Short stories go down like ice cream, but they often leave the reader with lingering sensations. What are those sensations? What do they have to do with your experience? Is "Literature" with a capital L a more effective brand of cultural meaning-making than commercials, Twitter, or the news?
Hopefully, we'll get the ball rolling on some of these questions. Featured texts describe utopian visions, bovine rebellion, freezing to death, and school shootings (among other things).
This was one of the strangest short stories I have ever read. It conveyed a restricting and invasive tone and I am convinced that the author Kurt Vonnegut could possibly have been an anarchist. Vonnegut wrote "Harrison Bergeron" in 1961 and set the date of his story to the year 2081. 120 years into the future when the government has 100% control over society. There is no natural human desire to compete or move upward because everyone is "equal" in every way shape and form. This level of equality is based on the lower end of the scale so people do not question why things are done the way they are, they are basically reduced to a "dumb-downed" society. In the 1960's there were radical groups on the rise, the Vietnam War, and the government was becoming more actively involved in societal issues which gave some people a sense of hope that the government would fix and take care of all the problems that were occurring. On the other hand, there were people who did want to have this increasingly invasive protection and viewed it to be more of a burden than something positive. I believe that Vonnegut based "Harrison Bergeron" on the most extreme idea of government control. Yes, the story is farfetched but when you compare some of the technology the government uses to control people, such as the chips in the head that block out extensive complex thought, it is not THAT out of reach in comparison to today's world. We have not only reached, but have surpassed these ideas of what technology can do and in the mean time the government has become stricter and implemented more rules. So it may be an exaggeration of the potential the government possess for ultimate control, but the meaning still stands. That subjective meaning is, people need to question everything that doesn't seem right and continue to stand up for what is morally just and what they believe in.
The control over the people in this short story isn’t too far from reality in our world now. But our government’s control is over necessary things like equality among race, sex, and religion. In the story it was over ridiculous things like strength and beauty. I mean yes I do believe everyone is made equally but some just have advantages and disadvantages. No one should be punished because they’re more beautiful than someone else and I feel that the people in the story should've fought against all these pointless laws. There is a difference between individuality and equality among the people. What they did in this story did not make every one more equal, they just stripped the identities away from others to become all similar people. I think dictated countries control their people similar to this story but in different ways. They don’t hinder people by making them wear handicaps but they only allow them to buy certain things and see certain things. They’re blocked from certain outside world news and they’re led to think that their government is the best thing for them such as the Chinese government in the realm of communism. They aren’t allowed to search certain topics, it’s banned for them to find out about their leader, communism, or foreign affairs. This relates to the story when they have the handicaps in the ears of the people so that they can’t think too much about the government before the thought’s erased from their mind. The government could very well be more strict seventy years from now but this story makes me wonder how far, we as the people, would allow our government to dictate us. Way back in history we were afraid of too much government control but it seems like history always repeats itself.
This story is about the government controlling everybody and making them “equal”. The citizens think that their handicaps are so everybody will be equal because this is only fair. In reality, the citizens are confusing equality with fairness. The government is trying to keep everybody on the same low playing field. Stifling intelligence or beauty is not fair to those who are more advantageous in some way. The government brainwashed the citizens by making them think that putting them all on the same low playing field is for their advantage. In reality, the government is afraid someone will have an innovative idea. Innovation is new and different. It takes an abnormal type of person to innovate, someone with a unique quality. However, the government suppresses these qualities in everybody by masking them. The ear pieces terminate any long term thoughts from formulating; thoughts which could have led to rebellion. Short term thoughts are harmless and forgetful, long terms thought may assess social conditions and alternative opinions to those of the governments may be formed. Innovation is a key factor to a progressive society. I find it contradictory that the societal social structure has reached this state in the future. Society should be becoming more progressive and innovative as time goes on. But, in this society, the society has regressed as time has gone on. It has reached a static and thoughtless state and stifled any hope of innovation. I feel as though this society has worked backwards.
“Harrison Bergeron” is an anticommunism story. It is very easy to tell it was made during the cold war. The characters in this story like and welcome the utopian ideas. Hazel says that she would hate if everybody were competing again. From an outside view it is very sad. These people are limited in every way possible, everybody is exactly the same as the next, either by wearing weights, masks, glasses that impair vision, and having radios in their ears to stop their thinking. Society cannot progress if this is the case. An idea can be erased from someone’s mind so new innovations or more productive means of doing things will not ever exist. Harrison Bergeron tries to be different and be at his full potential on television. He tries to start an uprising almost and become more powerful. This is quickly shut down by the Handicap General, and everybody that watched this all happen has forgotten what they saw. There are many questions in my mind about this story. Is everyone actually handicapped? For their utopian society to function there has to be someone who isn’t handicapped mentally to be able to think clearly and react to situations that arise like Harrisons. There also have to be people that run businesses, enforce laws, make laws, make goods, and decide and react to other problems such as natural disasters, among many other things. Everyone cannot be equal for a society to function in my mind it is not possible, the majority of people may be equal to an extent but there has to be people higher up in the government who are not impaired. Another question is Harrison Bergeron actually human? They talk about him abandoning laws of gravity and motion along with ripping straps which were rated for 5000 pounds, these are obviously not human qualities.
