Harrison Bergeon - 795 Words

ENC 1102 29 September 2013 Harrison Bergeron: The Danger of Total Equality Individuality is a person’s most precious virtue. Many would say that one’s individuality is the most unique of footprints to leave on this earth. A human being’s natural attributes are what the world thrives upon. The Declaration of Independence states, â€Å"All men are created equal† and Kurt Vonnegut’s story Harrison Bergeron, explores and executes this notion with such brutality that it causes reasonable apprehension to the idea of conformity. The dangers of enforced, total equality are exposed through the use of symbolism, imagery, and characterization in this short story. Vonnegut uses a couple of symbols throughout the story. Nonetheless the most†¦show more content†¦He also intensely illustrates the noises coming from that little radio in George’s ear. Every twenty seconds George winces at the horrifying clamors coming from the headset, and when asked by his Hazel what it sounds like he replies, â€Å"Sounded like somebody hitting a milk bottle with a ball peen hammer† . The everyday person would most likely rebel against such cruelty â€Å" [but] George is unable to maintain the connection...Therefore he remains content to endure the H-G s treatments†. Finally, the closing piece to make the story whole is the characterization used within the story to draw the reader into the characters. It allows you to dissect the characters and â€Å"get to know† them. The Bergeron family in its entirety is â€Å"sympathetic and likable, even though what is done to them is not†. Hazel Bergeron is painted as a quiet, and gentle woman with neither mental, nor physical handicaps because of her â€Å"perfectly average intelligence†. Despite her seemingly average intelligence and qualities, she uncovers an innate desire for some type of independence, much like her son. For example, stemming from the lack of emotion conveyed by most characters in the story, sentiment is not something frequently, if at all, expressed in the year 2081. Therefore, in the last scene, after Hazel has watched her son murdered on national television, she begins to cry. WhenShow MoreRelatedThe Dystopian Novel 1984 By George Orwell907 Words   |  4 Pag es, isolation and fear. They are confined to blue suits with the propaganda of victory all around them. In the dystopian literature harrison bergeon by kurt vonnegut, their society is controlled by general handicapper who handicaps those to look just like everyone else because individualism is highly frowned upon. for example , in paragraph one of harrison bergeon, nobody was smarter than anybody else, nobody was better looking than anybody else. Nobody was stronger or quicker than anybody else