“The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people.”-Martin Luther King Jr. “Harrison Bergeron” is a short dystopian novel portraying a bleak future. In this view of the future everything is equal. Although this is a fictional story it has a very strong underlying message. The theme of “Harrison Bergeron” is a government with too much control leads to an oppressed society, and a dismal situation. One can see this theme in the book by examining the state of the government, the living conditions of the citizens themself. As stated before if one looks at the state of government they should clearly see the correlation between the power, and the oppression. Harrison Bergeron
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It is very clear to see this by examining the conditions of life for the citiznes themselves. Because the Handicapper General limits the ability of all citizens, they can stay in total power. As Martin Luther King Jr. meant in the quote above the worst offence is the the people not uprising against the General. Because the people are so limited, they have no way of uprising or challenging the government. Essentially the country is in a dictatorship. A quote from Evan Esar summarizes the situation very nicely. The quote reads, “In a democracy you believe it or not. In a dictatorship you believe it or else.” If one replaces the “believe” with “use and obey the handicaps” one has the 2081 scenario. At the end of the quote it mentions, “or else.” The citiznes are held wretched conditions with no hope. If one threatens or challenges the government they will have to face the wrath of the heunis Diana moon Clampers. One man decided he had enough, and decided to make a change. Harrison Bergeron was a hulk of a figure. Standing in at seven feet tall and having keen senses, his handicaps were unmatched. Although he had scrap iron hanging off of him, and large headphones to obscure all thoughts, he ripped it all off. For a few precious moments he and the people around him enjoyed true freedom. Without handicaps he floated to the ceiling with a ballerina and kissed it when he reached to the top. Harrison had not obeyed, and he was about to feel the consequences. After he kissed the dancer for a time the festivities ended. In paragraph 78 it explained this reading, “It was then that Diana Moon Clampers, the Handicapper General, came into the studio with a double-barreled ten-gauge shotgun. She fired twice, and the Emperor and the Empress were dead before they hit the floor. This was the ultimatum for people living in 2081, obey or
It is very clear to see this by examining the conditions of life for the citiznes themselves. Because the Handicapper General limits the ability of all citizens, they can stay in total power. As Martin Luther King Jr. meant in the quote above the worst offence is the the people not uprising against the General. Because the people are so limited, they have no way of uprising or challenging the government. Essentially the country is in a dictatorship. A quote from Evan Esar summarizes the situation very nicely. The quote reads, “In a democracy you believe it or not. In a dictatorship you believe it or else.” If one replaces the “believe” with “use and obey the handicaps” one has the 2081 scenario. At the end of the quote it mentions, “or else.” The citiznes are held wretched conditions with no hope. If one threatens or challenges the government they will have to face the wrath of the heunis Diana moon Clampers. One man decided he had enough, and decided to make a change. Harrison Bergeron was a hulk of a figure. Standing in at seven feet tall and having keen senses, his handicaps were unmatched. Although he had scrap iron hanging off of him, and large headphones to obscure all thoughts, he ripped it all off. For a few precious moments he and the people around him enjoyed true freedom. Without handicaps he floated to the ceiling with a ballerina and kissed it when he reached to the top. Harrison had not obeyed, and he was about to feel the consequences. After he kissed the dancer for a time the festivities ended. In paragraph 78 it explained this reading, “It was then that Diana Moon Clampers, the Handicapper General, came into the studio with a double-barreled ten-gauge shotgun. She fired twice, and the Emperor and the Empress were dead before they hit the floor. This was the ultimatum for people living in 2081, obey or