The short story, “Harrison Bergeron” is definitely the strangest story, in my opinion, that we have read so far. It takes place in the year 2081 in a society ruled completely by the government. The government requires everyone to be completely equal in every way, including looks and intelligence. This brings a whole new look to the term “everyone is created equal.” In this story, everyone is not only of equal importance in society, but also in every other way imaginable. The government mandates people to wear weights to make them of equal size to the rest, masks to cover the faces of more than normal beauty, and earpieces that cause people to lose track of thought so they aren’t more intelligent than the others. In some circumstances, the government would even put people in jail, such as Harrison, because they are beyond the point of making normal. This type of control parallels to communism in countries such as China. Those governments have not gone that far yet, but they still control their people with strict rules, unlike our government. What makes this story even more strange is that this could be a realistic happening. People are obsessed with the idea of fitting into the category of normal, and the government is obsessed with the fact that everyone should be treated and have equal opportunities. The government is becoming more and more involved in trying to make everyone equal, and someday we may actually reach a point such as this, where everyone is forced to be an equal.
All that I can say about this short story is that this has to be one of the weirdest and most confusing stories that I have ever read! I mean it does not really explain what these restraints on people are all about and why are all these people called handicaps? Also what’s with this bag weight system and people having to carry around 300 pounds of whatever it is around there body’s! This sounds like a terrible and awful future that I would never ever want to live in. this short story talks about how everybody is equal in every single way. First of all that sounds like an advanced form of communism instead of something that would be found in the constitution! Also what would be the point of life if everybody was the same and nobody competed with each other, it would seem like there would be no goal in life. To me this sounds like a horrible way of living and a life that I would never want to live. The ending of this story was really messed up also, I mean it happened really fast and it seemed a little bit over the top to have this lady Diana Moon Glampers come in and just ruin the two people dancing with this double barrel shot gun and all on television. What really got to me though was the fact on how the government is able to control everybody and was able to make it seem like the incident on TV never happened. This short story was the oddest one yet.
The short story, “Harrison Bergeron”, is definitely and difficult one to understand. I can understand why many people posted saying that they were confused and that it was really weird. What really gets me is that the story was written back in 1961 and like Joelle posted, it was during the time of the Vietnam War and there were radical groups. The story though takes place in 2081, 120 years ahead of the tie it was written. It’s about this futuristic society where the government has made everyone equal…literally equal. People who were born more advanced than others had to wear peculiar items to make them equal to other people that were born average (I think?). One of the characters in the story had to wear a radio device on his head/ ear which control him from thinking too advanced from other people in society. A ballerina, the story said, had to wear a mask, to cover her beauty. The government really controlled people to look and think equally to other humans. Today in society, the government has power over people in society, censoring us in ways we may not even realize. No, they aren’t exactly making us equal like the government does in the short story, but they do have power over us. It is almost as if the author of this short story believed that the government in future time could control out actions, including the way we look to make each individual identical to each other. What concerns me is the fact that it is only 2013, and look at how much the government has power over us now. What may it be like in 2081?
Honestly this was very strange and confusing to me. First off, the story is set in 2081 and our whole constitution is changed and all these amendments are added to it, very screwed up because the government has complete control over this society. Also, it mentions in the first paragraph of the story that everyone it “equal,” no matter what gender, race, anything. This creates conflicts in society because there is no class system to depict the poor, middle and upper class, but also no one would want to do better or move up in life because no matter what everyone is treated equal. It reminds to of communism or totalitarian rule. Everyone is under strict rules and is just ultimately is not possible to have a functional society when everything is equal. The people are too futuristic because I believe that our minds will never be controlled by technology. Another thing, I hated how the author used the word “handicapped” numerous times. Why is this really needed? Handicap is the completely wrong term to use. The author makes me feel that these people literally cannot function in life without the influence of outside help. Unfortunately, I could predict for the future that government may become stricter and will be a completely different society. Overall, this was a weird and confusing story, but interested to hear what everyone will say about it in class tomorrow.
Wow. This story is extremely disturbing. It is the year 2081 and the government has gone crazy. This futuristic society believes that everyone should be equal. People that have above-average characteristics must be handicapped. I find it odd that this government disables people for the better of society. For instance, Harrison Bergeron was an athlete and a genius that was send to jail because he wanted to display these attributes. Harrison’s father George was also handicapped for having above-average intelligence. It thought that was sad, because George’s thought process was constantly interrupted by random sounds in his earpiece. I was horrified by the end of the sorry. Harrison Bergeron ended up being killed and his parents showed no emotions towards the situation. Not only has this futuristic society taken an individual’s emotions but also their identity. Take the ballerinas for example, they were forced to be chains to prevent them from performing close to perfection. The ballerina that was talking on the TV had to change her speech because she sounded too warm and luminous. Also, the same ballerina had to wear a hideous mask to make up for her attractiveness. I find the decision to hide the ballerina’s face as questionable because beauty is different for everyone. What the government thinks is beautiful could be unattractive to someone else, vise verse .The ballerina’s looks are considered unequal to the average person. After reading this story it made me think about future society and I wonder if the year 2081 will closely resemble the Harrison Bergeron story.
The short story Harrison Bergeron, is a very weird and twisted piece of literature. It is strange that in the year 2081 the government made everyone equal so there were no conflicts and the only things that the people living in this country were not equal to were God, and the law. I personally believe that this story is about the government being too scared of being overthrown, so they turned all of the smart people into almost robot-like creatures/mechanisms. Ballerinas were not able to show their true talent, as they were restricted with chains and masks to hide their grace and beauty. Holding everyone back is the only way to ensure that no one will be able to think about overthrowing the government. Not many people can really remember their feelings due to the fact that the government has special devices to make them forget things. Such as the moment when young Harrison gets shot and his mother starts to cry and then a few seconds later forgets that she is crying because her son was just shot on the television. It kind of scares me that in the future of this story, the government has the power to make you lose your concentration every twenty seconds and the fact that people are punished for having special talents and abilities. Even after a young child was shot for breaking free of the government’s reign, he was instantly shot to death, still no one can actually physically think about breaking free from the government. The ending was also very disturbing that his parents couldn’t remember that their young son was killed.
