An Essay on Harrison Bergeron Text

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Define 'satire' and provide one example of personal or social satire that yoou have encountered. You may use any source for your example:tv, media, news editorials, movies, comedy, etc. Satire can be defined as any work in which a human vice or folly is attacked with irony or sarcasm. An example of satire can be found in the song when the president talks to god by bright eyes. In this song, the lyrics lay out hypothetical conversations between the president and god, which mocks current president george w. Explain how he uses the symbol and what the symbol represents some other entity in the story.

In the story, what is the purpose of 'handicaps' and how do they keep people equal? handicaps can be defined as a hinderance that gives a disadvantage. In the story harrison bergeron, handicaps are given to anyone considered to be pretty, smart, and out of the ordinary. Masks are worn so beauty is hidden, an ear piece prevents intelligent thought, and the extraordinary are chained up. Explain the role diana moon glampers plays in the story and describe the authority she possesses over the people. Diana has the power of to control the life and death of everyone in the story, and this is shown.

Explain why hazel bergeron is not plagued with frequent brain blasts like her husband. Hazel bergeron does not need a handicap to prevent her from having intelligent thoughts like her husband simply because she is not as smart as he is. Include not only his physical appearance, but the emotional characteristic which leads him to behave so bizarrely. Putting harrison bergeron's seven foot stature asside, he appears to be what we would call normal today. This story has a well developed theme which vonnegut parodies against certain american beliefs.

I believe the theme in harrison bergeron is that it is impossible to deny human differences. If the government tried to make us all equal with handicaps, they would essentially be taking away other rights that we have, such as freedom of speech. In harrison bergeron , kurt vonnegut explores the theme of forced equality in american society in the not so distant future. He focuses on creating equality by altering beauty, strength, and intelligence as opposed to dealing with race, religion, and sex, the true issues of equality in society. He writes this story to teach the lesson that all people are not equal, but rather, they all have strengths and weaknesses making each uniquely individual. Vonnegut forces equality on america in the areas of beauty, strength, and intelligence. He creates a world in which beautiful people wear masks to cover their faces and strong individuals carry weights to make them equal to the weaker population.

For the intelligent men and women, headsets that blast random noises are worn to interfere with intellectual thoughts. These handicaps are to be worn at all times and are enforced by law to equalize all human beings. He has to wear an abnormally large headset, huge weights, large glasses, and a red rubber nose just to offset his features. If ever a handicap law is broken, the handicapper general, who wears no handicaps and carries a shotgun, hunts down the guilty party and kills him. This corrupt equality by vonnegut is created on an attribute basis and can only be carried out through force. Vonnegut’s form of forced equality will be questioned by the handicapped many times and will eventually fail. He uses harrison in the story to show that people will protest and work against the handicaps until the handicap system is abolished.

He writes, harrison tore the straps off his handicap harness like wet tissue paper, tore straps guaranteed to support fire thousand pounds, 129. With the handicaps that prevent anyone from being equal, no competition is allowed. All progress that requires thought will be stopped, and all critical thinking will end. Vonnegut’s form of equality will never work in any way, because it demoralizes the human race and stops all creativity.

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Bergeron is blessed with intelligence, and the handicapper general forces him to wear a headset to keep him from using his intelligence to overcome others that are not as smart as him. The handicaps are holding back the potential that god has given to a man or woman. Vonnegut shows how harrison’s potential is held back when he writes, he flung away his rubber ball nose, revealed a man that would have awed thor, the god of thunder, 129. Harrison bergeron has to wear extremely heavy weights, large glasses, and an earpiece because he is smart, strong, and he has good eyesight. America and other countries need equality in many aspects of life such as race, religion and sex in order to live in peace and harmony. Past historical events like slavery, genocide, and religious fighting occur when equality is out of balance.

It is when one group of people believes that they are higher and better than another group when violence begins. This corruption is amplified onto different levels like classification, symbolization, dehumanization, organized attack, polarization, preparation, extermination, and denial. Equality is needed in countries in aspects of race, religion, and sex in order for the country to thrive and live in peace.

One of the most important themes in harrison bergeron is that equality in any country is only helpful in areas like race, religion, and sex, but not for individual attributes like beauty, intelligence, and strength. If one alters the plan of god and tries to change the world to be completely equal, then the world will fall apart. Kurt vonnegut writes this story to help us realize that equality is meant to make no man or woman better than another man or woman. The major theme in harrison bergeron is that equality is for rights and not for attributes like beauty, strength, and intelligence. It would be both a mistake and truly a disservice to all college students if you were to eliminate kurt vonnegut’s short story harrison bergeron from your text making literature matter.

Harrison bergeron is a valuable story with underlying themes that are still very much relevant in today’s society. Vonnegut’s story is a cautionary tale that warns americans of the dangers of creating a truly equalitarian society in which its citizens sacrifice their individuality and freedom to the government in order to create a place where all men are created equal. As we read harrison bergeron we learn that equality does not create the utopia most people would expect but instead creates a society of mindless zombies who are handicapped and mutilated by the government all in the name of balance. The constant search for equality detailed in harrison bergeron is prevalent in today’s society as we search for new ways to equalize and create balance between individuals, races, socioeconomic classes and genders but we learn that this balance comes at a price.

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The search for equality in harrison bergeron can be related to various issues in today’s society such as public health care and same sex marriage. As a society america prides itself on being a place where all men are created equal but are all men truly created equal? or does the constitution only formally recognize equality for most citizens merritt ? all citizens must abide by the same laws but not all citizens are afforded the same rights or opportunities. All men are created equal but healthcare is only for people who can afford private insurance.

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The passing of proposition 8 asserts that marriage is only recognized as a union between a man and a woman but according to chief justice ronald george, same sex couples still have the right to domestic partnerships resembling marriage setback for equality but these domestic partnerships are a faзade created by the government and do not hold the same value as traditional marriages. The government is downplaying the injustices placed upon same sex couples by affording them a union that resembles marriage. America claims to be a place of constant evolution and growth but it still cannot redefine its principles to meet the changing needs of a modern society. Prohibiting same sex marriage and refusing medical care to individuals is denying citizens of their human rights, which puts us in a position that is far from that utopian dream where all men are created equal. Unlike american society, bergeron’s society prides itself on equality on all levels and at all costs. At first glance harrison bergeron’s world seems like a utopian society based on equality and balance but as we read we begin to see that this balance is not organic.

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In an attempt to create a society where everybody was finally equal not only equal before god and the law. But they were equal in every which way vonnegut 1513 citizens are mutilated and handicapped if they possess any superior traits. Handicaps and mutilations are imposed in order to garner equality between individuals on all levels, both in terms of their inherent abilities and talents as well as the laws that govern them. The use of the word finally in the preceding quote suggests a solution has been discovered to cure the existing inequalities between individuals by creating a society where all people are equal. This idea of finding a solution to the inequalities that exist between people can be directly related to issues in today’s society. Obama’s public health care reform will attempt to make health care available to all people at an affordable price thereby attempting to level the imbalance between socioeconomic classes in america.