Emily Eyberg
Mr. Neuberg
ENG Comp 102-104
26 September 2011
Single Paragraph Essay
Hold on to You
In the futuristic story, “Harrison Begeron”, by Kurt Vonnegut Jr., we are introduced to George and Hazel Bergeron, living in a state of utter equality. Without the will to strive to better ourselves, and think the unthinkable, we are mindless beings. The idea of people living in complete equality seems picture perfect. Vonnegut demonstrates that it is truly not so in 2081 or in present day. “And pretty soon we’d be right back to the dark ages again, with everybody competing against everybody else” (205.) Every time a thought that may surpass another’s thought is begun, a noise is blared into the thinker’s mind, so the thought is instantly silenced. It is an innate thought to push against ourselves and imagine the unimaginable however, in Vonnegut’s year of 2081, it is not so. “Neutralizing gravity with love and pure will, they remained suspended in air inches below the ceiling” (208.) To abandon ourselves, our sense of creativity and imagination is a brutal injustice. After being trained to be numb drones, Hazel and George do not even realize they have just seen their only child murdered before their eyes. Perhaps it is not the competition we should strive so hard to attain, but our sense of self; the pull within our souls to do the impossible.
Vonnegut, Kurt Jr. “Harrison Bergeron”. Power of language, Language of Power. New York: Pearson Learning Solutions, 2009.203-209. Print.
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