The short story, “ Harrison Bergeron” is the most confusing and strangest short story we have yet to read. This story takes place in the future, in the year 2018 where everyone is controlled by the government and all of society must be equal. To do so, the people have to wear handicaps, some weighing three hundred pounds. People who have more intelligence or is greater at anything then anyone else has to wear heavier handicaps and more items to weigh them down and make them equal. This would be a terrible experience, and if anyone today would have to go and experience what the people did in the story, it would open up their eyes too the individuality we all have today. I think that the author was perhaps trying to take a look into our future and tell us that as times goes by society is going become more controlled and we will no longer have our own identity. Considering that this story was written in 1961, it is in fact very strange that the author already knew what our society would come to in the future. I think that the author is going in the right direction, as our society is already controlled by the government in our world today. It is scary to think what our world will actually be like when we reach 2081! I wonder if our world will actually be controlled by government as much as it was in the short story. I think that equality is important, although when it takes away our freedom and individual achievement; that is when it has gone too far.
The short story “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. tells of a dystopian society in the year of 2081. The story describes the life of a couple, George and Hazel Bergeron, as they live in a seemingly perfect world. The society in the story is run by the United States Handicapper General whose main goal is to keep everyone equal. By doing so, everyone is required to have the same physical and mental abilities. They achieve this by mandating people to wear handicaps that can either be weights, masks, or even radios in their ears. All of this is to make sure no one person in the society is greater than the other. For example, George must wear a handicap radio that prevents him from having full thoughts which would allow him to think more than others. At the end of the story, we learn their son Harrison is exceptionally intelligent and therefore has many handicaps. Because he is rebellious and is a threat to the government, he was placed in jail where he had recently escaped from. He appears in the studio from which the tv station is broadcasting and overtakes the area. He picks out his Empress which he then removes her handicaps and orders the musicians to play without their handicaps. Now that the studio is in full chaos the Handicapper General appears and shoots both Harrison and his Empress, and kills them. The whole idea of this story is kind of scary and reminds me of George Orwell’s novel 1984 where the government essentially controls society. As we look closer into both works of literature, we realize that the idea of this “perfect world” is not so far out of reach. In today’s society, the government tries to make it so everyone has the same opportunities which makes them equal to some extent. For example, there are equal opportunity laws for getting into colleges and schools, and even getting jobs and that’s completely okay. However, the idea of everyone being equal in the context of this story, is quite scary and alarming when you realize that the technology is not far off and can be quite possible to achieve in today’s society.
The short story, "Harrison Bergeron" by Kurt Vonnegut is one of the most confusing stories that I have ever read. This story takes place in i the future in 2081. In the story the people are controlled by the government and the people are essentially made to be equal. People are given handicaps so that everyone is equal in any aspect. This makes it so that no one is greater than another person.. George's son, Harrison has many handicaps because he is so intelligent and he is also rebellious. Harrison as placed in jail because of this, but he then escaped from jail. While a station was broadcasting about his escape, Harrison showed up and proved how powerful he was to break out of his handicaps. In the end the Handicapper general came in a shot him. While reading this i started to think that wouldn't there have been people who are more intelligent that others t have thought of this system. Therefor wouldn't this make people sill not equal as the government wants. Also wouldn't the government not have handicaps because they would have to control the people. This story was just confusing while reading and i had to read it a couple times to understand everything that was happening. I feel as though trying to do this would cause rebellions everywhere and hard to control.
I found this story confusing and hard to follow. This story is set all the way into the future of 2081. Although it is many years away from the present it is almost accurate in how things might play out. This story was written in 1961 which I find a little scary that he is on the right track about what is happening in society. Issues with equality and fairness about religion, race and sex are presently accurate. I think that one day the government could have complete control of society. For example with bullying in present day society, this is taken very seriously and there are a lot of consequences including criminal charges now. Back in the day bullying was not really dealt with and taken seriously. The government now has control on bullying and does not condone it and will take legal action on the subject. This could happen with anything in the future. The more people complain about things and want the government to do something about, the future could absolutely end up like this story. This could start to happen on any subject such as the way people look and who is considered to be better looking or more intelligent. If people start to make complaints about this more often than the government could easily step in and do something about it.
The short story “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. was about a future society in the year 2081. It has the same overall concept of future stories where the government takes over the citizens’ lives. However, this one has a slight twist where the government is trying to make an equal, truly uniform society. However, the government controls this by torturing the physically and mentally gifted. The story takes place in an average home and shows how dysfunctional their “equal” society is. George Bergeron, who was “too smart,” has noises blasted in his ear every twenty seconds so he can’t remember any thoughts he creates. Hazel Bergeron (George’s wife) had average intelligence; this meant that she couldn’t remember anything for more than twenty seconds naturally. However, the two of them had a remarkable son, named Harrison, who was extremely intelligent, athletic, and rebellious. While Harrison’s parents were watching a pathetic ballerina dance, a news reporter came on to warn the nation about Harrison. Then, Harrison broke into the studio and proclaimed he was “the emperor.” Everyone began to bow down to him until he demanded a woman to take the place of his empress. One stood up and they began dancing until the Handicapper General barged in and killed them both with a shotgun. Hazel began crying and George came in from the kitchen to ask why she was so sad. She already forgot her son was brutally murdered in front of her. Suddenly, the noise that blasted in George’s ear was the shotgun noise. I liked this story, but I didn’t like all the unanswered questions it left. Also, I liked how the whole nation saw what they had the potential to become, and they managed to forget it in twenty seconds.
