Differences And Similarities Between 1984 And Harrison Bergeron

Today’s society is predicted as living in a world George Orwell envisioned in 1984. The system Orwell invented is compared to what the United States government is capable of doing. Government control of society is an essential subject due to the current mind set of the world today. In 1984, George Orwell represents how Big Brother is compared to today’s government, showing the consequences and dangers of a government with unlimited surveillance power.

1984, written by George Orwell, illustrates a perfect example of a dystopian government. The setting is in Oceania, Britain. The government is full of spies and secret police that carefully watch the common people for any mistake they might make that can harm the government in any way. As shown with Winston Smith, the protagonist of the novel and many other citizens in Oceania, the government manipulates these characters into their pawns. The government asserts their power over the people in many ways. They have large telescreens in the people’s houses. The telescreens show the government what people are doing at all times. It can be dimmed down, but can never be turned off. Although Oceania is well off in money, the government rations food. The government’s philosophy is that

Picture a society, far in the future, where everyone, by government control, must be on the same level. Would this be Hell or a utopia? This is the subject of Kurt Vonnegut’s short story, “Harrison Bergeron”. In this society, the gifted, strong, and beautiful are required to wear multiple handicaps of earphones, heavy weights, and hideous masks. In turn, these constraints leave the world equal, or arguably devoid of, from brains to brawn to beauty. With the constant push for equality among all people, Vonnegut reveals a world that society is diligently working toward. “Harrison Bergeron” is written as a form of satire with heavy irony, to demonstrate the clear difference between equity and equality in society. “Harrison Bergeron” is

Have you ever wondered what the world would be like if everyone was legally forced into the governments opinion of equality? In Kurt Vonnegut Jr.'s short story "Harrison Bergeron", it is the year 2081 and the government has altered society to be mentally, physically and socially equal. The beautiful people are covered with hideous masks, the intelligent people wear ear pieces that let off loud obnoxious sounds at random to throw off there thought process and the strong people wear weights to be equal to the weaker people. The society is not equal because no one can truly be changed unless they want to be. Putting a handicap on an intelligent person does not make him or her equal to an average person,

Imagine a world where an oppressive government captures what many call diversity. Where ugly is known as beauty and intelligence is insignificant. “They weren't only equal before God and the law. They were equal every which way. Nobody was smarter than anybody else. Nobody was better looking than anybody else. Nobody was stronger or quicker than anybody else.” (Vonnegut) This is the future that Harrison experiences, in the short story “Harrison Bergeron,” by Kurt Vonnegut. It is the year 2081 and the government handicaps every citizen with make up or weights to create equality. Where there are over than 200 amendments and the government has full control of all citizens, this is indeed against what America had been

How would the world survive if the government controlled us? In 1984 and Harrison Bergeron, the government gained control over its citizens by using a telescreen or television and if they have any thoughts, it would be interrupted. In the book by George Orwell and in the short story by Kurt Vonnegut Jr., they both wanted to show how the government controlled the citizens in a dystopian society. To gain control, the government uses total equality in Harrison Bergeron and in 1984, the government uses totalitarianism.

Complete control over a society can brainwash the citizens into believing the government laws and ways of life are normal. George Orwell's 1984 portrays a Utopian society in which the people of Oceania are blind to the world outside the controlling party. Reality control and surveillance of the citizens plays an important role in 1984 by George Orwell because of the negative Utopia that is illustrated by the use of paradox, symbolism, and imagery.

This is significant because when he removes the handicaps from the “empress” and musicians. “Harrison plucked the mental handicap from her ear, snapped off her physical handicaps with marvelous delicacy. Last of all he removed her mask.... The musicians scrambled back into their chairs, and Harrison stripped them of their handicaps, too. ‘Play your best,’ he told them, ‘ and I’ll make you barons and dukes and earls.” This quote shows that even people who are considered professionals are downgraded to average. The sweet idea of equality has blinded the people from what it means to put hard work into something. Working hard give joy and pride to the person who succeeded. The bitter, sour, hard work leads to the sweet enjoyment of success. If hard work does lead to enjoyment and the government handicap people who have a talent or put hard work into a skill, in order to maintain equality. Therefore, equality has a bitter reality. The musicians are forced to be downgraded as well as the ballerinas. This is taking away from the hard work that would be put in normally. Every one being at the same level, same skill, would be aggravating for many people, including myself. Knowing that all the hard work put into something and then being told it is illegal to be better than the

