Kurt Vonnegut’s Dystopia: Consequences of Society’s Behavior Since the very dawn of human society, humans have continually listed equality as a fundamental aspiration or achievement. However, as these societies have striven for equality, the element of freedom in those same societies becomes forfeited. In Harrison Bergeron, author Kurt Vonnegut forewarns the world about the quest for equality. In his story, he cautions Americans about the dangers of creating an equalitarian society, whereby citizens aim to create a place where all people are equal despite sacrificing their freedom, and individuality to the state. The satirical work, Harrison Bergeron, is a work of science of fiction that takes place 120 years into the future, when Constitutional
…show more content…
Throughout the evolution of the plot of Harrison Bergeron, the behaviors of the utopian society meet the fears that many Americans had during the cold war era. Vonnegut used the panic of the American public as a tool to attract readers due to their familiarity with the situation. In the story, the members of the society cannot fathom the idea that the government has become overly intrusive, but the usage of third person in the story creates an all too familiar situation among Americans. 20 years prior to the release of this short story, Americans, from a third person point of view, had been witnessing many countries convert to communism. Through that relation is where Vonnegut developed the idea of an internal conflict between individualism and government control. Vonnegut uses a large amount of symbolism to convey this …show more content…
In American society, there is a pride taken in each member’s sense of equal self-worth whereas, in Harrison Bergeron, the culture has enabled people to feel no worse than anybody else admittedly by making everybody worse. The aim of the government aims to ensure that no member of their society “feel[s] like something the cat drug in” (210). Vonnegut uses a large amount symbolism such as this to display the correlation in behaviors of this government and a communist. A communist government, like the government in Harrison Bergeron, aspires to create a society in which all people are of equal value. The major flaw of both of these governments is that as these types of governments evolve, a ruthlessly egalitarian society emerges. Ability and accomplishment become suppressed as forms of inequality. The “unceasing vigilance of agents of the United States Handicapper General” represents the total loss of individuality and freedom as a direct result of complete equality (409). The type of equality here is not the type of equality consonant with the American constitution. The equality mentioned in the constitution is a coherent equality but not the equality that is enforced and insisted upon in Vonnegut’s utopian society. Vonnegut directly approaches that in the opening lines as he
Throughout the evolution of the plot of Harrison Bergeron, the behaviors of the utopian society meet the fears that many Americans had during the cold war era. Vonnegut used the panic of the American public as a tool to attract readers due to their familiarity with the situation. In the story, the members of the society cannot fathom the idea that the government has become overly intrusive, but the usage of third person in the story creates an all too familiar situation among Americans. 20 years prior to the release of this short story, Americans, from a third person point of view, had been witnessing many countries convert to communism. Through that relation is where Vonnegut developed the idea of an internal conflict between individualism and government control. Vonnegut uses a large amount of symbolism to convey this …show more content…
In American society, there is a pride taken in each member’s sense of equal self-worth whereas, in Harrison Bergeron, the culture has enabled people to feel no worse than anybody else admittedly by making everybody worse. The aim of the government aims to ensure that no member of their society “feel[s] like something the cat drug in” (210). Vonnegut uses a large amount symbolism such as this to display the correlation in behaviors of this government and a communist. A communist government, like the government in Harrison Bergeron, aspires to create a society in which all people are of equal value. The major flaw of both of these governments is that as these types of governments evolve, a ruthlessly egalitarian society emerges. Ability and accomplishment become suppressed as forms of inequality. The “unceasing vigilance of agents of the United States Handicapper General” represents the total loss of individuality and freedom as a direct result of complete equality (409). The type of equality here is not the type of equality consonant with the American constitution. The equality mentioned in the constitution is a coherent equality but not the equality that is enforced and insisted upon in Vonnegut’s utopian society. Vonnegut directly approaches that in the opening lines as he