In Harrison Bergeron, Vonnegut seems to warn individuals about the dangers of becoming like those characters who seem so far from reality; however, the control of government to preserve equality and politically correct self-esteem often stifles an individual’s creativity which further creates identity struggles as people attempt to balance their need to be a part of a community with their need to be self-aware. In both HB and Today’s society, people would find out that the government is controlling how they live and outweighing the desire of themselves. In other words, the government knows they got it under control. As in the story of HB, “All this equality was due to the 211th, 212th, and 213th Amendments to the Constitution, and to the unceasing
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Everyone must be the same in order to preserve self-esteem. The society in HB and society today have similar views on intelligence. George had above average intelligence, but Hazel didn’t. They had buzzers in their ears to keep them equal, but it was painful. The government had to make sure that both of them were equal in intelligence so that neither of them would feel oppressed. This indicates that the government doesn’t necessarily have to police its citizens anymore, most citizens are so used to the system that they obey blindly. Students in school today are no longer tracked according to their abilities or intelligence. All students are placed in the same classroom and are taught by the same teacher, no matter their abilities. Athletes in both societies are treated the same. George and Hazel were watching ballerinas on TV who were “burdened with sashweights 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 government again was taking steps to ensure that no one individual felt any more special than another. In younger children today, it is now common to give everyone on a sports team a trophy for participation. Everyone gets a trophy, no matter how well they perform. This is done to ensure that no one particular athlete feels inferior to the other athletes. Today’s society is not quite as severe as …show more content…
People are put into sections debating on how they live. In HB, however their personality is, how they determine their handicap style that they will end up with. Today to determine what their future will look like depends on their education, goals, sources, etc. People are forced to go by the rules and do those things to live. To survive in Harrison Bergeron world, they had to go by the rules and do exactly what it says. In Today’s society, if people would make good choices, they will find out that being successful is not easy as they think. But being successful will bring money in the future for them. People would open their eyes and realize that they aren’t being who they truly are due to being what they are told. In HB, since they were put into a certain handicap lifestyle, they can’t determine how they truly are. Today, people see a lot of individuals act as two different personalities, like one is one they show the public and the other is one they know the world would never
Everyone must be the same in order to preserve self-esteem. The society in HB and society today have similar views on intelligence. George had above average intelligence, but Hazel didn’t. They had buzzers in their ears to keep them equal, but it was painful. The government had to make sure that both of them were equal in intelligence so that neither of them would feel oppressed. This indicates that the government doesn’t necessarily have to police its citizens anymore, most citizens are so used to the system that they obey blindly. Students in school today are no longer tracked according to their abilities or intelligence. All students are placed in the same classroom and are taught by the same teacher, no matter their abilities. Athletes in both societies are treated the same. George and Hazel were watching ballerinas on TV who were “burdened with sashweights 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 government again was taking steps to ensure that no one individual felt any more special than another. In younger children today, it is now common to give everyone on a sports team a trophy for participation. Everyone gets a trophy, no matter how well they perform. This is done to ensure that no one particular athlete feels inferior to the other athletes. Today’s society is not quite as severe as …show more content…
People are put into sections debating on how they live. In HB, however their personality is, how they determine their handicap style that they will end up with. Today to determine what their future will look like depends on their education, goals, sources, etc. People are forced to go by the rules and do those things to live. To survive in Harrison Bergeron world, they had to go by the rules and do exactly what it says. In Today’s society, if people would make good choices, they will find out that being successful is not easy as they think. But being successful will bring money in the future for them. People would open their eyes and realize that they aren’t being who they truly are due to being what they are told. In HB, since they were put into a certain handicap lifestyle, they can’t determine how they truly are. Today, people see a lot of individuals act as two different personalities, like one is one they show the public and the other is one they know the world would never