Why Can’t A Society Be Equal
Can one society ever really be truly equal with so many different kinds of people? In the story “Harrison Bergeron” it is the year 2081 and the society is finally out of the Dark Ages. Everyone is supposedly equal. No one is stronger, faster, or more beautiful, or so they thought. Equal means being the same in quantity, size, degree, or value. So think again; can society ever really be equal with so many different kinds of people. A society will never be equal; the story proves it by everyone not having the same handicaps, one person only making the law, and “average” people not having handicaps in the story.
Many of the people have very different handicaps and some of them, like in Harrison’s case, have all the handicaps the Handicapper General could think of. The opposition would say that everyone does not need the same handicaps because they are different people and some are better than others at things. But if that is true, why can’t people accept the fact that people don’t need handicaps if they are different. “George winced. So did two out of the eight ballerinas”(100). Only two out of the eight ballerinas were smart enough to have the handicaps. So why weren’t the other ballerinas thoughts disrupted. Just because the other ballerinas were not …show more content…
The opposition would say that it is easier to bring the talented people down a couple levels than to make the average person come up and become a gifted person. “Hazel had a perfectly average intelligence, which meant she couldn’t think about anything except in short bursts” ( 99). Since Hazel had “average” intelligence she didn’t need to wear an earpiece to scatter her thoughts. Equal means the same and it is not the same when Hazel didn’t have to wear an earpiece when many others did. Since the “average” person didn’t have to wear handicaps is the society really
Can one society ever really be truly equal with so many different kinds of people? In the story “Harrison Bergeron” it is the year 2081 and the society is finally out of the Dark Ages. Everyone is supposedly equal. No one is stronger, faster, or more beautiful, or so they thought. Equal means being the same in quantity, size, degree, or value. So think again; can society ever really be equal with so many different kinds of people. A society will never be equal; the story proves it by everyone not having the same handicaps, one person only making the law, and “average” people not having handicaps in the story.
Many of the people have very different handicaps and some of them, like in Harrison’s case, have all the handicaps the Handicapper General could think of. The opposition would say that everyone does not need the same handicaps because they are different people and some are better than others at things. But if that is true, why can’t people accept the fact that people don’t need handicaps if they are different. “George winced. So did two out of the eight ballerinas”(100). Only two out of the eight ballerinas were smart enough to have the handicaps. So why weren’t the other ballerinas thoughts disrupted. Just because the other ballerinas were not …show more content…
The opposition would say that it is easier to bring the talented people down a couple levels than to make the average person come up and become a gifted person. “Hazel had a perfectly average intelligence, which meant she couldn’t think about anything except in short bursts” ( 99). Since Hazel had “average” intelligence she didn’t need to wear an earpiece to scatter her thoughts. Equal means the same and it is not the same when Hazel didn’t have to wear an earpiece when many others did. Since the “average” person didn’t have to wear handicaps is the society really