Harrison Bergeron Research Paper

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All of That and A Bag of Equality “People are pretty much alike. It is only that our differences are more susceptible than our similarities.” – Linda Ellerbee. 50 years from now, everyone is equal in every which way. Those that are not equal are given handicaps to restrict them from beings, smarter, stronger, and more beautiful than everyone else in the society. The society in Harrison Bergeron is controlled by the Handicapper General which is now the modern day government. In order to gain complete control over the way people in the society act is by making everyone equal, producing handicaps for those that have an advantage over the equal, and the use of mass media to televise propaganda. Being able to bring about mass media manipulation …show more content…
In order for the Handicapper General to control how everyone views right from wrong around them in their society, propaganda must be enforced. “The television program was suddenly interrupted for a news bulletin… “Harrison Bergeron, age fourteen has just escaped from jail… should be regarded as extremely dangerous.” (Vonnegut Pg. 3) The Handicapper General deems that Harrison Bergeron, at a young age is considered dangerous. Before the broadcast was interrupted, Hazel and George Bergeron were watching ballerinas dancing while burdened with ugly masks and handicaps. While interrupting the broadcast, the Handicapper General makes it important that everyone knows who Harrison Bergeron is and how Harrison should be regarded as “extremely dangerous” to everyone else. The Handicapper General made an example of how people will be displayed as if they broke the rules of the society. While the Handicapper General is ensuing media manipulation, she does not want anyone to repeat the actions that Harrison Bergeron demonstrated because by breaking the laws of the society, it leads to making people …show more content…
By adding more amendments to the Constitution, everyone eventually becomes equal, giving the Government or the Handicapper General more power by limiting everything that the people can do. “Nobody was better looking than anybody else, nobody was stronger or quicker than anybody else. All this equality was due to the unceasing vigilance agents of the U.S Handicapper General.” (Vonnegut 1). Everyone in the society is forced into being equal without a voice to oppose this new law, but the Handicapper General still controls and manipulates the society into doing what the society are told and told not to do. Making everything equal also gives the government more power to themselves because there are little to no threats posed to them if everyone is equal. In order to keep the peace among everyone else and make everyone closer to being equal to each other, the Handicapper General enforces the use of handicaps to bring the unequal/those that could defy the government down to the level of those that are
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