In today’s society, every person is different. We all have our own rights, and no one tears us down to make us all equal. There is also no one forcing us to all be the same, and we can voice our opinions and act upon them without punishment. In comparison to a communism society where you can’t be your own person and are under a dictator’s power, we are under a capitalistic society and can be who we really want to be with our own rights. In Kurt Vonnegut’s short story Harrison Bergeron, examples of human equality and government domination are shown when the common people are tortured and disguised in order to completely remove competition from society making everyone physically and mentally equal. In the short story Harrison Bergeron,
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The common people are tortured, disguised, and weighed down to make everyone in the society equal. Harrison Bergeron is the 14 year old son of Hazel and George Bergeron. He is taken by the H-G men and put in confinement due to being so intelligent and of higher power than others. Hazel is of “perfectly average intelligence, which meant she couldn’t think about anything except in short bursts,” and with George, his “intelligence was way above normal.” (Vonnegut) One of the major themes of this story is human equality. No one is to be prettier, stronger, or smarter than anyone else in society. The “Handicapper General” (Vonnegut) makes sure of that in the story. One evening Hazel and George were watching television and ballerinas came out on the screen and danced. Hazel said, “That was a real pretty dance, that dance they just did.” Although the dance was pretty, you couldn’t tell if the dancers were pretty because they had to wear mask and they were also wearing sash-weights and bags of birdshot to disguise their gracefulness. The television was interrupted when the news …show more content…
Kurt Vonnegut was the youngest child in a family of three. (Meek) He was born and raised in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Meek) There are historical events in Vonnegut’s life that seem to have taken a toll on his writing. Vonnegut was an infantry scout during the time of World War II. While he was serving he was taken captive by the German Army. He was interned in Dresden, Germany. This occurred during the time of the 1945 Allied firebombing. (Meek) In result to the firebombing, 135,000 lives were lost. Vonnegut was extremely lucky to have lived, and this was only possible due to him being in a meat locker underground. “Although the destruction of Dresden became a recurring motif in Vonnegut’s work, not until twenty three years later could he bring himself to write the novel of his war experiences, Slaughterhouse-Five,” said Martha Meek. This is known to have taken a major toll on Vonnegut and it seems to have majorly impacted all of his writings. In Harrison Bergeron, at just fourteen years old, he is kidnapped and kept captive just like Vonnegut was during World War II. Personally, it just shows to me that this story is another reflection on his own personal experiences that occurred during his time of
The common people are tortured, disguised, and weighed down to make everyone in the society equal. Harrison Bergeron is the 14 year old son of Hazel and George Bergeron. He is taken by the H-G men and put in confinement due to being so intelligent and of higher power than others. Hazel is of “perfectly average intelligence, which meant she couldn’t think about anything except in short bursts,” and with George, his “intelligence was way above normal.” (Vonnegut) One of the major themes of this story is human equality. No one is to be prettier, stronger, or smarter than anyone else in society. The “Handicapper General” (Vonnegut) makes sure of that in the story. One evening Hazel and George were watching television and ballerinas came out on the screen and danced. Hazel said, “That was a real pretty dance, that dance they just did.” Although the dance was pretty, you couldn’t tell if the dancers were pretty because they had to wear mask and they were also wearing sash-weights and bags of birdshot to disguise their gracefulness. The television was interrupted when the news …show more content…
Kurt Vonnegut was the youngest child in a family of three. (Meek) He was born and raised in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Meek) There are historical events in Vonnegut’s life that seem to have taken a toll on his writing. Vonnegut was an infantry scout during the time of World War II. While he was serving he was taken captive by the German Army. He was interned in Dresden, Germany. This occurred during the time of the 1945 Allied firebombing. (Meek) In result to the firebombing, 135,000 lives were lost. Vonnegut was extremely lucky to have lived, and this was only possible due to him being in a meat locker underground. “Although the destruction of Dresden became a recurring motif in Vonnegut’s work, not until twenty three years later could he bring himself to write the novel of his war experiences, Slaughterhouse-Five,” said Martha Meek. This is known to have taken a major toll on Vonnegut and it seems to have majorly impacted all of his writings. In Harrison Bergeron, at just fourteen years old, he is kidnapped and kept captive just like Vonnegut was during World War II. Personally, it just shows to me that this story is another reflection on his own personal experiences that occurred during his time of