"Harrison Bergeron" a good story that allows you to have an alternative view on how society could turn out to be some day. The problem is this story has a sick ironic twist to it. The society in the year 2081 is equal, but yet unfair. No one person has an advantage over another. What is interesting about that concept has to be the fact that no one can enjoy being alive in truth. The military force that kept this idea in place threatened people with jail or death. The people wanted freedom from their handicaps but were too afraid of the power that was looking down at them. This story is a great example of what can happen when a system of government gets to powerful. Then uses its power to instill fear into the people that it governs. This story conveys the message that rebellion is not tolerated. Also our society should be comfortable with hiding all emotion and to allow the government to control you like a mindless zombie in a sense. We all as the human race want order but we want to be free. This will be a constant battle that we will fight for the rest of our existence. If one side of that battle becomes too powerful the other will rebel to get what they believe in to be what people follow. I do not believe that there will ever actually be a true balance between order and freedom they are opposites of each other.
"Harrison Bergerson" is a short story about society finally becoming equal in the year 2081. People have ear radios, weights and other items that help prevent them for seeming unequal to everyone else. The better someone looked the more items are placed on their body to disguise their beauty. In the story George and Hazel has a son named Harrison, who is placed in jail. He escaped jail, claimed to be the Emperor, and looked for an Empress. Then one of the ballerinas stepped up to claim the title as Empress, and the two danced together. I thought the part of the story that talked about the two dancing and defying gravity was confusing. I interpreted that portion as relating to the laws of gravity "what comes up must come down". At first Harrison and the ballerina were excited that they broke free from the government attempts to make people equal. But then they were killed by the Handicapper General, Diana Moon Glampers. Overall the story has left me wondering about certain parts in the story. I wondered why the government decided to equal everyone based on the average intelligent people. It seemed easier to push the above intelligent people; George and Harrison down to average intelligence than to try to bring the average intelligence up. Also, I thought of how they said everyone was equal in every way. It's not true because people were still unequal in their roles, such as the people and the government. It seems everyone is suppose to be equal to one another but not to the government.
The short story "Harrison Bergeron" by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. describes a society in which everyone within it is equal. People who were considered to be better then the average person were "handicapped" meaning that they had items placed on their bodies restricting them from being better. In this society the government had all control especially one person in particular, the handicapper general. This type of society resembled a dictatorship, where one person was in control, and the people were forced to follow his/her orders. I believe that the objective of this story was to show people what could happen to a society if we follow the trends. Now a days in society people are firm believers that if you follow a trend you will succeed, but why not be different? People shouldn't follow the trend, they should follow their own path. Start your own trend, if people want to follow you then thats their fault. Never settle for mediocre, be different, and strive for greatness.
The short story “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnnegut, Jr. takes place in the year 2081 where society is finally completely equal. All the citizens are equal in every way; some who are smarter have ear plugs to which makes awful noises to stop them from thinking, also many have to carry weights and or masks to not allow their beauty to show through. The two main characters are George and Hazel Bergeron who are married and have a son. George is much more intelligent and must carry a lot of weight and the ear plug, and unfortunately throughout the story we watch him struggle with have such amazing thoughts could change society but he is forces to stop thinking. Their son is named Harrison who is extremely smart and strong, and because of that the government took him away and put him in jail. Harrison does escape jail and announces he is the emperor after he snaps all his chains and weights off him as is they were twigs on television. Next he allowed a ballerina to become his empress, resulting in the couple dancing which started the spread their independence to musicians and people around them. In the end Harrison and the girl were killed shortly after but I believe the if the son had gone back to his father instead of looking for a girl he could have freed his father and changed society back together. Some people say that life isn't fair and if people were just equal that life would be better but I totally disagree. People being unequal is what allow us to be individuals and there for different from one another, which in turn gives our society the chance to advance and change through diversity.
When I read the first sentence of this story, when it said in the year 2081 I was expecting the story to be about some futuristic story with some space cars and holograms or something like that. But as I read further on thats not what it was about at all. The author makes everyone in this story as equal people by giving handicaps based on their intelligence lever and the way they look. The smarter and better looking you were the harder your life was cause they had to make you lesser of a person by making your life worse. I think that if this was the case life would be terrible. We should be free to live the life that God gives us, not the way some person wants everyone to be. If someone is very intelligent, or good looking or talented at something they should be able to use that to live a better life. Most of the time people work for those advantages and they shouldn’t be taken away by someone. I believe that if I had a really bad buzzing noise going off in my ear every 20 seconds, or not being able to collect my thoughts my life would be a living hell. I mean the fact that George’s son was taken away from him and he cant even remember seeing his son on tv is just awful. I believe that Harrison is the hero in this story because he is protesting for what is right and he should be credited for that. He was treated unfair and he deserved to stand up for himself and what was right. If our world is like that in 2081, then were gonna have some serious problems.
I found the short story Harrison Bergeron very interesting. It was weird to see a future world where everyone was supposed to be equal. Like our current day society, there was a certain way that people are supposed to be. Although in our society, the person who we are all supposed to be is perfect. In this story, the person that everyone is supposed to is average. People that were above average were handicapped so that they would not outshine everyone else. By handicapping them, they were not made average, they were made below average because they were unable to do anything. George could not speaking his mind because every couple of seconds, a buzzer would go off in his ear making him unable to remember what he was going to say. I don’t know if I could ever imagine, in this world, a place where everyone is equal. Of course I would love it if everyone were equal and no one was ever judged but unfortunately in our society, I just don’t think that is possible. I thought it was crazy when Harrison tried to go against the government; they had to kill him in order to stop him because of all of the chaos he was causing. I wonder if anything like this would ever happen in the future. If it did, I could see it happening just like it did in this story where the people will try to overthrow it but in the end the government regulates everything.
