Preview

Why Is Harrison Bergeron Wasnt Equal

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
387 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Why Is Harrison Bergeron Wasnt Equal
Imagine being placed in the year 2081 and see people with athletic or intelligent abilities being handicapped with masks, weights, and ear radios. That’s was a ho people with gifts or talent were treated in “Harrison Bergeron”. This leads to the assumption that everyone in “Harrison Bergeron” wasn’t equal To start with, the more skill or talent someone has, the more or worse the handicaps that person will have. For instance, the short story told me that Hazel had a “perfectly average” intelligence. However, Harrison had not only a remarkably high intelligence but also was very athletic. Since Hazel had a normal intelligence, she didn’t need any handicaps, but Harrison needs weights because he is seven foot and an athlete. Harrison

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    A disability may be physical, cognitive (includes the memory process), mental, sensory, emotional, developmental or some of them combined. A disability may occur from birth, or happen during a person's lifetime. Who is to say handicap people and people with disabilities are even weaker than most? No one is capable of making that kind of…

    • 1416 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    “Harrison Bergeron” and The Incredibles are similar stories that both express equality amongst everybody. In the short story “Harrison Bergeron”, the residents of the city have no choice but to have their individual abilities handicapped. When it comes to The Incredibles, the protagonists are not allowed to use their special abilities to save citizens within the city. Although the abilities these characters have are natural, they are prevented from using them in the community and they are told to keep their powers to themselves. An example in “Harrison Bergeron” is when people who are above average considering knowledge, are to use an ear radio which blasts unusual sounds which prevents the individual from thinking in depth. This is used so that no one has more knowledge and understanding than another individual in the community. A similar situation appeared in the movie The Incredibles, where Dash was not allowed to participate in any kind of sport related activity because he had an ability which allows him to run real fast which would give away their family secret of them being superheroes. In both stories their individual characteristics were taken away from them making no one unique and to show equality. When comparing both stories the only difference is that in “Harrison Bergeron” their talents were handicapped so everyone could be equal, and in The Incredibles the superheroes were to hide their special powers to protect their real identity and keep their family safe. Talents that people have are not there to be kept for themselves but to be shared with the rest of the world and take on new…

    • 278 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    As stated on page 1, handicaps have been made to take away so call advantages that some people have. As stated by the author, a Handicapper General was…

    • 282 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In "Harrison Bergeron" by Kurt Vonnegut, the author creates a short story about a Dystopian society where any form of "unequal advantage" is frowned upon and dealt with by a method known as “Handicapping” a person. Handicapping was given based off the “advantage” that a person had, a few examples being the ballerinas forced to cover their faces to keep their beauty hidden or an overly intelligent person being forced to wear a mental radio within his/her own ear.…

    • 251 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “Nobody was smarter than anybody else. Nobody was better looking than anybody else. Nobody was stronger or quicker than anybody else,” everyone was equal (Vonnegut 1199). A handicap is something that hinders ones abilities in anyway. In this story many…

    • 317 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In short story “Harrison Bergeron” Kurt Vonnegut uses symbols and hyperbole to show how conformity isn’t better. Their society's solution to equality is to change the people who have unique attributes and make them the same as the average person. Vonnegut uses the handicaps to show how equality isn’t better and how their government fails to make everyone equal. They try to force individuals to change so they are conforming and no one will compete against each other. If you are above average you have a handicap, so it is obvious you are superior in some way. Vonnegut shows the characters are aware of this when George thinks “the ballerina… must have been extraordinarily beautiful, because the mask she wore was hideous”(Vonnegut, Kurt “Harrison…

    • 267 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Equality isn’t always the best thing; sometimes it can be worse than you think. In the short story “Harrison Bergeron”, Harrison was considered an extreme danger to society “He is a genius and an athlete, is under handicapped, and should be regarded as extremely dangerous” (pg. 2). At just age fourteen he was taken away from his home. He is a danger, because of what they did.…

