Justice In Kurt Vonnegut's Harrison Bergeron

In Kurt Vonnegut’s satirical short story, Harrison Bergeron, there exists a society in which everybody is made to be equal. Everyone in this egalitarian community is forced to be handicapped in order for everyone to be truly equal. In the modern era, the younger generation places an importance on fixing the inequalities that are currently in place. However, if this issue continues to increase in importance, will our society parallel that of Harrison’s? Exactly how far are we willing to go for equality? Vonnegut wrote this allegory to stress that equality does not imply justice. An image that has been used by many social justice warriors can support Vonnegut’s idea. On the left portion image, there are three men of varying heights watching a baseball game over a fence. When they all stand on a crate, the tallest man has the widest range of view while the shortest man cannot see at all. While this is equal for all three men, it is unjust that the shortest man cannot see the field. On the right, the image depicts justice as being equal in height instead of equal in the resources given. In a sense, equality has a rigid definition compared to justice. It is easier to judge a circumstance as equal than to judge it as just because every person has a different definition of justice depending on his or her …show more content…
However, when read through a socialist lens, Harrison Bergeron does not show Vonnegut’s favoring towards socialism. In fact, it can be portrayed to go against his beliefs. In terms of ethos, this could be used as a counterargument in the debate of socialism, as well as communism. Although shed in a negative light, it can be seen that Vonnegut wrote this as an exemplar of how to avoid the familiar execution of socialism. With socialism, everyone can be equal in the eye of the government, but they can also crave justice in terms of what is being