Harrison Bergeron Essay

Kurt Vonneguts scant(p) horizontal surface Harrison Bergeron is approximately a futuristic monastic order where beauty is destroyed to create pertainity. It centers somewhat the highest bump official, appropriately named, the prevalent Handicapper. His just habit to to seek out and find to large number who atomic number 18 skilled, pretty, or near(a) at sports and forced them to hide away these talents by masks and waits. It is through rudimentary literary elements that Vonnegut creates and develops the etymon that general conformity leads to the deformation of benevolentity.The short story begins in the upcoming, The year was 2081 and Vonnegut promptly puts out the benefits of this futuristic familiarity, stating eitherbody was finally equal and not just equal onwards God but in e genuinely way possible (Vonnegut, 1968, p. 7). Vonneguts translation foreshadows what is to come in the novel and for certain enough this forced equality can only lead to a dangero us and potentially deadly ending. Conformity and the effects of unison is a common source in the bulk of science fiction publications and Vonneguts short stories are no different.However, in Harrison Bergergon not just the theme of uniformity is explore but as well the stripping away of clementity. This short story, the politics forces every whizz to be equal nobody was smarter than anybody else. cypher was emend feeling than anybody else. Nobody was stronger or quicker than anybody else. (Vonnegut, 1968, p. 7). Government agents force passel who are beautiful to gull miserable masks and bulk who are thin are forced to carry around weights. The end of all this control is to make sure that everyone has the same handicaps, the same features, and the same feelings. as yet odder is that smart people were forced to persist radios which interfered with there brain functional creating a human society where everyone was as stupid. By eliminating the the issues, which moder n society still deals with, of racism, sexism, and favoritism based on looks, Vonneguts future society should be healthy and capable because everyone is the same. However, in the pursuit of equality the press release of humanity in any casek place. Humanity is based on the idea of independence and individualism. The featured relay institutionalize of this short story and namesake is Harrison Bergeron.He is a bright and friendly boy who has the or so hated qualities in his society. He is in signalizeigent, handsome, tall, and strong. collect to Harrisions features he is required to do several things to compensate for all his good quality. He is subject to radio noises which wampum his concentration and focus. He has to carry hundreds of pounds of additional weight. He withal have to crack sun glasses which gives him a top and he has to undergo surgical process beef up o make him ugly. While awaiting his surgery he escapes and takes over a word station. On transmissio n line he takes off his handicaps and is revealed to society.When enters the station he is looks similar a walking junk yard, required to wear a red rubber chunk for a nose, keep his eyebrows shaved off, and intersect his tied(p) white teeth with pitch blackness caps at snaggle-tooth random ( Vonnegut, 1968, p. 21). He also meets up with a ballerina and she too casts off her imposed disabilities. When the couple dances they gesture off the law of gravity and the laws of bm as well, leaping to kiss the thirty-foot cap until finally they remained suspended in air inches below the ceiling, and they kissed all(prenominal) other for a long, long time. It is then that Glampers enters with her shot munition (Vonnegut, 1968, p.22). alas both are killed by the General Handicapper. As a sub eyepatch his parents are watching the news station but once everything is express and make they can not remember what has happened out-of-pocket their forced handicaps. Irony is another litera ry device that Vonnegut uses in this short story. Vonnegut comments on the look-ism which is apparent in American society. Vonnegut even appears cynical about what passes as bonny in America. Hazel had a perfectly average intelligence, which meant she couldnt cipher about anything except in short bursts (Vonnegut, 1968, p. 20).The contemplation on the ballerinas continues the undercutting humor They werent in true(a)ity very goodno better than anybody else would have been, anyway (Vonnegut, 1968, p. 20). Heavy derision emerges in the plodding Hazels missing the point, as when she sympathizes with the stuttering announcer for trying real hard to do his best or suggests George might remove some of his weights in the evenings. Compounding the irony she says, I think Id make a good Handicapper General. Good as anybody else, said George. The range of sounds and the comic barbarousness of their effect provides another source of comedy. 1 of Georges winces prompts Hazel to ask th e cause. Sounded like somebody hitting a draw bottle with a hammer, he replies. other sounds like a twenty-one gun salute that leaves George white and trembling and leaves twain of the ballerinas on the floor clutching their temples. The final one is a riveting gun. gigabyteI could tell that one was a doozy, said Hazel. You can say that again, said George. Gee said HazelI could tell that one was a doozy. (Vonnegut, 1968, p. 41) Hazels stupid behavior and mindset symbolizes the dumbing eat up of America.In addition the television is equally symbolic. When this book was written, the television was now set in every home throughout the country. It became the way that people communicated and received news. Reading, literature, and human interaction decreased and was replaced by the meaningless chatter of television shows and governmentally process news broadcasts. Hazels abomination to the old days when she could be make to feel like something the cat dragged in (Vonnegut, 1968 , p. 22) obviously is not very telling The floor in Harrison Bergeron is also interesting.This is because the chronicle is third person, as if person is looking back on the events that just happened. triplet person omnipresent is an interesting plectron for narration because it allows the reader into the minds of all characters. For modelling Vonnegut reminds the readers, in third person narration Nobody can be in any way superior to anybody else, as guaranteed by the 211th, 212th, and 213th Amendments to the Constitution, and to the unceasing vigilance of the agents of the joined States Handicapper General (Vonnegut, 1968, p. 20). In particular, the motivations of each character which inspire their actions and words.Harrison Bergeron is a very unique short story because Vonnegut manipulates basic literary elements and creates a satire of American ideals and societal norms. Vonnegut is able too, in a tongue and cheek manner, show how the government can create a society which l acks humanity. A government that is left unrestrained can exert such swell power that it can destroy what makes human unique creatures on this planet. In doing so, people become mindless and vulnerable to the governmental propaganda that tells the citizens of a society that these rules are for their give birth good.