Topic > Total Equality in 'Harrison Bergeron'

There are many lessons to learn from the story “Harrison Bergeron”. They can be individual lessons or lessons that society as a whole can learn. The story shows the reader what it means to live in a world where everyone is totally equal. No person is smarter, stronger, or more beautiful than the person next to them. One of the main lessons that society can learn from this story is that total equality may not be the world everyone wants to live in because everyone will become handicapped and people will not be able to be themselves. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay In history everyone is totally equal. No person is better than the other. One of the ways to achieve this is to have almost the entire nation wear handicaps. A handicap in this story is an obstacle for the wearer. Some people have to wear more handicap than others because they are above average. For example, George has to wear a radio transmitting earpiece that plays loud noises, so he cannot think to his full capacity since he has above-average intelligence. The only way to make everyone equal is to implement things like these handicaps into the story. In today's world, people want equality but don't think about what that would actually mean. This story is an extreme example of equality, but it may show a glimpse of what could happen if equality were achieved. Another lesson society could learn is that even if people are equal, they still may not be. In the story, the most handicapped person, Harrison Bergeron, has to wear a full earpiece instead of just one earpiece, he has to wear thick glasses instead of just small ones, and he also has to carry the heaviest weight of anyone. These handicaps can make his mental capacity equal to that of a perfectly average person. But he and the perfectly average person are still not equal because he has to wear all these handicaps while the average person has to wear none. The lesson that can be drawn from this situation is that even if everyone is considered equal, people may not be equal. Therefore, total equality may not be possible in the way people would like. There are also some individual lessons that can be learned from this story. For example, in the story George is above average while Hazel is perfectly average. Therefore George has to wear more handicap than Hazel. Hazel says, “I don't care if you don't look like me for a while” (Vonnegut 40). Even though George is above average and has multiple handicaps, that doesn't stop them from caring for each other. This shows that even though they are not equal in handicaps, it does not detract from their relationship. This is a lesson that every individual must learn. Just because someone is worse off doesn't mean they are different. Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom article from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay Many lessons can be learned from the story “Harrison Bergeron”. Many of which include personal lessons and lessons for society. One of the main lessons to be learned is that equality does not mean totally equal. There are many other factors that contribute to becoming equal. This story is a good example of what total equality means, and it doesn't mean the same thing that many people think it means. Works CitedVonnegut, K. (1961). Harrison Bergeron. In Welcome to the Monkey House (pp. 7-14). Dell.Cassidy, S. (2010). Harrison Bergeron and the iron hand of authoritarianism. Intercollegiate Review, 45(2),. (2008)., 68(1), 25-50.