This was one of the strangest short stories I have ever read. It conveyed a restricting and invasive tone and I am convinced that the author Kurt Vonnegut could possibly have been an anarchist. Vonnegut wrote "Harrison Bergeron" in 1961 and set the date of his story to the year 2081. 120 years into the future when the government has 100% control over society. There is no natural human desire to compete or move upward because everyone is "equal" in every way shape and form. This level of equality is based on the lower end of the scale so people do not question why things are done the way they are, they are basically reduced to a "dumb-downed" society. In the 1960's there were radical groups on the rise, the Vietnam War, and the government was becoming more actively involved in societal issues which gave some people a sense of hope that the government would fix and take care of all the problems that were occurring. On the other hand, there were people who did want to have this increasingly invasive protection and viewed it to be more of a burden than something positive. I believe that Vonnegut based "Harrison Bergeron" on the most extreme idea of government control. Yes, the story is farfetched but when you compare some of the technology the government uses to control people, such as the chips in the head that block out extensive complex thought, it is not THAT out of reach in comparison to today's world. We have not only reached, but have surpassed these ideas of what technology can do and in the mean time the government has become stricter and implemented more rules. So it may be an exaggeration of the potential the government possess for ultimate control, but the meaning still stands. That subjective meaning is, people need to question everything that doesn't seem right and continue to stand up for what is morally just and what they believe in.
ReplyDeleteThe control over the people in this short story isn’t too far from reality in our world now. But our government’s control is over necessary things like equality among race, sex, and religion. In the story it was over ridiculous things like strength and beauty. I mean yes I do believe everyone is made equally but some just have advantages and disadvantages. No one should be punished because they’re more beautiful than someone else and I feel that the people in the story should've fought against all these pointless laws. There is a difference between individuality and equality among the people. What they did in this story did not make every one more equal, they just stripped the identities away from others to become all similar people. I think dictated countries control their people similar to this story but in different ways. They don’t hinder people by making them wear handicaps but they only allow them to buy certain things and see certain things. They’re blocked from certain outside world news and they’re led to think that their government is the best thing for them such as the Chinese government in the realm of communism. They aren’t allowed to search certain topics, it’s banned for them to find out about their leader, communism, or foreign affairs. This relates to the story when they have the handicaps in the ears of the people so that they can’t think too much about the government before the thought’s erased from their mind. The government could very well be more strict seventy years from now but this story makes me wonder how far, we as the people, would allow our government to dictate us. Way back in history we were afraid of too much government control but it seems like history always repeats itself.
ReplyDeleteI meant to say "before the thoughts are erased from their minds."
DeleteVeronica Brugmann
ReplyDeleteThis story is about the government controlling everybody and making them “equal”. The citizens think that their handicaps are so everybody will be equal because this is only fair. In reality, the citizens are confusing equality with fairness. The government is trying to keep everybody on the same low playing field. Stifling intelligence or beauty is not fair to those who are more advantageous in some way. The government brainwashed the citizens by making them think that putting them all on the same low playing field is for their advantage. In reality, the government is afraid someone will have an innovative idea. Innovation is new and different. It takes an abnormal type of person to innovate, someone with a unique quality. However, the government suppresses these qualities in everybody by masking them. The ear pieces terminate any long term thoughts from formulating; thoughts which could have led to rebellion. Short term thoughts are harmless and forgetful, long terms thought may assess social conditions and alternative opinions to those of the governments may be formed. Innovation is a key factor to a progressive society. I find it contradictory that the societal social structure has reached this state in the future. Society should be becoming more progressive and innovative as time goes on. But, in this society, the society has regressed as time has gone on. It has reached a static and thoughtless state and stifled any hope of innovation. I feel as though this society has worked backwards.
“Harrison Bergeron” is an anticommunism story. It is very easy to tell it was made during the cold war. The characters in this story like and welcome the utopian ideas. Hazel says that she would hate if everybody were competing again. From an outside view it is very sad. These people are limited in every way possible, everybody is exactly the same as the next, either by wearing weights, masks, glasses that impair vision, and having radios in their ears to stop their thinking. Society cannot progress if this is the case. An idea can be erased from someone’s mind so new innovations or more productive means of doing things will not ever exist. Harrison Bergeron tries to be different and be at his full potential on television. He tries to start an uprising almost and become more powerful. This is quickly shut down by the Handicap General, and everybody that watched this all happen has forgotten what they saw. There are many questions in my mind about this story. Is everyone actually handicapped? For their utopian society to function there has to be someone who isn’t handicapped mentally to be able to think clearly and react to situations that arise like Harrisons. There also have to be people that run businesses, enforce laws, make laws, make goods, and decide and react to other problems such as natural disasters, among many other things. Everyone cannot be equal for a society to function in my mind it is not possible, the majority of people may be equal to an extent but there has to be people higher up in the government who are not impaired. Another question is Harrison Bergeron actually human? They talk about him abandoning laws of gravity and motion along with ripping straps which were rated for 5000 pounds, these are obviously not human qualities.
ReplyDeleteThe short story, “Harrison Bergeron” is definitely the strangest story, in my opinion, that we have read so far. It takes place in the year 2081 in a society ruled completely by the government. The government requires everyone to be completely equal in every way, including looks and intelligence. This brings a whole new look to the term “everyone is created equal.” In this story, everyone is not only of equal importance in society, but also in every other way imaginable. The government mandates people to wear weights to make them of equal size to the rest, masks to cover the faces of more than normal beauty, and earpieces that cause people to lose track of thought so they aren’t more intelligent than the others. In some circumstances, the government would even put people in jail, such as Harrison, because they are beyond the point of making normal. This type of control parallels to communism in countries such as China. Those governments have not gone that far yet, but they still control their people with strict rules, unlike our government. What makes this story even more strange is that this could be a realistic happening. People are obsessed with the idea of fitting into the category of normal, and the government is obsessed with the fact that everyone should be treated and have equal opportunities. The government is becoming more and more involved in trying to make everyone equal, and someday we may actually reach a point such as this, where everyone is forced to be an equal.
