Kurt Vonnegut’s short story called “Harrison Bergeron” takes place in America, many decades in the future. In this society, everyone is “equal” in all ways. Physical and mental handicaps are given to citizens that otherwise, would have physical or intellectual advantages over other citizens. An Arizona State University professor, Darryl Hattenhauer has an essay titled “The Politics of Kurt Vonnegut’s Harrison Bergeron”. Hattenhauer argues that “Harrison Bergeron” displays America’s delusional view of other economic theories (excluding capitalism) such as communism and socialism. He mainly uses Vonnegut’s previous writings and political views to bolster his argument. Contrary to Hattenhauer, I believe that Vonnegut wrote this completely parodic
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Hattenhauer backs up this argument by looking at Vonnegut’s previous works and his personal views. He claims that this particular short story cannot be satirizing the left because this would conflict with his other fiction and nonfiction literatures. There are several works Hattenhauer brings up, for example, “God Bless You Mr. Rosewater” and he says that in this fiction story Vonnegut is for redistribution of income, a view that is typically pegged as more of a liberal, even socialist …show more content…
“Part of the reason they miss the narration's unreliability is that the plot hides the undeniability of the irony until the end.” (Hattenhauer). The “they” that he is referring to is other critics of Vonnegut’s short story. The entire story could possibly happen in the future, but the ending of the story is preposterous. Once the character Harrison, who is mentioned early in the story but we do not meet until the end, all readers can clearly tell that there is no way this could happen in reality. Harrison is outrageously strong and also apparently has the ability to defy gravity. “Perhaps such critics miss what happens and the unreliability of the narration because they are interpellated into the very ideology that the text satirizes.” (Hattenhauer). He backs up his claim that there is an unreliable narrator by saying the reason other people have not also made this claim is because they believe exactly what “Harrison Bergeron” is
Hattenhauer backs up this argument by looking at Vonnegut’s previous works and his personal views. He claims that this particular short story cannot be satirizing the left because this would conflict with his other fiction and nonfiction literatures. There are several works Hattenhauer brings up, for example, “God Bless You Mr. Rosewater” and he says that in this fiction story Vonnegut is for redistribution of income, a view that is typically pegged as more of a liberal, even socialist …show more content…
“Part of the reason they miss the narration's unreliability is that the plot hides the undeniability of the irony until the end.” (Hattenhauer). The “they” that he is referring to is other critics of Vonnegut’s short story. The entire story could possibly happen in the future, but the ending of the story is preposterous. Once the character Harrison, who is mentioned early in the story but we do not meet until the end, all readers can clearly tell that there is no way this could happen in reality. Harrison is outrageously strong and also apparently has the ability to defy gravity. “Perhaps such critics miss what happens and the unreliability of the narration because they are interpellated into the very ideology that the text satirizes.” (Hattenhauer). He backs up his claim that there is an unreliable narrator by saying the reason other people have not also made this claim is because they believe exactly what “Harrison Bergeron” is