My Reaction and Thoughts to "Harrison Bergeron" by Kurt Vonnegut

So, when I first read the first sentence, it got me thinking that being equal with everyone is a very good thing, and it`s something that people should strive to do. But as I read further on, it also got me thinking that maybe being equal with everyone in everything isn't a really good thing No one was better looking than anyone or smarter than anyone or stronger or quicker or whatever. No matter the case, everyone was now completely the same and equal. And it made me wonder, that even though that we should all be equal in some areas, we shouldn't be equal in what makes us different, or else that just makes everyone boring and talent less if we were all the same. I mean, our quirks and our strengths and weaknesses, makes every one of us different and unique, but since everyone is now the same, everyone is basically boring. As I read further on, and as they started talking about Harrison and describing him, it gave me the idea that Harrison tries so hard to be different and to be "unequal". I mean he had so much weight on him, and yet, those didn't even stop him from being insanely strong. And when he started taking his handicaps off and other people's handicaps off too and started defying gravity and started dancing in the air, it could be possible that Harrison could also be a symbol in the story as well. Harrison (in my opinion), is the symbol of "unequal" or "different". Even with all of his handicaps, Harrison was still "unequal" or different, and he even took off people's handicaps to change them so that they could be "unequal". He even took off the ballerina's mask, which then made her more "unequal" because of her striking beauty. Everything that Harrison does in the story is somehow related to being unequal and not the same.And it just shows that Harrison is the one against the law of being equal, and that what he does to people changes them so that they could be unequal. And one last thing: Harrison had so much handicaps placed on him, but no matter how much they try and change him to be more equal (like putting weights on him so that he could be weaker) he never even showed a sign of it. And it makes me think that no matter what you try and do to Harrison, he will always be unequal, different, and never the same.

Comments

  1. DaraAugust 30, 2017 at 4:52 PM

    I agree. The Harrison Bergeron story did confuse me at first. It really shows how different our expectations of equality and its reality is. However, the story does not just shows what an "equal" world would be but it also allows the audience to make the moral themselves.

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