Preview

Synthesis Essay On Harrison Bergeron

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
901 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Synthesis Essay On Harrison Bergeron
The United States has always been called the “land of opportunity”. Individuals are said to be free to pursue their dreams to the best of their abilities. Almost everyone living in the type of society of “Harrison Bergeron” is born with a fixed mindset, where they think there is no room for growth and everyone is okay with settling for average. A truly equal society is something that sounds great, but will become a disaster in the long run. Vonnegut uses characterization, word choice, and several forms of technology to warn his readers about the potential drawbacks of a truly equal society, and this can relate substantially to issues in our modern society.
The author uses many forms of characterization and word choice to warn the readers of what he thinks would happen if our society became truly equal in “Harrison Bergeron”. For example, George’s “...intelligence was way above normal, had a little mental handicap radio in his ear. He was required by law to wear it at all
…show more content…
When the parents of Harrison were watching the death of their son on television, I do not believe that they could actually “feel” what was happening or could completely process anything for a long period of time. Hazel said that she remembered “‘Something real sad on television...It’s all kind of mixed up in my mind’”(Source A). You can tell that Hazel saw the murder happen, but she couldn’t feel or remember the incident. George couldn’t remember it either because of his mental handicap making a sharp noise in his head (Source A). This shows that this technology has a greatly effective drawback because they were not able to feel and show emotion like diverse people can; it seems like anyone is just any other person due to an equal world. This pretty much takes away the purpose of life: to love and care for one another. That is how the author uses technology and television to relate to the author’s

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Kurt Vonnegut Jrs.dystopian story, “ Harrison Bergeron,” takes place in the year 2081 a society in which the government believes that everyone should be equal. One of the characters Harrison was born being very smart, athletic, handsome, which the government did not approve of so like all of the other humans that were above all he had have handicaps which kept people from being the person that they were supposed to be.But Harrison was born to be perfect so that made him have the most handicaps out of everyone.But since this happened to him he was sent to jail.…

    • 271 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Harrison Bergeron

    • 1251 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Just like light cannot exist in harmony with darkness, idealism and truth are two facets that in no circumstance can get along and exist collectively. In other words, idealism usually implies perfection, while truth implies something harsh and dirty (when it is juxtaposed with idealism). Truth, however, can be literally symbolized as a diamond in the rough, because while it may be pure and beautiful on the inside, it is covered in dirt and other rocks on the outside, that signify its contamination of an ideal society. The short story, Harrison Bergeron, is in accordance to this, since the ideal of total equality is promoted to the point of handicapping the gifted and the talented. The story takes places in 2081, where a futuristic America exists in complete equality in every form. This constraint put on the citizens is an ideal characteristic for the government, but for the people it is a burden that diminishes their identity. Therefore, in Harrison Bergeron, author Kurt Vonnegut Jr. explores the idea of the rejection of truth in an idealism environment through the use of handicaps and constraints on individuals, the annihilation of rebels and their rebellion, and through the purpose of the government.…

    • 1251 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Harrison Bergeron

    • 884 Words
    • 4 Pages

    “All men are created equal” these are the words of Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson believed we should live in a world like this, but are we meant to live in a society where everyone is equal and normal? The ideas of egalitarianism can be dangerous if they are interpreted too literally. The agonizing and frustrating normal world in which “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. shows a civilization in which being normal is the only life style that people can live. Beauty is not beauty in this story; in fact it is the complete opposite. Can someone reach their full potential without feeling good about themselves? Is it possible to live life in a world like this? Potential, freedom, and beauty are all abominations in the society of “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut Jr., but they are all but abolished in this generation of “normal people” where being unique is deemed as illegal. No one is better, everyone is worse. But in a world where the extraordinary is outlawed, only the outlaws are extraordinary.…

    • 884 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Harrison Bergeron

    • 770 Words
    • 4 Pages

    In the short story, “Harrison Bergeron,” published in 1961, Kurt Vonnegut Jr. discusses equality in America in 2081. His story places you into a world where everyone is made equal in every way. Anyone with talents, like beauty, strength, and higher mental capacity are made handicapped by wearing massive weights, thought scattering headsets, and masks. These handicaps were set in place to create an equal world within the United States. While creating an equal society though, they are holding people back from their true potential. I believe Vonnegut is showing how if society were equal, like in his story, people would be held back from their natural gifts.…

    • 770 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In “Harrison Bergeron,” author Kurt Vonnegut Jr. illustrates government control with the characters of George, Hazel Harrison Bergeron, and the society that they live in. Vonnegut Jr. directs his writing to society and people in general who want to achieve total equality, as well as those who put faith into the government when it comes to resolving serious issues. To inform his audience of the dangerous consequences that come with wanting to achieve total equality, Vonnegut Jr. presents imagery, setting, and monotone, and educates the audience on how this also leads to an over-controlled society with no motivation, joy, love, or care.…

    • 253 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the story, Harrison Bergeron, one learns that the author, Kurt Vonnegut, does not like the way society is. He does not like how people judge one another because one is not as attractive, or smarter, or funnier. He portrays this idea into the story by creating a society full of people that are equal. For example, in the beginning one gets to know that George is actually really intelligent as was all Hazel, but not as much as George. George cannot be smarter than Hazel or anyone, so to control the way he thinks he has to wear a mental handicap that receives different sounds to scatter his thoughts (Vonnegut, p. 34). Although, many people are fine with the way this society is being ran, in one section George explains to Hazel what would happen if he took his handicaps off then he will not be equal with everyone else, it is not fair to Hazel either because she has to keep wearing hers, “And pretty soon we’d be right back to the dark ages again…”(Vonnegut, p. 37). However, Harrison Bergeron, a 14 year-old boy, does not agree with this. “Now watch me come what I can become!” (Vonnegut, p. 39). He believes people should not be equal and be able to use the skills others do not have. On page 39, Harrison storms in and announces he is the emperor, and then he chooses his Empress and removes the handicaps from her and himself. Harrison does not want to be ruled by someone but rule himself; he wants to change the way things are being ran in this town.…

