The following post is for period 4 juniors only.
Read the following short story by Kurt Vonnegut (the same author as EPICAC), and then answer the question at the end.
HARRISON BERGERON
KURT VONNEGUT
The year was 2081, and everybody was finally equal. 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. 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.
Some things about living still weren’t quite right, though. April, for instance, still drove people crazy by not being springtime. And it was in that clammy month that the H-G men took George and Hazel Bergeron’s fourteen-year-old son, Harrison, away.
It was tragic, all right, but George and Hazel couldn’t think about it very hard. Hazel had a perfectly average intelligence, which meant she couldn’t think about 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 brains.
George and Hazel were watching television. There were tears on Hazel’s cheeks, but she’d forgotten for the moment what they were about.
On the television screen were ballerinas.
A buzzer sounded in George’s head. His thoughts fled in panic, like bandits from a burglar alarm.
“That was a real pretty dance, that dance they just did,” said Hazel.
“Huh?” said George.
“That dance – it was nice,” said Hazel.
“Yup,” said George. He tried to think a little about the ballerinas. They weren’t really very good – no better than anybody else would have been, anyway. They were burdened with sashweights and bags of birdshot, and their faces were masked, so that no one, seeing a free and graceful gesture or a pretty face, would feel like something the cat drug in. George was toying with the vague notion that maybe dancers shouldn’t be handicapped. But he didn’t get very far with it before another noise in his ear radio scattered his thoughts.
George winced. So did two out of the eight ballerinas.
Hazel saw him wince. Having no mental handicap herself she had to ask George what the latest sound had been.
“Sounded like somebody hitting a milk bottle with a ball peen hammer,” said George.
“I’d think it would be real interesting, hearing all the different sounds,” said Hazel, a little envious. “All the things they think up.”
“Um,” said George.
“Only, if I was Handicapper General, you know what I would do?” said Hazel. Hazel, as a matter of fact, bore a strong resemblance to the Handicapper General, a woman named Diana Moon Glampers. “If I was Diana Moon Glampers,” said Hazel, “I’d have chimes on Sunday – just chimes. Kind of in honor of religion.”
“I could think, if it was just chimes,” said George.
“Well – maybe make ‘em real loud,” said Hazel. “I think I’d make a good Handicapper General.”
“Good as anybody else,” said George.
“Who knows better’n I do what normal is?” said Hazel.
“Right,” said George. He began to think glimmeringly about his abnormal son who was now in jail, about Harrison, but a twenty-one-gun salute in his head stopped that.
“Boy!” said Hazel, “that was a doozy, wasn’t it?”
It was such a doozy that George was white and trembling and tears stood on the rims of his red eyes. Two of the eight ballerinas had collapsed to the studio floor, were holding their temples.
“All of a sudden you look so tired,” said Hazel. “Why don’t you stretch out on the sofa, so’s you can rest your handicap bag on the pillows, honeybunch.” She was referring to the forty-seven pounds of birdshot in canvas bag, which was padlocked around George’s neck. “Go on and rest the bag for a little while,” she said. “I don’t care if you’re not equal to me for a while.”
George weighed the bag with his hands. “I don’t mind it,” he said. “I don’t notice it any more. It’s just a part of me.
“You been so tired lately – kind of wore out,” said Hazel. “If there was just some way we could make a little hole in the bottom of the bag, and just take out a few of them lead balls. Just a few.”
“Two years in prison and two thousand dollars fine for every ball I took out,” said George. “I don’t call that a bargain.”
“If you could just take a few out when you came home from work,” said Hazel. “I mean – you don’t compete with anybody around here. You just set around.”
“If I tried to get away with it,” said George, “then other people’d get away with it and pretty soon we’d be right back to the dark ages again, with everybody competing against everybody else. You wouldn’t like that, would you?”
“I’d hate it,” said Hazel.
“There you are,” said George. “The minute people start cheating on laws, what do you think happens to society?”
If Hazel hadn’t been able to come up with an answer to this question, George couldn’t have supplied one. A siren was going off in his head.
