Equality in Harrison Bergeron Essay

Kurt Vonneguts short story Harrison Bergeron is set in the future (2081), when the governing body has purportedly made everyone equal. The people of this era are strained equal by technology. These people are denied laissez faire, and the governments have taken their freedom by enforcing laws. Vonneguts story is a satire because the society he depicts is not real equal, but rather a undemocratic regime under the stalking-horse of compare. I will examine how Vonnegut seems to be accuseing that in such a society, the government gains too much control and people gradually tolerate their individuality.In Vonneguts story, everybody was finally equal. They werent only equal out front God and the law. They were equal in every which way. So how does this differ from the equality we enjoy in our current society? Vonnegut goes on to explain that, in such a society, equality means that nobody was smarter than anybody else. Nobody was intermit looking than anybody else. Nobody was stronger or quicker than anybody else. But how would this be uniformly if every human being is born differently?The government forces citizens to unwrap different levels of handicap devices according to their differing abilities. For example, a handicap radio is forced on anyone considered smart, a mask is forced on anyone considered beautiful, and heavy bags honorable of birdshots are forced on anyone considered strong. All these rules are enforced by the 211th, 212th, and 213th Amendments to the Constitution, and the unceasing vigilance of agents of the United States Handicapper General. However, this also implicates that equality is not actually achieved because the Handicapper General is evidently not restricted in the same manner. In fact, the Handicapper General, which seems to represent the government, controls the disembodied spirit of citizens. People like George might possess intelligent thoughts such as maybe dancers shouldnt be handicapped. However, these thoughts might undermine the Handicapper Generals power, so the handicap radio works every twenty seconds or so to keep people like George from taking unfair advantage of their brains. Georges son Harrison Bergeron, who according to the news channel is a genius and an athlete, is regarded as extremely dangerous. After Harrison escapes from jail under-handicapped, he is quickly tracked follow through by authorities and shot by the Handicapper General herself. Vonnegut seems to imply that ironically, power are in the hands of only a hardly a(prenominal) people under the pretense of equality, and that extraordinary people has no dress to live in such an authoritarian society. Controlled by the government, citizens also escape their individuality. Masks are worn so beauty is hidden.When George and hazel tree were watching ballerinas on the television, the ballerinas faces were masked, so that no one, seeing a free and graceful movement or a pretty face, would feel like something the cat medicine in. Moreover, people who are strong have to wear weights on their bodies. George had a forty-seven pounds of birdshot in a canvas bag, which was padlocked around his neck, which even Hazel finds pitying. Even voices are controlled. Reading a bulletin, a ballerina had to excuse at once for her voice because her actual voice was a warm, luminous, and sempiternal melody.Therefore, people in this society lose their individuality and humanity. Vonnegut seems to imply that the government intrudes the everyday lives of citizens under the pretense of equality, just like the communist totalitarian regime of Mao Ze Dong in China. Vonnegut seems to think that equality in the sense of eliminating individual differences would never work. If the government forced handicaps on expert people, how could we improve our society? Creative thinkers wouldnt be able to pass up with new ideas, technology development would stagnate and the quality of life would deteriorate.Suppose there werent a nybody capable of inventing the mobile phone, how would contact your friends and family on the road? In conclusion, Harrison Bergeron portrays how people can potentially lose their individuality and unwillingly accept totalitarian control under the pretense of equality. Vonnegut wants to chasten us about how dangerous such a society is and how the inappropriate usage of equality is fatal for the human race. We should never sacrifice individuality for equality