In "Harrison Bergeron", Kurt Vonnegut presents a view of a future society, where everyone is equal. "Nobody was smarter than anybody else. Nobody was better looking than anybody else

This story can be very easily related to modern society seeking equality. Modern society was created by the process of changing the conditions of a society, an organization or another group of people in ways that change the privileges of that group according to modern technology or modern knowledge. Modern society is the product of relatively recent revolutionary change. All the revolutions were seeking to gain power over people and as they claim equality for the people. Thanks to it, the world became a place where democracy, liberty, and equality became the new goals of government. Equality of the sexes in politics and economics, women's liberation movement, gay rights for homosexuals and the freedom afforded by contraception allowed for greater personal choices in these intimate areas of personal life. ("Modern World" 2). All of these are achievements of modern society. People try to eliminate racism and sexism, they fight for their rights. Government passes laws to bring people to forget about past prejudices. The society in "Harrison Bergeron" succeeded in eliminating these prejudices. The result was that people lost their individuality and freedom, and all of this became possible because of technological knowledge that people have now a days.

There is a certain resemblance of the story and several periods of human history. Dictatorships worked, and still work, this way. A wonderful example is the communist system in Russia (past U.S.S.R.) which was, fortunately, overthrown in revolution of 1991. The ideology of Communism, taken to the extreme, the desire to create the equal society, resulted in abuses of Communism. Government of U.S.S.R. tried to influence people by broadcasting their opinions, which is the reason why so many people in a society seem to "think alike". Lenin and other communists misinterpreted the book of Marx in order to gain total control over society where everyone was acting as one, as a human machine. People were discouraged from thinking by themselves, discouraged from forming their own opinions. Children were taught in schools to be all uniform in mind and opinion, no one is allowed to stand out. People were easier to manipulate, which was the goal of the communist party, they'll follow the order of the communist party without questioning the authority. They weren't encouraged to speak their opinion because it would bring secret service again them, and eventually the whole family would be put in jail. And this is probably what Kurt Vonnegut tried to warn us in "Harrison Bergeron". Don't let anything or anyone deprive you of your individuality and freedoms. Otherwise you will lose your humanity as well. If we continue in striving for perfect equality, we could end up like the society in "Harrison Bergeron".

"The year was 2081, and everybody was finally equal," the story began. "They weren't only equal before God and the law. They were equal in every which way." (Vonnegut 243). This citation brings communist dreams alive. This is how the world would look if Communism would be still around. The sad part is that some countries are still communist, and they are not allowed to see the ironic part of the story. In this story, Vonnegut probably wanted to warn our society of similar kind of equality, equality that won't bring any good for human race.

Work Cited

"Modern World". Wikipedia. Online.

"Institution". Wikipedia. Online.

Vonnegut, Kurt Jr. "Harrison Bergeron". An Introduction to Fiction. Ed. X.J.Kennedy

and Dana Gioia. 6th Ed. New York: Harper Collins College Publishers, 1995.

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