    • 283 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In “Harrison Bergeron,” individuals are expected to conform to society. People are downplayed and anticipated to meet the lowest standards of society. For example, no one is smarter, better looking, stronger, or quicker than anybody else (1554). If an individual is deemed not average, then they are given a handicap. The protagonist in Vonnegut’s “Harrison Bergeron” is considered dangerous and a threat to the government. He bears heavier handicaps than everybody else in his society. He wears big earphones, glasses with thick wavy lenses, and scrap metal that hangs all over him. At the end of the short story, Harrison strips himself of all his handicaps. By stripping himself of his handicaps, Harrison is breaking the chains of his government and defying the laws.…

    • 552 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    It’s 2081 in the United States and the Handicapper General is forcing people to wear handicaps that make them equal...but are they really equal? People in 2081 were given handicaps to make them equal. Except some people could do something, when others couldn’t, even with their handicaps. The people in the short story “Harrison Bergeron”, are NOT equal.…

    • 555 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Harrison Bergeron Thesis

    • 445 Words
    • 2 Pages

    It represents the mentally part because the purpose of the handicap is to make your thoughts flee your head so you don’t become smarter than the rest of the population. This shows how the handicap can mess with the way you think because it truly doesn’t give you the chance to think another quote to support this is “George was toying with the vague notion that maybe dancers shouldn’t be handicapped. But he didn’t get very far with it” (Vonnegut 1). This quote showed how the government made the people it took care of dumber using methods that would never be allowed…

    • 445 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Harrison Bergson

    • 350 Words
    • 1 Page

    Have you ever wondered what the world would be like if everyone was legally forced into the governments opinion of equality? In Kurt Vonnegut Jr.'s short story "Harrison Bergeron", it is the year 2081 and the government has altered society to be mentally, physically and socially equal. The beautiful people are covered with hideous masks, the intelligent people wear ear pieces that let off loud obnoxious sounds at random to throw off there thought process and the strong people wear weights to be equal to the weaker people. The society is not equal because no one can truly be changed unless they want to be. Putting a handicap on an intelligent person does not make him or her equal to an average person, because he or she is still intelligent and if the whole society where really equal everyone would have handicaps not just the beautiful, strong, and intelligent people.…

    • 350 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Critic Roland Barthes has said, “Literature is the question minus the answer.” Many works of literature expose hypothetical questions that, in turn, raise awareness for a civil issue. The author’s treatment of these questions can give a deeper understanding of the work as a whole. Kurt Vonnegut’s classic short story, “Harrison Bergeron”, contains the perfect example of such questions. “Harrison Bergeron” takes place in a futuristic society that emphasizes the right of equality. Each member of society is shackled down with handicapping tools to become the same as everyone else, whether that be intelligence, athleticism, or overall appearance. In “Harrison Bergeron”, Vonnegut analyzes the question of whether equality is worth losing one’s individuality…

    • 468 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Harrison Bergeron

    • 3075 Words
    • 13 Pages

    Is the conception of equality with gender, economic status, and talents truly achievable or simply a myth? The idea and possibility of equality appeals human’s emotional nature. It’s everyone ideal image and vision of how the world should be. However, can equality in every aspect potentially handicap one who’s potentially gifted? In the passage, “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut (1961), he creates a strictly equitable society. In this “utopian” society, each person is treated equally despite each person’s characteristics or talents. Those who could be considered gifted or highly intelligent receive handicaps. One cannot compete, and display the talents or beauty granted to them at birth. Every individual is normal and rendered below-average in intelligence, strength, and ability.…

    • 3075 Words
    • 13 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Although the comparisons are well hidden both today’s society and the story ‘Harrison Bergeron’ share a good amount of similarities. They both have to deal with equality, which leads to problems and consequences. Secondly having to deal with competition and trying to prevent it from occurring, which also leads to problems. Lastly both struggle with normality, and it’s hard to accept that different is okay now.…

    • 638 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Save Animals

    • 269 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Most of people think that handicaps are different with us and they are not as healthy as we are or maybe they are unusual and useless. Sometimes we keep our difference from them or even trying to don’t see them.…

    • 269 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays