that are huge, large glasses, and a red rubber nose just to counterbalance his physical appearance.
Vonnegut transcribes, “The rest of Harrison’s appearance was hardware and Halloween. There was not anyone that had ever tolerated weightier handicaps,” (128). If ever a law in handicap was broken, the Handicapper General, who attires with no handicaps and walks around with a shotgun, hunts down those that are guilty and has them murdered. This immoral equality by Vonnegut is shaped on a quality basis and can only do by means of force.
One of the themes that the story shows is that the normalcy standard is extremely low. What appears to be interesting is that at the start of this short story, the protagonist, Harrison, is in jail for the reason that he does not want to obey these laws of equality. It would appear that his parents, Hazel and George Bergeron, would be not be too happy in regards to their son's behavior; nevertheless, they are pretty much forbidden to form any kind of an opinion either. It appears that like every twenty seconds are so, George seems to be blasted by an extremely loud sound from an ear piece which happened to be put here by the Handicapper General.
George, short of the ear piece, is basically looked at as being some kind of a threat to society for the reason that he is intelligent. The explosion of sound in George's ear it was actually disturbs his way of thinking, it sort of does something to his thought pattern. Hazel is considered to be more of the "normal" cluster of people; with said, she is not handicapped in any type of way. Even though Hazel is not really looked at as being someone that is handicapped by the Handicapper General, she is not able to have any kind of recollections much of anything. Within seconds she forgets what just occurred. This example shows that the normalcy standard is very much low. Forcing individuals to be this way is unreasonable. Some would argue that individuals would need to be able to have the liberty to show themselves and reach their full prospective.
In “Harrison Bergeron,” Vonnegut makes the suggestion that total equality is not an ultimate worth going after or striving for, as a lot of individuals believe, but a wrong objective that is dangerous in both outcome and execution. In order to achieve physical and mental equality that goes among every Americans, the government talked about in Vonnegut’s short story does things like torturing its citizens in order to keep the control. Everyone that is considered to be beautiful are those that will have to wear ugly masks or mutilate themselves, the intelligent must be able to listen to loud noises that obstruct their ability to be able to hear, and the strong and graceful are forced to wear weights around their necks because it is a way of sending a statement to everyone that not all are actual equal.
The insistence on total equality starts seeping into the people, who start dumbing themselves down or begin doing other things such as hide their special qualities. Some are behaving in this manner for the reason that they have adopted the government’s goals and others since they fear that the government will punish them harshly if they show any extraordinary skills. The consequence of this quest for equality is dreadful. America turns into this type of land of cowed, stupid, slow individuals. Government officials are going around killing all of those looked at as being extremely gifted with no fear of retaliation. Equality is more or less attained, but it is all being done at the cost of freedom and individual accomplishment.
In the short story, there are a lot of symbols. Harrison appears to be the one that represents the spark of disobedience and independence that still occurs in some Americans. Harrison has none of the weakness and inactiveness that characterize virtually everyone else in the story. Somewhat, he is an overstated alpha male, a soaring, brave, breathtakingly strong man who starves for power. When he storms into the TV studio and makes the announcement that he is the ruler, the utmost ruler who has ever been alive, he sounds power-mad and perhaps insane.
At the same time, nevertheless, his bragging is frightening. It is an inflated manifestation of the defiant wish to excel that some Americans were still feeling. When Harrison tears off his steel fetters and handicaps, the beauty and physical strength he shows reminds some viewers that beneath their own handicaps and restraints, they also are still lovely or talented. But then again in the end, Harrison, symbol of being defiant is slayed in cold blood by Diana Moon Glampers, the superintendent of government control. The rapid, proficient murder proposes that if a defiant spirit still exists in America in 2081, its days are totaled.
In conclusion, it is safe to say that the political system portrayed in Vonnegut’s story is noticeably American and originated on the values of egalitarianism. However, one of the most vital themes in “Harrison Bergeron” is that having equality in any nation country is merely helpful in regions such as religion, race, and sex, nonetheless not for individual qualities like attractiveness, intellect, and strength. If a person changes the plan of God and then tries to alter the world to be all the way equal, then the world will not be able to function. Kurt Vonnegut transcribes this story to support us in understanding that equality is meant to make no woman or man better than another man or woman. The main theme in “Harrison Bergeron” is that equality is for privileges and not for characteristics for example beauty, strength, and intelligence. This short story also sends the message that some modern readers have been able to interpreted the dystopia portrayed in “Harrison Bergeron” as a screening of what could possibly take place to American people in the future if such drifts as political correctness and psychiatric drugs and are then endorsed to multiply.
Works Cited
Mills, Robert P. " Harrison Bergeron ." The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. Mercury Press, Inc, October 1961. Digest, magazine.
