Uniformity In Harrison Bergeron, By Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

In the story â€Å"Harrison Bergeron† by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. the Constitution of the year 2081 perverts the original meaning and intent of our nation’s founding principle that â€Å"all men are created equal.† The U.S government assumes the role of ensuring not just equality under the law but uniformity of â€Å"intelligence,† and â€Å"thoughts† (Vonnegut, 1961). Talents are only identified so as to be targeted and suppressed. Conflict arises when someone is found that is so uniquely strong that heavy weights are hung on him to slow him down. A highly intelligent individual is forced to wear headphones so as to distract him from his own thoughts. A seven foot athletic man sporting â€Å"good looks† was forced to wear a bizarre mask out of concern his looks†¦show more content†¦Coaches have become fond of saying things like, Its not whether you win or lose, its the team that has the most fun. This thinking may spare feelings and reduce conflict in the short term but this story raises questions about the impact on society in the long run. In the story â€Å"The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas† by Ursula Le Guin the citizens of a town called Omelas are said to be very happy. The people are prosperous, talented, and peaceful. However, this fictional city has a dark secret masked by the prosperity and happiness that the citizens enjoy. This prosperity is at the expense of a single suffering child imprisoned in a basement. The town’s residents are apparently so shocked by the discovery that some leave town but many stay knowing that a child is suffering so that they may remain â€Å"happy† (Le Guin, 1993). The conflict in this story is man vs man. More precisely, this is man struggling with his own conscience. Residents struggle to respond to a town in which the suffering of others is ignored and in some cases promoted. The story notes that no one can claim ignorance of the child’s suffering and its role in the town’s prosperity. â€Å"They all know it is there, all the people of Omel as. Some of them have come to see it, others are content merely to know it is there. They all know that it has to be there† (Le Guin, 1993). At this point in the story, the conflict of conscienceShow MoreRelatedEssay about Uniformity and Deformity in Harrison Bergeron946 Words   |  4 PagesUniformity and Deformity in Harrison Bergeron In this essay, I will attempt to explore what Kurt Vonnegut illustrated in his short story Harrison Bergeron--the fact that uniformity (of any kind) leads to the loss of individuality, and therefore to absolute deformity of humanness. The year was 2081, and everybody was finally equal, the story begins. They werent only equal before God and the law. They were equal in every which way. (Vonnegut 1968:7) In this haunting