ReplyDeleteAll that I can say about this short story is that this has to be one of the weirdest and most confusing stories that I have ever read! I mean it does not really explain what these restraints on people are all about and why are all these people called handicaps? Also what’s with this bag weight system and people having to carry around 300 pounds of whatever it is around there body’s! This sounds like a terrible and awful future that I would never ever want to live in. this short story talks about how everybody is equal in every single way. First of all that sounds like an advanced form of communism instead of something that would be found in the constitution! Also what would be the point of life if everybody was the same and nobody competed with each other, it would seem like there would be no goal in life. To me this sounds like a horrible way of living and a life that I would never want to live. The ending of this story was really messed up also, I mean it happened really fast and it seemed a little bit over the top to have this lady Diana Moon Glampers come in and just ruin the two people dancing with this double barrel shot gun and all on television. What really got to me though was the fact on how the government is able to control everybody and was able to make it seem like the incident on TV never happened. This short story was the oddest one yet.
ReplyDeleteThe short story, “Harrison Bergeron”, is definitely and difficult one to understand. I can understand why many people posted saying that they were confused and that it was really weird. What really gets me is that the story was written back in 1961 and like Joelle posted, it was during the time of the Vietnam War and there were radical groups. The story though takes place in 2081, 120 years ahead of the tie it was written. It’s about this futuristic society where the government has made everyone equal…literally equal. People who were born more advanced than others had to wear peculiar items to make them equal to other people that were born average (I think?). One of the characters in the story had to wear a radio device on his head/ ear which control him from thinking too advanced from other people in society. A ballerina, the story said, had to wear a mask, to cover her beauty. The government really controlled people to look and think equally to other humans.
ReplyDeleteToday in society, the government has power over people in society, censoring us in ways we may not even realize. No, they aren’t exactly making us equal like the government does in the short story, but they do have power over us. It is almost as if the author of this short story believed that the government in future time could control out actions, including the way we look to make each individual identical to each other. What concerns me is the fact that it is only 2013, and look at how much the government has power over us now. What may it be like in 2081?
Honestly this was very strange and confusing to me. First off, the story is set in 2081 and our whole constitution is changed and all these amendments are added to it, very screwed up because the government has complete control over this society. Also, it mentions in the first paragraph of the story that everyone it “equal,” no matter what gender, race, anything. This creates conflicts in society because there is no class system to depict the poor, middle and upper class, but also no one would want to do better or move up in life because no matter what everyone is treated equal. It reminds to of communism or totalitarian rule. Everyone is under strict rules and is just ultimately is not possible to have a functional society when everything is equal. The people are too futuristic because I believe that our minds will never be controlled by technology. Another thing, I hated how the author used the word “handicapped” numerous times. Why is this really needed? Handicap is the completely wrong term to use. The author makes me feel that these people literally cannot function in life without the influence of outside help. Unfortunately, I could predict for the future that government may become stricter and will be a completely different society. Overall, this was a weird and confusing story, but interested to hear what everyone will say about it in class tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteI apologize about the name for me, I don't understand why its doing that. Im trying to fix it.
DeleteWow. This story is extremely disturbing. It is the year 2081 and the government has gone crazy. This futuristic society believes that everyone should be equal. People that have above-average characteristics must be handicapped. I find it odd that this government disables people for the better of society. For instance, Harrison Bergeron was an athlete and a genius that was send to jail because he wanted to display these attributes. Harrison’s father George was also handicapped for having above-average intelligence. It thought that was sad, because George’s thought process was constantly interrupted by random sounds in his earpiece. I was horrified by the end of the sorry. Harrison Bergeron ended up being killed and his parents showed no emotions towards the situation. Not only has this futuristic society taken an individual’s emotions but also their identity. Take the ballerinas for example, they were forced to be chains to prevent them from performing close to perfection. The ballerina that was talking on the TV had to change her speech because she sounded too warm and luminous. Also, the same ballerina had to wear a hideous mask to make up for her attractiveness. I find the decision to hide the ballerina’s face as questionable because beauty is different for everyone. What the government thinks is beautiful could be unattractive to someone else, vise verse .The ballerina’s looks are considered unequal to the average person. After reading this story it made me think about future society and I wonder if the year 2081 will closely resemble the Harrison Bergeron story.
ReplyDeleteThe short story Harrison Bergeron, is a very weird and twisted piece of literature.
ReplyDeleteIt is strange that in the year 2081 the government made everyone equal so there were no conflicts and the only things that the people living in this country were not equal to were God, and the law. I personally believe that this story is about the government being too scared of being overthrown, so they turned all of the smart people into almost robot-like creatures/mechanisms. Ballerinas were not able to show their true talent, as they were restricted with chains and masks to hide their grace and beauty. Holding everyone back is the only way to ensure that no one will be able to think about overthrowing the government. Not many people can really remember their feelings due to the fact that the government has special devices to make them forget things. Such as the moment when young Harrison gets shot and his mother starts to cry and then a few seconds later forgets that she is crying because her son was just shot on the television. It kind of scares me that in the future of this story, the government has the power to make you lose your concentration every twenty seconds and the fact that people are punished for having special talents and abilities. Even after a young child was shot for breaking free of the government’s reign, he was instantly shot to death, still no one can actually physically think about breaking free from the government. The ending was also very disturbing that his parents couldn’t remember that their young son was killed.
