Power In Kurt Vonnegut's Harrison Bergeron

Power is something that can be given and taken away from the average person. Kurt Vonnegut demonstrates that power can be withdrawn from society for the bettering of the world to make everyone “equal” in his short story Harrison Bergeron. In Harrison Bergeron, the year 2081 is known for the powerless people who must obey the 218 amendments to “fit it” and be considered normal. Americans are now equal in 2081, despite the fact of every talent, gift, intellectual capability, and physical appearance that once made each individual unique in their own way is now pulled away from society; however, it is considered by the people and for the people to be something that is normal, and anything abnormal would be bad and “breaking the law”. Vonnegut …show more content…
The common people in the story have been completely brainwashed and filled with ridiculous ideas that equal and average is better, and competition is a mortal sin that causes all the wrong and bad in society. Yes, every person walks around believing these are they only ways to live. There is no such thing as someone being competitive over another, and that is portrayed in the viewing of the Ballet. The ballet is so terrible that there is not one ballerina that is better than the …show more content…
It is the people that do not conform to society, the dreamers, and the different people that inevitability connect in the end to make a masterpiece of a plan or thought. If there was no such thing as someone being unique or imperfect, then nothing would ultimately get accomplished and destruction of many people would happen, just as when the 14 year old boy was shot and killed for being a thinker or a dreamer and trying to overrule the