“Reckon it’d fall all apart,” said Hazel.
“What would?” said George blankly.
“Society,” said Hazel uncertainly. “Wasn’t that what you just said?”
“Who knows?” said George.
The television program was suddenly interrupted for a news bulletin. It wasn’t clear at first as to what the bulletin was about, since the announcer, like all announcers, had a serious speech impediment. For about half a minute, and in a state of high excitement, the announcer tried to say, “Ladies and gentlemen – ”
He finally gave up, handed the bulletin to a ballerina to read.
“That’s all right –” Hazel said of the announcer, “he tried. That’s the big thing. He tried to do the best he could with what God gave him. He should get a nice raise for trying so hard.”
“Ladies and gentlemen” said the ballerina, reading the bulletin. She must have been extraordinarily beautiful, because the mask she wore was hideous. And it was easy to see that she was the strongest and most graceful of all the dancers, for her handicap bags were as big as those worn by two-hundred-pound men.
And she had to apologize at once for her voice, which was a very unfair voice for a woman to use. Her voice was a warm, luminous, timeless melody. “Excuse me – ” she said, and she began again, making her voice absolutely uncompetitive.
“Harrison Bergeron, age fourteen,” she said in a grackle squawk, “has just escaped from jail, where he was held on suspicion of plotting to overthrow the government. He is a genius and an athlete, is under–handicapped, and should be regarded as extremely dangerous.”
A police photograph of Harrison Bergeron was flashed on the screen – upside down, then sideways, upside down again, then right side up. The picture showed the full length of Harrison against a background calibrated in feet and inches. He was exactly seven feet tall.
The rest of Harrison’s appearance was Halloween and hardware. Nobody had ever worn heavier handicaps. He had outgrown hindrances faster than the H–G men could think them up. Instead of a little ear radio for a mental handicap, he wore a tremendous pair of earphones, and spectacles with thick wavy lenses. The spectacles were intended to make him not only half blind, but to give him whanging headaches besides.
Scrap metal was hung all over him. Ordinarily, there was a certain symmetry, a military neatness to the handicaps issued to strong people, but Harrison looked like a walking junkyard. In the race of life, Harrison carried three hundred pounds.
And to offset his good looks, the H–G men required that he wear at all times a red rubber ball for a nose, keep his eyebrows shaved off, and cover his even white teeth with black caps at snaggle–tooth random.
“If you see this boy,” said the ballerina, “do not – I repeat, do not – try to reason with him.”
There was the shriek of a door being torn from its hinges.
Screams and barking cries of consternation came from the television set. The photograph of Harrison Bergeron on the screen jumped again and again, as though dancing to the tune of an earthquake.
George Bergeron correctly identified the earthquake, and well he might have – for many was the time his own home had danced to the same crashing tune. “My God –” said George, “that must be Harrison!”
The realization was blasted from his mind instantly by the sound of an automobile collision in his head.
When George could open his eyes again, the photograph of Harrison was gone. A living, breathing Harrison filled the screen.
Clanking, clownish, and huge, Harrison stood in the center of the studio. The knob of the uprooted studio door was still in his hand. Ballerinas, technicians, musicians, and announcers cowered on their knees before him, expecting to die.
“I am the Emperor!” cried Harrison. “Do you hear? I am the Emperor! Everybody must do what I say at once!” He stamped his foot and the studio shook.
“Even as I stand here –” he bellowed, “crippled, hobbled, sickened – I am a greater ruler than any man who ever lived! Now watch me become what I can become!”
Harrison tore the straps of his handicap harness like wet tissue paper, tore straps guaranteed to support five thousand pounds.
Harrison’s scrap–iron handicaps crashed to the floor.
Harrison thrust his thumbs under the bar of the padlock that secured his head harness. The bar snapped like celery. Harrison smashed his headphones and spectacles against the wall.
He flung away his rubber–ball nose, revealed a man that would have awed Thor, the god of thunder.
