Harrison Bergeron Essay Example For Students

Harrison Bergeron Essay In Harrison Bergeron Essay Kurt Vonnegut depicts a society in which everyone is mentally, physically, and socially equal. Throughout the history of our country, Americans have sought racial, gender, and socio-economic equality. On paper such a society seems ideal. Through the story one might infer that Vonnegut views the concept of total equality as ludicrous. Equality can be interpreted many ways. One point of view is the American belief that everybody should be treated equally and another view is the one represented in the story that everybody is equal. I completely agree with Mr. Vonneguts view of the perfect society as being absurd. Having everybody equal looks fantastic in planning but it would never work out that way. If the government was allowed to impose handicaps on the naturally gifted, how could civilization ever make advancements? The great thinkers would not be able to envision new ideas because of the mental handicap radios they had to wear in their ears. Technology would come to a stand still with the gifted not being able to finish a complete thought because of the sharp sounds produced by the mental handicaps. The first apparent difference between the movie and the short story is that the short story takes place in 2081. In the story the government regulates everything, not just intelligence, but strength and beauty as well, and handicap people appropriately. The strong are forced to wear bags filled with lead balls; beautiful people are forced to wear masks so others would not feel unequal to them in looks. The overly intelligent are forced to wear radio transmitters in their ears, that are tuned to a government station that constantly bombards them with horrible sounds to scramble their thoughts. In the movie, the year is 2053 and everyone is forced to wear mind-altering headbands that rest on their temples. These headbands electronically modify intelligence, effectively decreasing everyones IQ to the desired average point. Unlike the story, in the movie, no one wears masks to conceal their looks and some are better looking than other making them unequal in appearance to everyone else. Also the only weight bags that are worn, is by one dancer on the television that wore a small ankle weight with no resemblance to the enormous weight bags that are described in the story. Another difference is that in the story Harrison Bergeron had the apparent status of a god among these average people. He was fourteen years old, seven feet tall, athletic, good looking, and a genius. In the movie, Harrison bares absolutely no resemblance to the one described in the story. He is portrayed as short and stalky, not very handsome. He looks closer to twenty-four than he does to fourteen, and although he seems bright, he is far from being a genius. Finally, in the story, the Handicapper General has more of a police status in this futuristic country, the head Handicapper General is a woman, by the name of Diana Moon Glampers. With her swift decisions and severe actions shows resemblance to that of a dictator. She does not have to wear any handicaps of any kind, but is responsible for the regulating all the handicaps. In the movie, the handicappers generals are far from being portrayed as a police authority. They are a secret organization of highly intelligent individuals, that are hand picked from the general population, that are in charge of running the country and coming up with better ways to make everyone equal. The leader of this secret organization is a man by the name of John Claxton. He plays the role of a godlike advisor, leading the organization behind the scenes. He advises and monitors society, the president, and all forms of media accessible to the public, determining what people can hear, say, watch, and do. There is also a bit of irony prevalent in the movie as well as in the short story. In the movie, Harrison is mocked and branded as an outcast for his intelligence, yet he is secretly being monitored by the secret Administers organization. It is also ironic that there is a necessity for highly intelligent persons in such a perfectly equal society. Advertising Education or Condemnation Essay In this society the public only can see what the have been allowed to see, by this secret, non-equal, organization in this so-called equal country. The .