Chas Rickarby 21 Mrs. O’Connor Is Freshmen English Honors Wednesday, September 9 Harrison Bergeron: For Study and Discussion The society in this satire, Harrison Bergeron, is based on the principle of everybody being equal. Physically and mentally, so no one person is any better or worse at any activity. The author is mocking the aspects of actual societies with the whole plot of the story. People never want to be any worse at something than the people they’re with. Nobody wants to lose a competition, but by making everybody equal, that also means that nobody will win a competition.
Harrison Bergeron reminds me of the super human kind of hero by saying things like, “ Harrison tore the straps of his handicap harness like wet tissue paper. ” By using words like “ wet tissue paper,” and, “ snapped like celery. ” the author emphasizes just how strong Harrison is and how the handicaps couldn’t restrain him. The result of Harrison’s efforts is ironic in the reversal of events because instead of in traditional stories where the hero lives happily ever after, Harrison is shot dead at the end of this story.
Also his actions have no impact on the civilians, because they would immediately be handicapped and forget. Everything just continues on as if Harrison Bergeron never existed. The conflict in this story is that nobody can strive to anything. Everyone is the exact same skill level. It is not natural for humans to not compete for things. That is how we learn and evolve to be better people. If everything is just handed to us we will never learn anything. The climax was fairly surprising for me.
I was not expecting Harrison to come on the TV where his parents could see him but I had a feeling with the way that the story was going and how it was written that he would not survive to the end of the satire. I was expecting Harrison to show up at his parents and free them and eventually free everyone from the Handicap-General. I think that Vonnegut is saying that while equality may sometimes seem like a good solution, it would be a bad idea in the long run.
If 2081 really is going to be like it is in the satire I think that people would really realize that while sometimes you may wish that you were as good at something as someone else it isn’t worth it for the world to be fair to such an extent. So, as amusing the public may think that this story is, it really has a serious message to bestow upon the reader. Human nature is to be competitive, and if you try to change that eventually there will be a rebellion. It may not be successful, but eventually the rebellious will succeed. Chas Rickarby 21 Mrs. O’Connor Honors Freshmen English Wednesday, September 9 Harrison Bergeron: For Composition
