Privatism In Harrison Bergeron And Tick-Tock Man

In life, there is something called an establishment. It is what makes people do activities a specific way or do a specific command for those deemed superior to them. Two authors who provided great examples of that lifestyle are Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., who displays this precisely with the limitations given to the characters in “Harrison Bergeron,” and Harlan Ellison’s Master Timekeeper from "'Repent, Harlequin!' Cried the Tick-Tock Man" who imposes order and leads people through the control he has over their time. These stories present the common struggle of people who want to change the examples they want people to mimic. They have men who want to live their own lives, follow their rules, and set the foundation for Privatism. Privatism occurs when …show more content…
To make sure of this, they gave handicaps, both physical and mental, to the citizens of the United States because they believe it will guarantee that no one would be stronger or smarter than anyone else. The United States Handicapper General, Diana Moon Glampers, regulated all of this but there was one man who chose to rebel against these disadvantages in his mission to gain control and power over everyone else. That man was none other than Harrison Bergeron, and he made it clear when he invaded the ballerina studio and …show more content…
The Harlequin refused the common way of living because he was always late and wanted to show the public that they don't have to stress over the time it takes to complete everything. Harrison rejected the equality required by the law because he realized that he had so much more potential than what the handicaps allowed him to show. Generally, those would be acceptable views of Privatism. The main problem they ran into was taking those views and believing they should become the public's view. The Harlequin tried to make everyone else late, as he was, and he kept doing it until the Ticktockman finally caught him. His fate was telling the public on national television that his views were wrong. Harrison realized his potential, but overestimated it because he thought he was better than everyone else. He declared himself as an emperor and felt the public should bow down to him and his advantages. He wanted people to agree with his views, and it led to the Handicapper General taking him down for the last time. While they presented Privatism in their thoughts, they also forgot about how it works both ways in execution. They demanded their own private views to become the public view and it led to their demise in the end. They wanted to break the rules set up for them to follow, but there are also people who broke what they demanded to set for