Victoria Albert

Mr. Daniel Choi

English 9

November 02, 2016

How would you describe your society in one word? The author Kurt Vonnegut wrote a

great short story and in the story he compared your society as a dystopian. The story Harrison

Bergeron is about a dystopian community, controlled by the government trying to make them

equal,because their government tried to make them equal by force. By force, meaning making

the strong weaker, making the smarter dumber, and making the beautiful uglier. Their

government had complete control. Until, one person stood up against the government for what

he believed in Harrison Bergeron. There were 3 objects that Kurt Vonnegut used to compare

this story to yours and other societies. The 3 objects are the masks, earpiece, and weights. The

mask represents lowered Self-Perception, the earpiece represents the abuse of technology, and

the weights represent the oppressive governments.

One of their forces was the mask, so that is where we are going to start. My essay is

centered around Harrison Bergeron written by Kurt Vonnegut in 1961.To show their

governments force of equality,[...]their faces were masked,so that no one, seeing a free and

graceful gesture or a pretty face.(Vonnegut 1) Harrisons parents, George and Hazel, they were

watching these ballerinas dance. And since they were above average in beauty, they are forced

to wear masks. One quote similar to the masks,Barbie is to blame for womens developing
body dysmorphic disorder.(Caroline 4) In an article, about the negative effects of barbie dolls it

is shown that barbie dolls gave the girls who had them lowered self-perception. And most of

them got dysmorphic disorder. Other than the lowered perception their government had other

negative effects. After that, we will continue with their other flaws.

Another symbol is the earpiece, that is related to our society and others. In the story, the

earpiece symbolizes the abuse of technology. This dystopian society has many

examples,George winced. While watching the ballerinas dancing, his earpiece went off. Since

he winced must of been a harsh sound ,and must keep it on. Another example of the abuse of

technology is in the articleAs Technology gets better, Will society get worse? In the article the

abuse is seen in everything,[...]the population has suffered a massive increase in morbid

obesity,heart disease,and Type 2 diabetes.(Wu 5) The article is about the possible future of our

society. The example is a group called the Oji-Cree, which in the early years exercised daily.

But, at the introduction of technology they have stopped exercising and in front of a screen more.

Other than the presence of the earpiece and mask there was one other flaw that you will

understand shortly.

The final symbol is the weights, that were forced to put on the strong. The weights

represent oppressive governments. The oppressive government in Harrison Bergeron shows in

many ways, but one example is,Two years in prison and two thousand dollar fine for every ball
I take out.(Vonnegut 1) In this example, Hazel told George he can just take a few balls out of

his weights. But, George refused to as an act to keep them from what happened before.

Another example, is in North Koreas government, their government keeps them in the

dark.(Film questions) When keeping them in the dark, means the people living in North Korea

didnt know about the amazing achievements that happened.

In the introduction, I stated that the short story,Harrison Bergeron, had flaws that made it

satirical and dystopian. The three flaws I stated in my intro were the masks, earpiece and the

weights. These flaws symbolized Self-Perception, Abuse of Technology and Oppressive

Governments. My essay showed the ways this shows in societies including ours, in the Oji-Cree,

and North Koreas. In each paragraph, I used text from the story itself and these societies text,

also the way they pertain to each paragraph. This essay is also a way to show how these things

are happening or showing in our society.