The short story, “ Harrison Bergeron” is the most confusing and strangest short story we have yet to read. This story takes place in the future, in the year 2018 where everyone is controlled by the government and all of society must be equal. To do so, the people have to wear handicaps, some weighing three hundred pounds. People who have more intelligence or is greater at anything then anyone else has to wear heavier handicaps and more items to weigh them down and make them equal. This would be a terrible experience, and if anyone today would have to go and experience what the people did in the story, it would open up their eyes too the individuality we all have today. I think that the author was perhaps trying to take a look into our future and tell us that as times goes by society is going become more controlled and we will no longer have our own identity. Considering that this story was written in 1961, it is in fact very strange that the author already knew what our society would come to in the future. I think that the author is going in the right direction, as our society is already controlled by the government in our world today. It is scary to think what our world will actually be like when we reach 2081! I wonder if our world will actually be controlled by government as much as it was in the short story. I think that equality is important, although when it takes away our freedom and individual achievement; that is when it has gone too far.
ReplyDeleteThe short story “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. tells of a dystopian society in the year of 2081. The story describes the life of a couple, George and Hazel Bergeron, as they live in a seemingly perfect world. The society in the story is run by the United States Handicapper General whose main goal is to keep everyone equal. By doing so, everyone is required to have the same physical and mental abilities. They achieve this by mandating people to wear handicaps that can either be weights, masks, or even radios in their ears. All of this is to make sure no one person in the society is greater than the other. For example, George must wear a handicap radio that prevents him from having full thoughts which would allow him to think more than others. At the end of the story, we learn their son Harrison is exceptionally intelligent and therefore has many handicaps. Because he is rebellious and is a threat to the government, he was placed in jail where he had recently escaped from. He appears in the studio from which the tv station is broadcasting and overtakes the area. He picks out his Empress which he then removes her handicaps and orders the musicians to play without their handicaps. Now that the studio is in full chaos the Handicapper General appears and shoots both Harrison and his Empress, and kills them. The whole idea of this story is kind of scary and reminds me of George Orwell’s novel 1984 where the government essentially controls society. As we look closer into both works of literature, we realize that the idea of this “perfect world” is not so far out of reach. In today’s society, the government tries to make it so everyone has the same opportunities which makes them equal to some extent. For example, there are equal opportunity laws for getting into colleges and schools, and even getting jobs and that’s completely okay. However, the idea of everyone being equal in the context of this story, is quite scary and alarming when you realize that the technology is not far off and can be quite possible to achieve in today’s society.
ReplyDeleteThe short story, "Harrison Bergeron" by Kurt Vonnegut is one of the most confusing stories that I have ever read. This story takes place in i the future in 2081. In the story the people are controlled by the government and the people are essentially made to be equal. People are given handicaps so that everyone is equal in any aspect. This makes it so that no one is greater than another person.. George's son, Harrison has many handicaps because he is so intelligent and he is also rebellious. Harrison as placed in jail because of this, but he then escaped from jail. While a station was broadcasting about his escape, Harrison showed up and proved how powerful he was to break out of his handicaps. In the end the Handicapper general came in a shot him. While reading this i started to think that wouldn't there have been people who are more intelligent that others t have thought of this system. Therefor wouldn't this make people sill not equal as the government wants. Also wouldn't the government not have handicaps because they would have to control the people. This story was just confusing while reading and i had to read it a couple times to understand everything that was happening. I feel as though trying to do this would cause rebellions everywhere and hard to control.
ReplyDeleteI found this story confusing and hard to follow. This story is set all the way into the future of 2081. Although it is many years away from the present it is almost accurate in how things might play out. This story was written in 1961 which I find a little scary that he is on the right track about what is happening in society. Issues with equality and fairness about religion, race and sex are presently accurate. I think that one day the government could have complete control of society. For example with bullying in present day society, this is taken very seriously and there are a lot of consequences including criminal charges now. Back in the day bullying was not really dealt with and taken seriously. The government now has control on bullying and does not condone it and will take legal action on the subject. This could happen with anything in the future. The more people complain about things and want the government to do something about, the future could absolutely end up like this story. This could start to happen on any subject such as the way people look and who is considered to be better looking or more intelligent. If people start to make complaints about this more often than the government could easily step in and do something about it.
ReplyDeleteThe short story “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. was about a future society in the year 2081. It has the same overall concept of future stories where the government takes over the citizens’ lives. However, this one has a slight twist where the government is trying to make an equal, truly uniform society. However, the government controls this by torturing the physically and mentally gifted. The story takes place in an average home and shows how dysfunctional their “equal” society is. George Bergeron, who was “too smart,” has noises blasted in his ear every twenty seconds so he can’t remember any thoughts he creates. Hazel Bergeron (George’s wife) had average intelligence; this meant that she couldn’t remember anything for more than twenty seconds naturally. However, the two of them had a remarkable son, named Harrison, who was extremely intelligent, athletic, and rebellious. While Harrison’s parents were watching a pathetic ballerina dance, a news reporter came on to warn the nation about Harrison. Then, Harrison broke into the studio and proclaimed he was “the emperor.” Everyone began to bow down to him until he demanded a woman to take the place of his empress. One stood up and they began dancing until the Handicapper General barged in and killed them both with a shotgun. Hazel began crying and George came in from the kitchen to ask why she was so sad. She already forgot her son was brutally murdered in front of her. Suddenly, the noise that blasted in George’s ear was the shotgun noise. I liked this story, but I didn’t like all the unanswered questions it left. Also, I liked how the whole nation saw what they had the potential to become, and they managed to forget it in twenty seconds.