“I shall now select my Empress!” he said, looking down on the cowering people. “Let the first woman who dares rise to her feet claim her mate and her throne!”
A moment passed, and then a ballerina arose, swaying like a willow.
Harrison plucked the mental handicap from her ear, snapped off her physical handicaps with marvelous delicacy. Last of all, he removed her mask.
She was blindingly beautiful.
“Now” said Harrison, taking her hand, “shall we show the people the meaning of the word dance? Music!” he commanded.
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.”
The music began. It was normal at first – cheap, silly, false. But Harrison snatched two musicians from their chairs, waved them like batons as he sang the music as he wanted it played. He slammed them back into their chairs.
The music began again and was much improved.
Harrison and his Empress merely listened to the music for a while – listened gravely, as though synchronizing their heartbeats with it.
They shifted their weights to their toes.
Harrison placed his big hands on the girl’s tiny waist, letting her sense the weightlessness that would soon be hers.
And then, in an explosion of joy and grace, into the air they sprang!
Not only were the laws of the land abandoned, but the law of gravity and the laws of motion as well.
They reeled, whirled, swiveled, flounced, capered, gamboled, and spun.
They leaped like deer on the moon.
The studio ceiling was thirty feet high, but each leap brought the dancers nearer to it. It became their obvious intention to kiss the ceiling.
They kissed it.
And then, neutralizing gravity with love and pure will, they remained suspended in air inches below the ceiling, and they kissed each other for a long, long time.
It was then that Diana Moon Glampers, the Handicapper General, came into the studio with a double-barreled ten-gauge shotgun. She fired twice, and the Emperor and the Empress were dead before they hit the floor.
Diana Moon Glampers loaded the gun again. She aimed it at the musicians and told them they had ten seconds to get their handicaps back on.
It was then that the Bergerons’ television tube burned out.
Hazel turned to comment about the blackout to George.
But George had gone out into the kitchen for a can of beer.
George came back in with the beer, paused while a handicap signal shook him up. And then he sat down again. “You been crying?” he said to Hazel.
“Yup,” she said,
“What about?” he said.
“I forget,” she said. “Something real sad on television.”
“What was it?” he said.
“It’s all kind of mixed up in my mind,” said Hazel.
“Forget sad things,” said George.
“I always do,” said Hazel.
“That’s my girl,” said George. He winced. There was the sound of a riveting gun in his head.
“Gee – I could tell that one was a doozy,” said Hazel.
“You can say that again,” said George.
“Gee –” said Hazel, “I could tell that one was a doozy.”
Your task: In the comments section below, select one of the following common sci-fi exigencies and explain how the exigence is the focus of the story. Be sure to support your claim with specific details from the story. As always, grammar, mechanics and spelling count.
Extra credit: Feel free to comment on your peer's entries.
Extra credit: Feel free to comment on your peer's entries.
- Our over-reliance on technology will lead to our dehumanization.
- Like Frankenstein’s monster, technology often destroys its creator.
- Super-realistic media blurs the line between fiction and reality.
- We often relinquish our right to be free-thinkers.
- We too often seek out diversions that merely grant instantaneous gratification and create an “automatic reflex.”
- Hyper-kinetic media strips us of our ability to focus and think.
- We can become too dependent on technology to perform common tasks that we should be able to perform with relative ease.
- We lose our ability to reason when we seldom practice that skill.
- Television make us dum.
- We allow small groups (or individuals) with loud voices to make decisions that, in part, determine the fate of the masses.
In Harrison Bergeron the exigencies of this story is that we allow small groups with loud voices to make decisions that, in part, determine the fate of the masses. Everyone in the story believes in social equality. People have to wear masks, and hide their intelligence so they can be equal to others. Harrison Bergeron has beauty and intelligence so he is forced to hide it. It is not fair that we let others tell us what to do. Just because not everyone is gorgeous, and has super intelligence for the people who do they shouldn’t hide it. In revealing himself, “He flung away his rubber–ball nose, revealed a man that would have awed Thor, the god of thunder” (Vonnegut). Harrison Bergeron showed who he without the fake clown nose, and eventually gets shot in the end. Harrison’s parents are watching the incident and seeing their son get shot. His father and mother don’t know what is going on. In life we get pushed around by others to do stuff that we don’t want to do. If people came together and revealed themselves for who they really are maybe Harrison wouldn’t end up dead in the end.
ReplyDeleteIn the story there are two exigencies, We allow small groups (or individuals) with loud voices to make decisions that, in part, determine the fate of the masses. Also we often relinquish our right to be free-thinkers. These are the two exigencies because everyone in the story is equal against there will. People are forced to wear masks and weights so that they are handicapped to become equal with everyone else. The Handicapper General kills Harrison because he revolts and tears away everything that is forcing him to be like the others. This is a sad story because everyone saw Harrison die on TV but no one remembers it because it was taken from their memory.
ReplyDeleteThis story is rediculous. It takes place way in the future, where everyone is forced into being equal. The exigence in it is that we allow small groups (or individuals) with loud voices to make decisions that, in part, determine the fate of the masses. The character Harrison did the right thing; he stood up for what he thought was right. Everyone was brainwashed into thinking equal was correct. Harrison's group was not nearly as large as the governments, which is why the story ended how it did. He was shot and killed on tv for trying to do what was right. The government clearly was the larger group in this situation, and unfortunately they ended up winning. People with unique talents are forced into hurting themselves, such as a beeping noise that is programmed into their head every 20 seconds. Overall, I believe this story is insane, but like the point it tries to address.
ReplyDeleteThe exigencies of this story is that We allow small groups with loud voices to make decisions that, in part, determine the fate of the masses. Everyone, in this time period, is equal meaning that no one was better at one thing than someone else. For example beautiful people wore masks, stronger or faster people wore weights. The Handicapper Generals makes sure that everyone is equal by determining the fate of everyone’s looks, speed, strength, and even their memory.
ReplyDeleteThe exigence to this story is relinquishing our right to be free thinkers. Everybody in this story believes that were have to be socially equal. They are unwilling to break the law in order to be free. They only care about the worst of things. "If I tried to get away with it, then other people’d get away with it and pretty soon we’d be right back to the dark ages again, with everybody competing against everybody else" (Vonnegut). They have a chance to relax for a while, but they don't take that chance. All they seem to care about is their fate if they do something unordinary. they have given up their right to think what they want to think.
ReplyDeleteThe exigences in Kurt Vonnegut's Harrison bergon was that we allow small groups (or individuals) with loud voices to make decisions that, in part, determine the fate of the masses.In the stroy the people are ordered to basically hide their identity and who they are. They do so beacuse they are threatened by a person who is in order and that person wants every one to be completely equal. The people in the story are equaled out by wearing weight on them to take away from their abilities, and are forced to wear brain controlers in their ear that make a noise to make their brain get off task and slow their thinking process. This stroy shows how people really do let someone boss them around because they aren't afraid to statetheir thoughts and take control for them, but really it's wrong and we should stand up for what we beleive in and be who we really are.
ReplyDeleteWe often relinquish our right to be free-thinkers. Letting the government decide that all people are created equal; literally. Putting masks on everyones faces, weights around the neck filled with lead balls. Scaring individuals with 2 years of jail and fines if they go against the code or government. Having everyone look, sound and feel the same because of the fear of competitiveness. Trying to control everyone, so there is no chance for chaos or to end up in the dark ages. Killing anyone who trys to revolt. We often relinquish our right to be free-thinkers. Just because other people tell us too or because were scared. It only takes one person to make a difference, but many to make it everlasting.
ReplyDeletein this story television makes peoplem dum. in this story every one is equal .the people are are wearing masks and weights like everyone else just so they can be the same. people belive what the tv says about things some people just depend on the tv the television is not always right. in this story every one is watching the same thing and since harrison started crying because of the dancers the general killed him. but no one remembers it because it was on tv.
ReplyDeleteIn this story one guy which is Harrison escaped from jail and went to the studio so everybody could see him when he takes off all the equipment that they put him after he does then one of the ballereinas do it and they start to dance. After that the musicians take their equipment off also. If Harrison hadn't of done what he did nobody would of ever dared to do what he did but at the end of the story they end getting killed for disobeying and the musicains put their equipment back on.
ReplyDeleteI think the exigence in the story is we allow small groups with loud voices to make decisions that, in part, determine the fate of masses. In the story,people who wants to be equal made a law to make all people equal regardless of people who does not want to be equal just like Harrison. Also, Diana Moon Glampers and the Handicapper general shot Harrison and the ballerina just because they broke the law and tried to become free.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Michael this story was rediculous! But this story did have a exigencie which was we allow small groups(individuals) with loud voices to make decisions that, determine the fate of the masses. The government was the reason why everyone was being brainwashed.
ReplyDeleteIn Harrison Bergeron the exigencies is; We allow small groups (or indiciduals) with loud voices make decisions that, in part, determine the fate of the masses. The government has made everyone believe that being equal is good. They make everyone who has better talent or beauty wear masks and bags that slow them down so no one it better. However Harrison, who was put in jail, doesn't believe this. So he breaks out of jail to show people that we don't all need to be equal. He is doing a good job at changing their minds until someone comes in and kills him. The government won and everyone still believes that equal is the way to go. This story is a little out there, but the point it is trying to prove is very good.
ReplyDeleteMichael Americus thoughts were good he said that doing the right thing counts speak for what you belive for dont be scared to say the right thing.
ReplyDeleteThe exigences in kurts story was "we allow small groups (or individuals) with loud voices to make decisions that, in part, determine the fate of the masses". I chosed this one because in the short story everyone is equal and no one can be different because the govt. said so. So their just letting the govt. have all the power and the people dont have rights. At the end when Harrison escapes from jail and he starts to give people rights to do watever they want without no consequenses the govt. kills him just so the can have all the power and control everyone. Thats why we should just stick to the declaration of independence to give people their rights.
ReplyDeleteI agree with fish's comment he is right when he says the story relinquishes their right to be free thinkers. Like Fish said they are unwilling to break the law to be free and that is exaaclt what i think they need to do. They need to break the law so they can find who they really are and so they can once again be free.
ReplyDeleteThis is an example of how our over reliance on technology will lead to our dehumanization. I choose this one because in the story the govenment wants everyone to be the same. So they give them this handicaps so everyone will be the same. Then there is a guy who escaped out of jail his name is Harrison. Harrison trys to make everything back to the way it use to be by telling people to take of their handicaps. So they kill him. The handicaps makes everyone equal and make you forget sad thoughts. Like when hazel forget that they just killed Harrison. This is an example of how our over reliance on technology will lead to our dehumanization.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Daniella everyone is not the same, everyone has a unique thing about themselfs and they should all be able to express it in the way they want without anyone telling them what to do or having consequenses.
ReplyDeleteThis story shows us we allow small groups (or individuals) with loud voices to make decisions that, in part, determine the fate of the masses. they force everybody to be equal with each other. they lose thier freedom of speech they have to hide thier faces if the're good looking. if you ask me this world would be stupid and boring because every person would be the same you wouldnt get to see anyones face or get to know how anyone really is. Harrison gets put in jail because he is to smart for the government to hide. he tries to make everything back the way it was where everyone was different but he gets stopped by the individuals who think that everyone should be the same. really they are not all equal because the Handicapper General has to know more than the rest of the people for her to be able brainwash them in to thinking beining equal is the way the world should be.
ReplyDeleteIn the story Harrison Bergeron, the exigence is we allow small groups (or individuals) with loud voices to make decisions that, in part, determine the fate of the masses. This is the exigence, because everybody is equal. No one has the right to show what they are capable at doing; they cannot show their beauty or intelligence. People, against their will, are forced to wear things on themselves to make them equal to everyone else. Towards the end, Harrison Bergeron does not listen to the government and dies, because he was standing up for his rights to be an individual and wanted other people to do the same thing. People should have the right to do what they want and they should not let others take over them like they did in the short story.
ReplyDeleteIn Harrison Bergeron the exigence of this story is that we allow small groups with loud voices make decisions that, in part, determine the fate of the masses.In this short story everybody is considered equal because of ammendments,211th, 212th, and 213th. Everybody in the story has to wear masks and wear the same clothing so they all appeare equal to others around them. Like many other people, Harrison Bergeron has good looks and a lot of intelligence.He then has to hide it from others, because of the new ammendments. It is unfair for people with such intelligence, to just hide their their own personal traits. People like Harrison, should have the right to show off such intelligence. He then reveals himself, "He flung away his rubber-ball nose, revealed a man that would have awed Thor, the god of thunder" (Vonnegut). Harrison shows that he has the power to take off his mask. In today's life we get forced into peer pressure. We make mistakes and do things other people want us to do. The characters should have stood up for themselves, taken off the masks and revealed whats really inside. If Harrison would have came out and actually stood up for who he really is, maybe he wouldnt have ended up dead at the end.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Tre' S. He pretty much covered what I said. But I also agreed with Fish, because he had a different opinion on the exigence in this story. The exigence to this story is relinquishing our right to be free thinkers. That is correct; no one had their freedom. In the beginning of the story, it stated that their were over 200 amendments. That makes me think, did they get rid of the first amendment? The freedom seems very limited in the future.
ReplyDeleteIn the story Harrison Bergeron written by Kurt Vonnegut there are two exigencies that stand out. The first one is we often relinquish our right to be free-thinkers. Another is that we allow small groups (or individuals) with loud voices to make decisions that, in part, determine the fate of the masses. Both exigencies are shown because the people have to live their lives equal to everyone. They have to follow certain guidelines like wearing masks to make them look equal and have everyone have the same look. The people also have to wear weights to make everyone’s bodies look the same shape. Harrison Bergeron is killed because he wanted to be different and not equal to everyone else, so he revolted against the Handicapper General. The Handicapper General kills Harrison because he is taking off everything that is making him equal to everyone else and refusing to follow the guidelines that are put in order. The General doesn't want Harrison to set the example that it is ok to revolt and voice your opinion because it would make everyone revolt and change the laws. The end of the story was sad because the killing of Harrison was public by being the television. The Handicapper General took the memory of the killing out of everyone's mind and no one remembers what happened to Harrison.
ReplyDeleteThe exigent of the story is, we often relinquish our right to be free thinkers. In the story the government makes everyone equal, by forcing people that have advances to become normal. For example George has a high IQ so he’s forced to not have certain thoughts and when he does the make a noise that makes him forget what the thoughts were. Also they make people that are pretty wear ugly mask to hide their faces. As the people obey theses laws they’re losing their right to be independent. The government is control the way they think and behave. So thought out the story you see how the people are afraid of the government and they lost their right to be able to think whatever they want. They also have the government controlling most of their thoughts.the people should do something to gain their right to be free thinkers again.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Daniella's post because I think evrybody should show who they trully are and not hide anything. It also shouldnt be a law to wear a mask and hide yourself from everybody.
ReplyDeleteIn this story there is mainly two exigences:We relinquish our right to be free thinkers,and People with loud voices make decisons that affect the masses. In the story the people are all made equal by being all equally "handicapped" and not being any better than anyone else at anything. they also have devices planted in their head that make annoying sounds when they start to think so that they can't seem to get smarter than anyone else. However one guy in the story stands up for what he believes in and breaks off all his handicap stuff tries to get other people to do the same and think for themselves. He gets them to do this only for a little bit before he gets shot and everyone goes back to their old stupid ways. All, the while the parents of the man who gets shot are watching it but, only a couple seconds after they have already forgotten what they witnessed because they can't think for themselves with the brain annoyance implants.
ReplyDeleteIn the short story Harrison Bergeron the exigence of the story is that we often relinquish our right to be free thinkers.in the story everyone has to be the same. No one can be smarter or beautiful the the reat of the country, they all have to be the same and be equal in every shape and form.In
ReplyDeletethe story if someone is more intelligent then the others like George, then they would have to put a handicap signial, and the signial would go to the brain to block anything that was beyond anyone else's
intellengence rate. That is not fair because leting a person not saying what they want to say
is letting them not be a free thinker and not voicing their opinon just because they have to obey the governments rule. and thats what happen to harrison when he voice his opinon and got shot for saying what he believed in. And his parents didn't realize because they got a erupt signial from the handicap signial and didn't know what was going on.
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ReplyDeleteThe exigencies of this story is that We allow small groups with loud voices to make decisions that, in part, determine the fate of the masses. In th story the peole are forced into social and physical equality by the government. People have to sould the same look the same and be just as strong as everybody else. The peopel in teh srory are threatened with prison or death for being different. that is why harrison is shot he becomes diffeeent he takes off his handy caps and becomes "normal" he is punished for being himself
ReplyDeletethe exigencie in this story is " we allow small groups with loud voices to make decissions that, in part, determine the fate of the masses." in this story every one belives that they should all be aqual. for example, the government forces the people who are strong to wear bags with weights around their necks or feet, and they also put a mask on the pepople who are hot. everyone is beeing forcw to be equal to everyone and the people who are not equal are sent to jail.
ReplyDeletei agre with Michael V. he said "It is unfair for people with such intelligence, to just hide their their own personal traits"(Veselka). i think that everyone should show what they have and that other people shouldn't tell them what to do.
ReplyDeletesomething is wrong with carla.....
ReplyDeleteIn the story everyone is forced to be equal. everyone has to wear a mask and either have weights, what i think is crazy. I think that the exigencie of the story is that We allow small groups (or individuals) with loud voices to make decisions that, in part, determine the fate of the masses. Like i said that everybody is forced to be equal and wear masks. Then once that kid, Harrison Bergeron who is fourteen! Claims that he is the new emperor. He starts telling people what to do and so they listen, but then he gets killed by some crazy lady.
ReplyDeleteagree Michael Veselka people should be able to be who they are and not be forced to be equal because no really knows what equal is. you can go up to anyone and ask what they think equal is and everyone will have a different respond to the question.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Suzie the characters in the story should of done something so they can have freedom and the only person who tried to be free was Harrsion and after what Harrison did it some other characters started to do it too. Like the ballerina and the musicians. If more people did that in the story then they would have been free but since they didn't do anything things got back how they were. I think that thye should of done something so that they gain their freedom.
ReplyDeleteIn 1920, alcohol was banned from being sold and consumed in the United States. People banned other people from drinking and getting drunk. The government saw that as doing something good and viewed themselves as helping American’s quiet cold turkey. It was a method to end all: spousal abuse, racial groups from becoming increasingly large and more violent, alcoholics, and all alcohol related problems. As a result from banning drunks and politicians from drinking, riots and illegal saloons swept the nation. From drunks to politicians to businessmen, the world around them had denied them a drink making a taste of that sweat first gulp that much more fulfilling. Drinking was illegal, but it was consumed more then when people were allowed to drink. In 1933, America or the people that make our nations chooses decided that a time of legal alcohol was better than that of it being illegal. If you think about it, banning alcohol was necessary to show the world that American has the right to hold a beer in one hand, and a gun in the other. Now look at us, drinking, killing, and expressing our rights. Not a allowing people to do things is fun. You can write in on paper and have some guy tell you that the way you live isn’t right and you have to change. Some person that tells you he or she has authority over you, but you still have rights that they give. It’s like telling people not to be racist. The government makes it a law not to commit a crime due to racism, but does that really make someone stop? The government can change the rules, but they can change someone’s mind or that hate they so strongly feel… at least their trying.
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