Tony Kim
Ms. Hawkins
English II
30 September 2013
Handicapped
Family Structure Ruined by Authoritarian Government
Kurt Vonnegut, the
author of “Harrison Bergeron”, depicts an environment where each citizen has a
different method of dealing with the oppressive government and shows the
effects of the oppression on the family unit through his characterization of
three members of the family. Hazel, the mother, is the “normal” person in story
and she
shows [RK1]the
base line of the inhabitants of America in the year 2081. On the other hand,
George, the father, is a very smart man, but his thinking is disrupted due to
government regulations. Harrison Bergeron, their son, is also an intelligent
man like George, except he is out of control since he breaks the rules and
begins to act against the dictates of the regime. Vonnegut is trying to tell us
through characterization how the totalitarian [RK2]government
affects the family and how each member reacts to the government’s harsh
actions.
Vonnegut
depicts [RK3]Hazel
as a normal woman in the environment set by totalitarian government because she
is naturally
handicapped [RK4]by her
short term memory. Every
mother loves her son or daughter, [RK5]but
Hazel shows different picture. She barely remembers that her son is taken by
the government. Also, when her son is killed on television, she barely
remembers anything that happens on the screen. She says, “I forgot”(Harrison Bergeron 192)[TK6] .
Since Hazel is too naturally handicapped, she doesn’t have any further
handicaps given by the government. The Government in the story is trying to
break the strong connection between family[RK7], and
Hazel works as an example of what the government would like all of its citizens
to be like. Basically, the government is making people handicapped to make the
family structure weaken, so people wouldn’t care about each other greatly. This
advantage takes power from the family and allows the government to have more
power over the people. The government just wants its citizens to be less aware
and just be diligent workers.
George
is described as being more intelligent than his wife, but he has been given a
handicap device to make him stop thinking. George is a smart person, but he
cannot think freely because the handicap device destroys his thoughts. George
has more common sense than his wife because he does remember his son being
taken by the government. He says, “That must be Harrison” while seeing the television
(Harrison Bergeron 136).[TK8]
He also has doubts about the government’s rule, but he seems to agree with it
at times. He
thinks about how a handicap shouldn’t be mandatory for the dancers, but the
device scrambles his thought. Also, he thinks about his son who didn’t fit into the structure set by the
government and was taken away[RK9], but
another loud sound in the form of a 21gun salute disrupts his thoughts.[RK10]
George is intelligent and has the potential to care about his family member
better than Hazel, but he can’t do that because his mind is distracted by the
handicapping device. The normal family dynamics is severely broken to benefit
the regime. George is rendered unable to fight in any way for his son.
Harrison
Bergeron is the most intelligent and strongest character in Vonnegut’s story.
He is an example of how a dictatorial government ruins the family structure. He has been
taken away to jail for rebelling to since his intelligent mind cannot be made
to submit and his highly abnormally strong physique[RK11]
poses a threat. In
our time there would be huge protests for taking children away from their
parents, but the environment depicted by Vonnegut prevents parents from
thinking freely. Harrison
Bergeron’s bravery is shown when he later escapes prison and causes chaos in
the theater, but he ultimately gets shot by Diana Moon Glampers, the
Handicapper General[RK12].
The death
of Harrison shows how the totalitarian government has an effective system
because even Harrison’s family members, George and Hazel, are unable to mourn
the death of their only son[RK13].
The father cannot even pay attention long
enough to seeing his son on TV and leaves to get a beer, and the mother cannot
even remember why she was crying.[RK14][TK15]
Citizens in this
story are handicapped so they can’t think clearly and react normally when they
are treated negatively. Since they are handicapped, the government has an easy
time controlling people. Vonnegut uses his characterization of Hazel, George,
and Harrison as the examples of what might happen to people living under a
totalitarian regime and how family dynamics are affected. The various reactions
of the family members to the situation illustrate how families might become
when the parents are restricted from thinking freely: the mother benefits from
the regulations and supports them, the father has some reservations, and the
son outright rebels. None of them is able to overcome the power of the regime
or solve the problems caused by it. Vonnegut shows what might happen to each
family member and how each family member reacts to government’s
totalitarianism.
[RK1]A
little awkward. I suggest saying “she is the base line” or “she is an example
of an average person in America…”
[RK3]depicts
or describes would be better
[RK4]if
it’s natural it isn’t a handicap
[RK5]Hello,
subject change
[TK6]Quote
spoken by Hazel while watching television.
[RK7]That
isn’t what it says the reason for the handicaps are in the story
[RK9]Sounds
a little awkward
[RK10]Use
quotes for these examples instead of summarizing them
[RK11]Not
why he was put in jail. He was in jail for conpiring to overthrow the
government
[RK12]Use
quotes
[RK13]Also
talk about how the government is ruthless and how today they would take
precaussions and try not to kill harrison
[RK14]Use
quotes
[TK15]I
added quote in the paragraph of Hazel and George;
I think it is redundant if I put the quote again.
[TK16]This
was less edited than other paragraph and I also thought that is didn’t make
sense so I kind of copy pasted the paragraph and tried to make it more structural
The below paragraph is my actual conclusion.
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