Harrison Bergeron is a short story set in the future.

What images of the future emerge in this story?

Do you like the vision of the future presented in this story?

Can you see reality or absurdity in it?

Hello everybody!

In this story, I imagined terrifying and sad pictures of the future. The author, Vonnegut, has painted a rather scary future in Harrison Bergeron.

While reading this story, I imagined people walking around the streets with weight bags around them and masks covering their faces. It is a scary sight if it is to be a reality.

The fact that the story is presented to us through the television watched by the Bergeron's is clear enough to say that even now, we are controlled by the media. We do not need to go to the future to see this happens, it is happening now.

How do we discern what is right and wrong from the information we get from the media? Vonnegut shows to us through this story that sadly, we cannot.

Another point, this story has happened before. In my opinion, this is a futuristic version of what we know as communism in this world. Although communism is more towards controlling peoples' income and equality in terms of economy and the 'equality' in Harrison Bergeron is towards intelligence and physical attributes, but more or less, both have the same trait. And that is to control. To have power over people.

Both reality and absurdity can be observed form this story. I find it depicts the reality of our world that is controlled by what the media is feeding us. There are always two sides of the story, and the media is unbiased in that sense, but from what I can see now, our media is filtered and therefore, we can never really know the real situation. While it is absurd because who on earth wants to have weight bags and devices planted in their head? I'm, for one, is against brainwashing.

If we are all the same, where is the joy of living in that?

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CARPE DIEM!

Hi all….

First of all, it is very impressive to read this story; the writer is very imaginative and creative. For me, the story portrays unpleasant images in future. Yes, the story is quite futuristic but still it is very bizarre. Frankly, I don’t really like the future vision that represent in the story. It is too extreme, beyond our imagination. The total equality in future depicts in this story quite radical. People have to suffer the cruelty due to the amendment of the United States Handicapper General. There are no privacy, no specialty and no liberty in life. They have taken away the right of people at that time. People are tortured for their intelligence, beauty, their skills and more. I cannot imagine what will happen to us if these scenarios practice in our future, it is a chaotic. Maybe equality will come about in future but not in this extreme sense. Maybe there will be equality in gender rights and more, but not like in the story. It is too absurd to happen in future. What do think? Is it possible? But not for me I guess. It’s too much for me..
Okay, that’s all…Thank you….
Bubyezz….

iii jake84...

I also share the same opinion like you.i do not want to live like that in the future. and like you said, it is too and very extreme... We have the rights as individuals to be free..All that the HG men have done to the people are very cruel..No one wants to carry the heavy thing and wear the funny mask for whole life... It is torturing.. I hope we will not face something like this in the future....
No way.....

tq

"Harrison Bergeron" concerns the future images of technology, mass media and individual rights and their impacts on people's lives. The people in the story are obviously overpowered by the government through the use of technology to restrain their intelligence, aesthetic values and physical strength. As for the media, it is regarded as an influential tool for the dictating power to transmit information with political content which affects the society widely. Individual freedom is greatly restricted in the sense that diversity is unlawful, hence every being is forced to be equal before God and the law. These images raise some issues: Do we govern the technology and use it to our benefits, or do we let technology rules us? If our intelligence is constrained, how will the country advance and prosper? When everyone is equal, who leads and who follows? Is the media dominated by the governing power? To what extent should we believe its content? If differences are illegal, why did God, our creator, make us different inwardly and outwardly in the first place? Therefore, I think there is little reality in the story but I won't term it absurd either as this is what science fiction is all about.
Personally, I like the vision presented in this imaginative story as it enables me to view the world in a different way, a rather terrifying one I guess.

I think this story attempts to make a mockery out of the so-called "equality" that people around the world strives for so earnestly. And it depicts a future where everyone is REALLY equal, that there is no one who is prettier than the other, or cleverer than another, or more talented than another. It paints a picture of the human's effort to challenge the law of nature in prohibiting what comes so naturally - diversity. Yet, there's an irony in this story as well. If the law is that everyone should be equal, then no one breaks the law more than Diana Moon Glampers, the Handicapper General herself, as she is the exact model of the Chinese saying that goes, "The weak shall be eaten by the strong", demonstrated by her authoritarian dictatorial rule of having all the citizens right under her thumb. And even with Harrison's rebellion, he is afterall, without apt support, which leads to his failure and death. What's even more of a pity is that George and Hazel are not even being able to grieve, even though their son has died right before their eyes (on tv).

