Harrison Bergeron Satire

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Forced Equality America was founded on the premise that “all men are created equal.” In the passage, “Harrison Bergeron”, Kurt Vonnegut uses satire to explore the theme of equality in a futuristic dystopian society, which reminds the readers in many ways of the society in which we live today. In this dystopia, Harrison, a genius and an athlete, is forced to wear handicaps to bring him down to a level of equality with others around him in an effort to eliminate feelings of inferiority in their society. Forced equality could have a negative impact on the society by eliminating competition. Without Competition nobody would try. There wouldn’t be sports of any kind because nobody would have the motivation to try and be like someone successful. In the Passage, “Harrison Bergeron”, equality was forced upon the society of 2081. People most likely to succeed wore handicaps to make sure everybody was equal. Those who appear to be different, better, and smarter had to wear masks and their memory erased. This caused life in 2081 to be boring because of the negative impact forced…show more content…
If there was nobody to stand out, attract attention, and change the world, there wouldn’t be any sense in being an individual. Everyone would have to be just like everyone else. No stand outs, no attention getters or achievers, and nothing to congratulate or give someone credit for doing. A society where there is no individuality wouldn’t have anything a society should have. In the passage, “Harrison Bergeron”, there was no individuality. Everyone had to think, see, and practically talk about all the same things. Nobody except the Handicap General and her security squad had the individuality that others don’t. To the society of 2081, this was unfair. Though all were created equal, people still know that others may appear different. This proves that forced equality would have a negative impact on individuality in today’s
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