In Harrison Bergeron, Kurt Vonnegut Jr. writes a utopian society where everyone is equal , the year is 2081. The two dancers jumped up to the ceiling. Just then a double barrel ten-gauge goes off and the dancers are dead before they hit the floor. Harrison Bergeron has bravery, a free spirit, and is rebellious. People face strong consequences when they go against what the government says. That is just what Harrison Bergeron did, and he faced the consequences. This is so called equality, this is far from equality. If the government enacted this law then the country would be heading to rock bottom.

Another reason why this is not a utopian, or equal, society is because the Handicapper General is higher than the other citizens and in a completely equal/utopian society, everyone would be on the same level of importance. The text shows this in the first paragraph when it says, “All this equality was due to the 211th, 212th, and 213th Amendments to the Constitution, and to the unceasing vigilance of agents of the United States Handicapper General.” As indicated in the first paragraph, all of this attempted equality is because of the Handicapper General and her agents. Therefore, in the short story “Harrison Bergeron”, the result of trying to make the society a utopia is, the society is now more of a dystopia because the government, or the Handicapper General, is not letting people do the best they can or use their talents to their fullest potential. Also, if this was a completely equal society, the Handicapper General would not be above all the other

When the government has too much power over its citizens, people suffer. In the short story, "Harrison Bergeron" the author shows that the government basically made people dumb, "Hazel had a perfectly average intelligence, which meant she couldn't think of anything except in short bursts. And George, while his intelligence was way above normal, had a little mental handicap radio in his ear. He was required by law to wear it at all times. It was tuned to a government transmitter. Every twenty seconds or so, the transmitter would send out some sharp noise to keep people like George from taking unfair advantage of their brain" (Vonnegut 3). This demonstrates that the government doesn't want people to be intelligent. They found a good excuse to handicap people and to take control over them

Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 and Kurt Vonnegut Jr.’s “Harrison Bergeron” are both stories of a dystopian society where laws are in place that restrict everything a citizen can do and their basic human rights. Characters in Fahrenheit 451 are restricted by the threat of being removed from society, where the characters in “Harrison Bergeron” actually have physical restrictions placed on their bodies. Bradbury and Vonnegut show that the dangers of these kind of restrictions lead to conformity, and ultimately a loss of human individuality. Conformity in these two societies means that the citizens are part of the community, but are being brainwashed by a government that controls their lives.

Vonnegut Jr.'s Harrison Bergeron and Orwell's 1984 are based on the concept of negative utopia. The governments in both these novels control their masses using harsh methods. The government in 1984 uses brainwashing, doublethink, mutability of the past and vaporization to control its masses. The government in Harrison Bergeron uses physical and mental handicaps to control its masses and in the effort to make everyone equal. Both the governments have a tight control on its people but the government in 1984 has a stronger and more affective control over its masses than the government in Harrison Bergeron.

The other two texts 1984 and Harrison Bergeron both have a totalitarian government setting where a single party manipulates and operates everything of the citizens. But, the governments take different methods to achieve this. In 1984, many tools are utilized. This includes telescreens for constant surveillance, propaganda like “BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU” and threats such as ‘vaporization’ and physical torture. All these tools have the idea of implanting fear in common. Along with this implanted fear, the subjects are only given minimal knowledge, limiting their power to rebel. Through these methods, the

In the book 1984 by George Orwell, a totalitarian government is emphasized. Throughout the story, it is revealed that all the government cares about is war and power within themselves. It is clearly shown that the intentions of the government in Oceania are self-serving and not benevolent. With the use of Newspeak and Doublethink, Orwell further shows that the intentions of the government are one sided and are only effective for themselves. The way in which the government runs its people expresses the idea of selfishness and that all benefits are only for the government. Through the use of surveillance, torture, and complete removal of people's privacy, the government is able to manipulate and scare people into obeying the government, which in turn only makes the government stronger.