True Equality In Harrison Bergeron, Animal Farm, And Brave New World

Dystopian Equality What is true equality? In humans, it would mean everyone is the same, but in nature, it is practically impossible to have true equality. Writers have often attempted to write about true equality within a utopian society. Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut, Animal Farm by George Orwell, and Brave New World by Aldous Huxley are a few examples. However, in their writing, the authors end up portraying the opposite, a dystopian society. In Harrison Bergeron, Vonnegut uses the setting to show the role of a dystopian society in order to illustrate that true equality is anything but that. The first example of this equality is seen in the home of the Bergeron’s. “Hazel had perfectly average intelligence… And George, while his intelligence was way above normal, had a little mental handicap radio” (Vonnegut, 1). Handicaps, mental and physical, are placed on those with higher intelligence, in this case George Bergeron, in order to keep them at equal intelligence with their inferiors. Physical and intelligence handicaps make equality and,
Oppression appears when Harrison Bergeron returns to the plot. Harrison bursts into the scene yelling,” I am the Emperor! Everybody must do what I say at once! (Vonnegut, 5). Another trait of utopian society is that its rules and ways of life are perfect, but with Harrison’s rebellion, the sense of oppression becomes even greater. If a society’s rules were perfect, there would be no need for an uprising. Harrison also talks about “selecting his empress” daring a woman to claim the title (Vonnegut, 5). When one ballerina rises, a sense of supremacy is felt from her. Even under oppression, this woman sees herself superior to the other ballerinas. In a utopian society, people would accept themselves as being equal without having thoughts of superiority. With Harrison and his empress’ actions, the utopian basis of equality begins to