Literary Criticism Of Harrison Bergeron - 986 Words

The short, science-fiction story, â€Å"Harrison Bergeron,† by Kurt Vonnegut is a literary piece in which members of a community abolish the possibilities of reasoning to maintain peace. As said in the story: â€Å"then other people’d get away with it - and soon we’d be right back to the dark ages again, with everybody competing against everybody else† (Vonnegut 2), the society’s government believed that with the introduction of uniqueness and superiority, conflict would arise, because competition to be better would begin. As a result, because of these customs, the Bergeron’s family is severely punished by taking away their fourteen-year-old son, Harrison, because of the characteristics of the Bergeron family’s son: his natural talents and beauty†¦show more content†¦As a result of these laws however, talented individuals were forced to use handicaps. These handicaps were special accessories designed for highly intelligent ind ividuals, so that if they ever attempt to use their supreme mental abilities in any event, this accessory would impair their abilities. Hazel, a citizen within this society, did not use this accessory, since she had a short memory span. Another citizen within the society that was smarter, George, was forced to use this accessory. George had to wear a mental handicap radio around his ear that transmitted abrupt sounds to avoid the outgoing use of his mind. Along with the handicap radio, he had to wear a forty-seven pound of birdshot in a canvas bag to debilitate the use of his strength. Overall, the constitution of this new civilization hindered individuals to think about anything differently so that others that weren’t above the normal capacity standard of mental abilities didn’t feel as if they didn’t belong to the same world, and cause there to be conflict or â€Å"competition,† as the government would say, as a result of these inferiorities. The same w as also applied to individuals who had greater strength than the typical standard – their strength was also impaired to match the ordinary standard set by officials of the government because the government believed differences in strength among citizens would also cause conflict. The H.GShow MoreRelatedHarrison Bergeron1095 Words   |  5 Pagesâ€Å"Harrison Bergeron† by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. â€Å"Harrison Bergeron† by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. is a story literally exaggerated to its limit by showing, in the near future, what it means to be equal in every way by having people not being able to show any form of intelligence or creativity whatsoever. When Harrison Bergeron breaks the chains of government oppression, he dies for his failed cause. He dies because he chooses not to conform to the rest of his oppressive society. His parents, George andRead MoreWe Are Not Our Own1208 Words   |  5 PagesEnide Sifrain Professor Stewart English 1102 29 October 2014 We are not our own The story â€Å"Harrison Bergeron† written by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. he describes how the world would be enforced by the system of our government. This system the government imposes how to rule the minds of each civilian by diminishing their intellectual brains with handicap devices. The government wants everyone to be equal to each other and if one was more intelligent than the others they had to be labeled with a handicap deviceRead MoreThe Downfalls of Egalitarianism and Television964 Words   |  4 PagesKurt Vonnegut envisioned the fatal outcome in his masterpiece, â€Å"Harrison Bergeron.† The story illustrates â€Å"what would happen if a government or some other power takes this notion serious† (Mowery). The protagonist, Harrison, who is arrest for â€Å"exuberant individuality,† escapes from prison and goes on national television station to declare himself emperor, only later to be killed by the handicap general Diane Moon. In â€Å"Harrison Berger on,† Kurt Vonnegut satirizes the movement toward egalitarianism andRead MoreThe Downfalls of Egalitarianism and Television989 Words   |  4 Pagesto be equal? Kurt Vonnegut envisioned this in his masterpiece, â€Å"Harrison Bergeron.† The story is about â€Å"what would happen if a government or some other power takes this notion serious† (Mowery). The protagonist, Harrison, who is arrest for â€Å"exuberant individuality,† escapes from prison and goes on a national television station to declare himself emperor, only later to be killed by the handicap general Diane Moon. In â€Å"Harrison Bergeron,† Kurt Vonnegut satirizes the movement toward egalitarianism andRead MoreFahrenheit 451 Critical Essay1607 Words   |  7 Pagesfor the very first time. â€Å"So many people are. Afraid of firemen, i mean. But you’re just a man, after all...† (Bradbury 7) Through this attempt, Bradbury got Readers views for Fahrenheit 451 and the meaning that goes with it. Reader’s response criticism can be an opinion or thought of what the reader thinks or feels about a text or book. From reading the novel Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury uses symbolism to get his point to across to readers about our society’s future. He uses symbolism from theRead MoreHistory of the Development of the Short Story.3660 Words   |  15 PagesThe Short Story. Basic Literary Elements of The Short Story. 1.1.History of The Development of The Short Story. 1.1.1.Early Forms.Origins. The short story refers to a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, usually in narrative format. This format or medium tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas (in the 20th and 21st century sense) and novels or books. Short story definitions based upon length differ somewhat even among professional writersRead More Slaughterhouse-Five: The Novel and the Movie Essay examples3404 Words   |  14 PagesHappy Birthday, Wanda June (1971) turned out so abominably that he asked to have his name removed from it; and he found Slapstick of Another Kind (1984) to be perfectly horrible (41,44). (This article was writen prior to Showtimes Harrison Bergeron, and Fine Lines Mother Night). A number of other Vonnegut novels have been optioned, but the film projects have either been abandoned during production or never advanced beyond an unproduced screenplay adaptation, indicating