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Yovanny Montelongo
Anthony Burns
Composition II
10/26/
Maybe Equality Isn’t So Nice Equality is simply being equal with one another. This is usually seen in concepts like rights and opportunities. However, what if this was done in all aspects? In “Harrison Bergeron”, by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., it is seen that everyone is exactly as equal as everyone else thanks to handicaps added onto everyone. Such equality is terrible to implement into any current and future society because of the horrible way of life, demotes people of actual skill to be the same as someone who isn’t as talented, and has a high probability of rebellion.
Harrison Bergeron was born with abilities that was hard to maintain by the government. He outgrew all the weights and handicaps that were forced onto him, so he was then taken by the government because of this. “ And it was in that clammy month that the H-G men took George and Hazel Bergeron's fourteen-year-old son, Harrison, away ,” (Vonnegut 1). This starts off immediately showing what the consequences are for not being equal. Harrison’s father, George, has an earpiece to keep him from thinking too much and Harrison’s mother, Hazel, has an average intelligence, that being she can’t think for too long just naturally. “ Hazel had a perfectly average intelligence… she couldn't think about anything except in short bursts. And George … had a little mental handicap radio in his ear… to keep people like George from taking unfair advantage of their brains.” (Vonnegut 1). Living with an ear-piercing sound that doesn’t let one think or having a below average intelligence by modern day standards is quite horrible and very
degrading. No one wants to feel like they don’t have free will, or not even know what free will is. With political movements happening all the time for equality and free will, it seems very abysmal to take that all away and give everyone “real” equality. Along with this, not having full control of how one is going to grow, and that causing fear onto the government, can lead to that person going to jail for any slight suspicion.
Alongside mental pain, there are also physical handicaps used to keep people equal. Sacks filled lead balls were used to keep people from being stronger, running quicker, and jumping higher. Hazel asks George to remove some lead balls from his handicaps but George refuses because he knows what the negative repercussions of doing so are. “ ’Two years in prison and two thousand dollars fine for every ball I took out,’ said George. ‘I don't call that a bargain.’ ,” (Vonnegut 2). This consequence of a hefty fine and a decent amount of jail time makes George not want to take out lead balls from the handicaps, even if it’ll make his back and the rest of his body feel better. George also worries that if he gets away with it, others may want to try the same. However, this will cause everyone to stop using handicaps and bring back the time where everyone competed to be better than the rest. “ ’If I tried to get away with it,’ said George, ‘then other people'd get away with it-and pretty soon we'd be right back to the dark ages again, with everybody competing against everybody else. You wouldn't like that, would you?’ ,” (Vonnegut 2). In the eye of the common people, it has become terrible to think about living in a society where everyone competes. Both this mindset and the applied practice causes a bad way of life because these people can develop both physical and emotional illnesses that would otherwise not happen in a competitive based world.
If everyone had to be as equal as everyone else, then that’d demean people of actual skill and embarrass anyone who lacks said skill. As both George and Hazel watched the ballerinas
only a crime but it also makes one look like a criminal, a monster, and a psychotic person all in one. Harrison’s lack of them made him seem like the bad guy when he really was trying to get people out of this mindset of thinking they all need these handicaps to live happily. This also keeps showing how the way of life of these people seems so horrible to anyone in a modern society where competition is a necessity to make it in life. These people don’t like the idea of not being equal to their neighbors and that causes hysteria not only in person but in their heads as well.
Harrison’s motives weren’t to scare these people, but it was to rebel against the government that gave him these handicaps and become the emperor of the land. “ ’I am the Emperor!’ cried Harrison. ‘Do you hear? I am the Emperor! Everybody must do what I say at once!’ He stamped his foot and the studio shook, ” (Vonnegut 3). Harrison begins to remove his handicaps like they had no effect on him to begin with. He also removed the handicaps from the musicians and a ballerina who he claimed as his empress and they began to dance. “ Harrison placed his big hands on the girls tiny waist, letting her sense the weightlessness that would soon be hers. And then, in an explosion of joy and grace, into the air they sprang! Not only were the laws of the land abandoned, but the law of gravity and the laws of motion as well, ” (Vonnegut 4). During this time, everyone witnesses what it looks like to walk around and be without handicaps. This is described as them jumping high enough to touch the ceiling and looking like gravity doesn’t exist for them. The handicaps have weighed them down for so long that it has built their strength up causing them to be able to do these things. However, this rebellious act didn’t last for long. Diana Moon Glampers came in with a shotgun and shot both Harrison and his empress. “ It was then that Diana Moon Glampers, the Handicapper General, came into the studio with a double-barreled ten-gauge shotgun. She fired twice, and the Emperor and the Empress were dead before they hit the floor, ” (Vonnegut 5). Out of fear of what they could do, Diana shot them
both so that they couldn’t grab the attention needed from the crowd to start a big rebellion against the government.
Since rebelling and trying to go against the rules can lead to jail and even death, no one does anything. They continue to live life in handicaps and with true equality. The ones that are good at a certain job but can’t be better than anyone live on knowing that they can’t do what they want. Those who can’t do their job right run away in shame and are embarrassed, but they still keep on trying. And over all of this, everyone goes on living a life that gives them hell but they just have to live with it. Being perfectly equal in every way with the people you share the same air with shouldn’t be a concept that any society should adopt because of the many negative effects that it has on everyone involved.
Word Count: 1543
