Freedom In Kurt Vonnegut's Harrison Bergeron

Is it possible to have equality and maintain freedom? Kurt Vonnegut’s “Harrison Bergeron” is a satirical science fiction short story that takes place in the American future of the year 2081. Vonnegut’s story is seemingly a utopia from the opening line that “everybody was finally equal” but is quickly revealed to be a dystopia due to the severe limitations placed on civilians in order to maintain equality. Vonnegut mentioning of the specific traits to which every American is equal is reflecting the American values. “Harrison Bergeron” ironically conveys that the concept of equality in the culture of American ideology is fundamentally flawed and is corrupted by the misunderstanding of opposing political philosophies like communism and socialism. The types of traits, and qualities that a culture deems important has a huge influence on the level of equality of that society. Vonnegut specifically satirizes intelligence, aesthetics, and physical ability as “Nobody was smarter than anybody else. Nobody was better looking than anybody else. Nobody was stronger or quicker than anybody else.” It is important to distinguish these properties are specific to the individual, not integral to overall societal governance and are subjective. The focus on these almost superficial qualities as important enough to create amendments to the constitution is a jab at what Americans deem important. Important characteristics of equality that are absent from the story are equality in education, income, race, and gender. The lack of these qualities are intentional to provide humorous and extreme emphasis on what actually is objectively important verses what American culture believes to be important. The argument could be made that Vonnegut said “equal in each and every way” however later the fact Hazel suggests that the stuttering announcer get a raise because he tried …show more content…
Vonnegut’s constant reference government controlled Television, and radios which were the tools of the trade for leveling out the differences in intelligence. Unlike her husband Hazel did not have an ear piece, she had “perfectly average intelligence” therefore her constantly watching television was quite enough to keep her thinking too hard at bay. It is not coincidence that mass media also puts emphasis on the same three traits, intelligence (game shows), aesthetics (actors), and physical ability (sports). American society commits the logical fallacy Post hoc ergo propter hoc (after this, therefore because of this). Americans tend to believe that these typically good looking, and talented people are smart because of their fame and fortune. Americans tend to conclude that ability, mental or physical are what drives success and continue to idealize them, completely disregarding more important socioeconomic and class issues that hinders success. Ultimately Vonnegut, using metaphor, is expressing that mass communication devices have held back higher brain function. For example, George while thinking had “a rivetting gun in his head” illustrating the fastening down of his mental processes and abilities. The problem of distracting technology has increased a thousand fold since Vonnegut was wrote “Harrison Bergeron” and is very relevant to today’s youth. Vonnegut is warning that having such a distracted society promotes ignorance through reducing thinking for yourself and to easily "Forget sad things,” when they occur. Vonnegut is referring to that effect that Television has on a person to be an observer in someone else’s reality and not think about things that should matter. In the case of George and Hazel’s case it was the execution of their son and the irony of it occurring on