    • 814 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Vonnegut is attempting to illustrate that equality if taken to an extreme point, can no longer benefit society, but destroy it. Harrison Bergeron lives in a “truly equal” society that puts…

    • 800 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Aristotle once said, “The worst form of inequality is to try to make unequal things equal.” In Kurt Vonnegut’s “Harrison Bergeron,” the government attempts to create equality between all individuals, and unfortunately, propitiously succeeds. The equality laws state that all of mankind must be identical to each other in terms of appearance and knowledge. Intelligent beings are handicapped with a monitor in their ear which emits caustic sounds every twenty seconds or so, to wreck their train of thought. Charming and good-looking individuals are forced to wear a paper bag over their heads, or are told to physically ridicule certain parts of their face. Graceful people wear bags of birdshot on their backs to weigh them down, and strong people are weakened in the same manner. As a result, the society is supposedly “equal.” However, citizens are suffering physically due to their handicaps, everyone has been degraded to the lowest intelligence and ability…

    • 855 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The short story “Harrison Bergeron” written by Kurt Vonnegut in late 1960s, depicts a teenage boy challenging the rules and laws of an oppressive government to enforce equality among the society. In 2081, the government has finally made all Americans physically and mentally equal, when Harrison Bergeron criticizes this handicap system and defines it as cruel and dangerous for the sake of the humanity. For example, Kurt Vonnegut states, “Harrison tore the straps of his handicap harness like wet tissue paper, tore straps guaranteed to support five thousand pounds.”(Vonnegut 4). With the rebellion of Harrison, the author urges people to protest against the handicaps as this brutal system make them weak and miserable. In addition, Mr. Vonnegut…

    • 311 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Have you ever forgot something very important that could’ve changed your life? In Kurt Vonnegut’s Harrison Bergeron, equality is forced upon the citizens by the government. Everyone is forced to wear handicaps that make everyone “equal”. The government, strictly enforces these handicaps. If someone were to take a handicap off, such as a lead ball hanging from their neck, it would be 2 years in prison and a $2,000 fine. In Kurt Vonnegut’s Harrison Bergeron, he shows the government is so corrupt that they will do anything to keep their power.…

    • 523 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Aristotle once said “The worst form of inequality is to try to make unequal things equal.” It is hard to try to picture a world where every human being is completely equal. A world where that every human being is forced by any means to has equal wealth, equal intelligence and equal physical beauty. Kurt Vonnegut’s Jr. wrote about such a world in his 1961 short story “Harrison Bergeron”. Vonnegut makes a good use of irony to show how creating absolute equality would require an absurdly oppressive society. Vonnegut uses the characterization of the Bergeron family members, Harrison, Hazel, and George to demonstrate how absolute equality destroys Individuality and also to show the two-facedness of that idealistic society and the danger of total…

    • 124 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Within the story of Harrison Bergeron, there are many different aspects that Kurt Vonnegut wrote about. However, some are easier to identify compared to others. Some of the things and aspects that Vonnegut wrote about in Harrison Bergeron can be clearly identified by the words stated whereas other aspects written about take a bit of thinking about. Beginning with what was directly stated. In the year of 2081, everyone was required to be equal by the government. If some citizens were more better in ways such as stronger, more beautiful, or more intelligent, the government prevented equality by having those citizens to wear “handicaps”. An example of how we can obviously see this is when George and Hazel are watching T.V.. It is stated that,…

    • 382 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In his short story, “Harrison Bergeron”, author Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. tells about a society, or America, in the future being ruled by a totalitarian government, whose number one law, is equality. Everyone is treated equally by law; no one is smarter, faster, stronger or more beautiful than another. The people of the society are forced to conform to handicaps by wearing weights around their neck or masks to hide a beautiful face. Vonnegut shows how far people are willing to go for equality and putting people in degrading situations just to make them equal. Is someone truly equal in a dystopian society, where being above average is not normal and being almost dumb is almost completely normal? In order to demonstrate Harrison Bergeron is living under dystopian society, the reader must examine a society were there are too many laws, in which is the public is being regulated by the state, everyone being forced to conform.…

    • 1001 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “Everybody was finally equal.” This is what all people aspire to have, but true equality should never be attained. In the short story “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut Jr., the year is 2081 and the government has finally constructed their perfect world and made all its people equal. The government forcefully administers handicaps on those who are stronger and smarter than the average person. The character Harrison Bergeron passionately disagrees with this. With Harrison’s rebellious and forceful ways, he tries to overthrow the government because he feels this is unjust.…

    • 478 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Today’s society is exceedingly opposed to standards set by the media. Equality is claimed for everyone with constant arguing amongst the population about what is socially or politically acceptable vs. what is not. Harrison Bergeron opens a window for us to see how much equality is too much. Where is the line that ought not to be crossed and what will the negative repercussions if it is? Vonnegut vocalizes this concept so clearly and brilliantly; whether societal equality can turn to mistreatment and what the consequences will be when it does.…

    • 915 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays