harrison bergeron rough rough draft

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Cover Page This essay needs major revising. I originally had chosen to write on two topics—the use of the television and its implications of government surveillance and propaganda, and Vonnegut’s satirical take on McCarthy era fears of Communism. However, this morning as I was reading the rough draft, I realized that just one of these topics is more than sufficient enough for a four page essay. If I were to write about both topics, the paper wouldn’t get to delve into the amount of detail I want it to. As it stands, this essay needs a ton of restructuring, meaning that I will most likely delete a good portion of the ‘television’ parts, and instead focus on the satirical element of the piece and what it meant in the larger cultural and political context of the time it was written.

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Very Rough Draft of a small exposition essay of a Vonnegut short story.

TRANSCRIPT

Page 1: Harrison Bergeron ROUGH ROUGH Draft

Cover Page

This essay needs major revising. I originally had chosen to write on two topics—the use

of the television and its implications of government surveillance and propaganda, and

Vonnegut’s satirical take on McCarthy era fears of Communism. However, this morning as I was

reading the rough draft, I realized that just one of these topics is more than sufficient enough for

a four page essay. If I were to write about both topics, the paper wouldn’t get to delve into the

amount of detail I want it to. As it stands, this essay needs a ton of restructuring, meaning that I

will most likely delete a good portion of the ‘television’ parts, and instead focus on the satirical

element of the piece and what it meant in the larger cultural and political context of the time it

was written.

Page 2: Harrison Bergeron ROUGH ROUGH Draft

In his short story “Harrison Bergeron”, Kurt Vonnegut shows us a dystopian futuristic

society in which all naturally talented people have ‘handicaps’ placed on them in order to dumb

them down, or lower them to the level of ordinary citizens. Vonnegut’s intention, through

elaborate metaphor and alarmist rhetoric, is to illustrate the inherent dangers of governmental

oppression of alternative thoughts and technology, as well as to satire contemporary America’s

irrational fear of communism.

Kurt Vonnegut lived in a time where modern technology and mass media had only just

begun to creep into mainstream society. Television, in 1961—when Harrison Bergeron was

written—was still a novel invention, and many alternative thinkers such as Vonnegut feared that

a television in every home created an environment where the government could expose citizens

to propaganda en masse. This fear reverberates throughout the entire story; the television is a

centerpiece for the story’s action, and Vonnegut continually uses description of the television set

as a gateway to the action of the plot.QUOTE HERE MENTIONING THE TELEVISION

George and Hazel watch in their living room as the story unfolds on their TV set. QUOTE

ABOUT NONCHALANCE Their nonchalance towards the entire situation—even with their son

on the television screen—indicates that a good portion dumbed-down America’s time is spent in

front of the television set. Through this, Vonnegut implies that if the Government is the one

controlling the message, those who are constantly watching television will be more swayed by

the government’s narrative and lulled into complacency.

Vonnegut writing conveys the use of the television by the new United States as a method

of intimidating its citizens. As the ballerina struggles to read in a gravelly voice the crimes of

which Harrison was accused, a picture of him is shown on the screen, such as QUOTE HERE

which showcases the truly monstrous handicaps that government dissenters were forced to live

Page 3: Harrison Bergeron ROUGH ROUGH Draft

with, and serves as a warning to anyone watching the television. Vonnegut uses Harrison’s

picture and description as a parallel to how government dissenters might be shown on the TV in

the future. In addition, at the end of the story, when Diana Moon Glampers comes in and shoots

both Harrison and the Ballerina, the curtness of the writing QUOTE HERE is in stark contrast

with the fanciful language that had been present since Harrison arrived in the studio. The

shortness of the writing reflects the shock of the sudden shooting of the two lovers. That it aired

on TV only serves to increase the power of the United States Handicapper General in the eyes of

the people. “It was then that the Bergeron’s television tube burned out”, leaving them in shock

but without the allowance to deal with their emotions properly. This type of fear mongering

would intimidate ordinary people into falling in line with the government’s agenda.

The ridiculousness of the language Vonnegut uses and the situations that he envisions

only serve to cement ‘Harrison Bergeron’ as a satirical take on conservative Americans’

irrational fears of Communism and Collectivism. Vonnegut attempted to highlight Americans’

insecurities though scenes such as the ballerina scene. It is reminiscent of an absurdist work—

musicians playing music that is “cheap, silly, false”, dancers so overburdened with weight as to

not be better at dancing than even the clumsiest of people, and only a few people even had the

intelligence to dream up an alternative, for which they were punished: “It was such a doozy that

George was white and trembling, and tears stood on the rums of his red eyes. Two of the eight

ballerinas had collapsed to the studio floor, were holding their temples”. Unlike other dystopian

stories, Vonnegut focuses on creating a situation so patently crazy that the reader is forced to

reject the plausibility of it. The situation gets even crazier as Harrison and the Ballerina begin to

dance. As opposed to the drab, dreary nature of the wording for the rest of the story, Vonnegut

unleashes a torrent of vocabulary as the two “reeled, whirled, swiveled, flounced, capered,

Page 4: Harrison Bergeron ROUGH ROUGH Draft

gamboled, and spun”. At a certain point, all logic is tossed aside as “neutraling gravity with love

and pure will, they remained suspended in air inches below the ceiling”. Everything about the

story, from the initial premise of the handicap, to the action on the stage, and even from the word

choice chosen, seems to indicate that this is indeed a satire.

If a future where everyone is dumbed down to the lowest common denominator seems

far-fetched, it probably is. The craziness of the plot line provides a backdrop for Vonnegut to

provide his input and important social commentary. The cultural tumult of the 60s had not begun

yet. 1961 still embodied the spirit of the 1950s. Public opinion was monolithic and firmly anti-

communist. As well, the public’s fears were exacerbated by the Red Scare and McCarthyism.

The ideas that Vonnegut was presenting could not be explicitly spoken for fear of being labeled a

traitor, and in this way, works such as Harrison Bergeron are especially important.