This story is an imaginative story that takes place in the future. It depicts the future in the story and illustrates that new technology is having an important impact on people’s lives.
As we all knew that, this story mentioned about the equality of the people. Nowadays, many people want everybody to be equal, are you think that this will be fact? In my opinion, I don’t think so, “our fingers also have long and short”, so how come u want everyone in this world to be equal? Maybe you can equal on the aspects of authority or right. Therefore, I think that it too much for me from this story and it is absurd to happen in the future. I hope that it won’t happen in my future life too. Or maybe some of you think that it is reality? Waiting your responses…

p/s: thanks for operator because tell me some of the details for this story….hehe !

tiyo, I kindly give some of my opinions to your response at here…..from your response, you wrote some issues for the story, I quite interested for the issue “when everyone is equal, who leads and who follows?” For instance, if everyone in the society is equal, may I ask who will be the leader to lead us or lead the society. Therefore, I think no one will equal in the society but everybody will have their own special in certain field include you. Therefore, you must try discovering what you special in.

First of all, thanx to SWPUNK for acknowledging my oral help and insights in her entry. All hail the honest!

Yes, equality, a subject drawn by the powerless to become powerful. Justice and equality, is that the same. NO. JAKE84 had published her entry prior than this entry, and to respect her I need to quote her. I totally agree with everything she had said, because initially when I read that story, I felt the same way too.

The extreme degree of equality portrayed in that story is a neagative way to do it. I say that because the handicappers actually bring down someone's ability to equalize them to the lowest level. eg. making the stong weak to match the weak, making the preety ugly to match the ugly. The positive way to achieve equality (IF it had to be done) is to bring up the ability of those who have the lower level. eg. making the weak strong to match the strong, making the ugly preety to match the preety. In that way, the human race will become more progressive.

Of course to do this, we do not need an organization to govern it. It can be done individualy. That's what I call self-improvement. If you want to be at the same par with others, don't bring other people down, but raise yourself instead. Dig that?

But, dear JAKE84, for gender equality, I just want to say 1 thing: GOD didn't made a mistake to create men superior to women. To all the ladies out there, don't go against GOD's will, it's bad for your health!

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Operator DVDSN

Hi there,

I take the issues discussed in this short story seriously. We never know what might happen in the future.

The images portrayed in this short story are rather scary. They put emphasis on equality. So much so they would wear mental handicap radio, sashweight, bag of birdshot and even mask. This way, no one is smarter, lighter or even prettier than the other person. Basically everyone is equal in every way no matter what their gender is. This is how they live in the year 2081.

I do not like the vision of the future presented in this story. Before reading this short story, I believe that men and women status needs to be equalised. Now, after reading Harrison Bergeron, I wish I never think of the matter. I want equality in life but not as extreme as the one portrayed in this short story. We cannot equalise intelligence or speed. This is because we are made out of different genes. Everyone must have something special and something common in them. A person might be a genius but has problems playing soccer because of his slow reflex.

One of the two social questions asked in this short story is about the place of the media in our lives. The media is a very important tool for communication. It also provides us with information we need. It can be a powerful weapon and can be used to influence people. We do not have to wait until 2081 to see this. The media has influenced us for a very long time. A simple advertisement about a toy will drive a kid crazy and thus influence him to get one.

Next is the question of our freedom to act as individuals. Are we free to act as individuals? I believe this is not quite true. We are somewhat free to act as individuals. One person can choose to work overtime or not but it all depends on his/her boss. We cannot refuse him/her because we fear we might loose the job. This person is still not free to act as him/herself.

I can see both reality and absurdity in this short story. It is already a reality that the media is influencing us. I find it absurd to be equal in all ways. This can never happen. We can equalise weights and intelligence but can we equalise gender itself? The answer is no. It is no loner equal when the duty of giving birth is given solely to female.

To conclude, we should appreciate what we have today. It is good that we fight for what we want but sometimes, it is better to just sit back and enjoy everything we have right now.