ReplyDelete"Harrison Bergeron" a good story that allows you to have an alternative view on how society could turn out to be some day. The problem is this story has a sick ironic twist to it. The society in the year 2081 is equal, but yet unfair. No one person has an advantage over another. What is interesting about that concept has to be the fact that no one can enjoy being alive in truth. The military force that kept this idea in place threatened people with jail or death. The people wanted freedom from their handicaps but were too afraid of the power that was looking down at them. This story is a great example of what can happen when a system of government gets to powerful. Then uses its power to instill fear into the people that it governs. This story conveys the message that rebellion is not tolerated. Also our society should be comfortable with hiding all emotion and to allow the government to control you like a mindless zombie in a sense. We all as the human race want order but we want to be free. This will be a constant battle that we will fight for the rest of our existence. If one side of that battle becomes too powerful the other will rebel to get what they believe in to be what people follow. I do not believe that there will ever actually be a true balance between order and freedom they are opposites of each other.
ReplyDelete"Harrison Bergerson" is a short story about society finally becoming equal in the year 2081. People have ear radios, weights and other items that help prevent them for seeming unequal to everyone else. The better someone looked the more items are placed on their body to disguise their beauty. In the story George and Hazel has a son named Harrison, who is placed in jail. He escaped jail, claimed to be the Emperor, and looked for an Empress. Then one of the ballerinas stepped up to claim the title as Empress, and the two danced together. I thought the part of the story that talked about the two dancing and defying gravity was confusing. I interpreted that portion as relating to the laws of gravity "what comes up must come down". At first Harrison and the ballerina were excited that they broke free from the government attempts to make people equal. But then they were killed by the Handicapper General, Diana Moon Glampers. Overall the story has left me wondering about certain parts in the story. I wondered why the government decided to equal everyone based on the average intelligent people. It seemed easier to push the above intelligent people; George and Harrison down to average intelligence than to try to bring the average intelligence up. Also, I thought of how they said everyone was equal in every way. It's not true because people were still unequal in their roles, such as the people and the government. It seems everyone is suppose to be equal to one another but not to the government.
ReplyDeleteThe short story "Harrison Bergeron" by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. describes a society in which everyone within it is equal. People who were considered to be better then the average person were "handicapped" meaning that they had items placed on their bodies restricting them from being better. In this society the government had all control especially one person in particular, the handicapper general. This type of society resembled a dictatorship, where one person was in control, and the people were forced to follow his/her orders. I believe that the objective of this story was to show people what could happen to a society if we follow the trends. Now a days in society people are firm believers that if you follow a trend you will succeed, but why not be different? People shouldn't follow the trend, they should follow their own path. Start your own trend, if people want to follow you then thats their fault. Never settle for mediocre, be different, and strive for greatness.
ReplyDeleteThe short story “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnnegut, Jr. takes place in the year 2081 where society is finally completely equal. All the citizens are equal in every way; some who are smarter have ear plugs to which makes awful noises to stop them from thinking, also many have to carry weights and or masks to not allow their beauty to show through. The two main characters are George and Hazel Bergeron who are married and have a son. George is much more intelligent and must carry a lot of weight and the ear plug, and unfortunately throughout the story we watch him struggle with have such amazing thoughts could change society but he is forces to stop thinking. Their son is named Harrison who is extremely smart and strong, and because of that the government took him away and put him in jail. Harrison does escape jail and announces he is the emperor after he snaps all his chains and weights off him as is they were twigs on television. Next he allowed a ballerina to become his empress, resulting in the couple dancing which started the spread their independence to musicians and people around them. In the end Harrison and the girl were killed shortly after but I believe the if the son had gone back to his father instead of looking for a girl he could have freed his father and changed society back together. Some people say that life isn't fair and if people were just equal that life would be better but I totally disagree. People being unequal is what allow us to be individuals and there for different from one another, which in turn gives our society the chance to advance and change through diversity.
ReplyDeleteFrom Tom:
ReplyDeleteWhen I read the first sentence of this story, when it said in the year 2081 I was expecting the story to be about some futuristic story with some space cars and holograms or something like that. But as I read further on thats not what it was about at all. The author makes everyone in this story as equal people by giving handicaps based on their intelligence lever and the way they look. The smarter and better looking you were the harder your life was cause they had to make you lesser of a person by making your life worse. I think that if this was the case life would be terrible. We should be free to live the life that God gives us, not the way some person wants everyone to be. If someone is very intelligent, or good looking or talented at something they should be able to use that to live a better life. Most of the time people work for those advantages and they shouldn’t be taken away by someone. I believe that if I had a really bad buzzing noise going off in my ear every 20 seconds, or not being able to collect my thoughts my life would be a living hell. I mean the fact that George’s son was taken away from him and he cant even remember seeing his son on tv is just awful. I believe that Harrison is the hero in this story because he is protesting for what is right and he should be credited for that. He was treated unfair and he deserved to stand up for himself and what was right. If our world is like that in 2081, then were gonna have some serious problems.
I found the short story Harrison Bergeron very interesting. It was weird to see a future world where everyone was supposed to be equal. Like our current day society, there was a certain way that people are supposed to be. Although in our society, the person who we are all supposed to be is perfect. In this story, the person that everyone is supposed to is average. People that were above average were handicapped so that they would not outshine everyone else. By handicapping them, they were not made average, they were made below average because they were unable to do anything. George could not speaking his mind because every couple of seconds, a buzzer would go off in his ear making him unable to remember what he was going to say. I don’t know if I could ever imagine, in this world, a place where everyone is equal. Of course I would love it if everyone were equal and no one was ever judged but unfortunately in our society, I just don’t think that is possible. I thought it was crazy when Harrison tried to go against the government; they had to kill him in order to stop him because of all of the chaos he was causing. I wonder if anything like this would ever happen in the future. If it did, I could see it happening just like it did in this story where the people will try to overthrow it but in the end the government regulates everything.
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