Harrison Bergeron Theme Essay

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The central theme for the short story “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. is: equality should lift minority groups to the abilities of the majority and not force individuals to suppress their natural abilities. Throughout the story George thinks about and highlights all the problems with their new system of equality in the year 2081. “April, for instance, still drove people crazy by not being springtime” (Vonnegut 216). If you imagine the month of April as a person then it’s easy to understand how it’s not logical to force people to suppress their natural abilities. Intelligent people can’t help their capacity for knowledge just like April can’t help what the weather is. The clearest example, and the most extreme, of suppressing above average individuals instead of lifting up minorities is Harrison Bergeron himself. “Nobody had ever borne heavier handicaps” (Vonnegut 218). This section of the story is …show more content…
The events of the time period had a huge impact on the theme of this short story. The story takes place 120 years in the future from when it was written, but it is only 65 years in the future for us. Vonnegut knew that no state of true equality would be reached within his lifetime because the process is time consuming. This idea of change taking a lot of time to come into effect is another theme that we can relate to. Right now that there are still several fights for equality going on. For example, the whole African American community is still fighting for their civil rights. In addition, even now women are not equal with men in America. Finally, there have been huge amounts of controversy among transgender and gay rights. 21st century readers will gain the realization of how long everything will take to be equal. People will always test new ideas and new policies until every minority group is represented as fairly and as equally as any majority

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