Harrison Burgeron and Equality

English 10

Mikayla Coenen

Miss Fordahl

November 20, 2013

“Harrison Burgeron and Equality”

In the short story “Harrison Bergeron”, a very noticeable theme is equality. It makes you wonder if equality should be taken as far as the government did in the story, or if we should even take our own equality much further, in case we reach the levels shown in “Harrison Bergeron”. In this speech, I will talk about the general idea of equality vs. the government’s in “Harrison Bergeron”, equality in our modern-day real-life U.S. vs. the one in the short story, and finally the good and the bad of the equality in “Harrison Bergeron”.

Generally, equality is when everyone has the same opportunities. Meaning, if someone was poor, someone was part of the middle-class, and someone was rich, they would all have the same chance to do the same thing. Equality is also everyone getting the same rights for people, like women, racial minorities, or those in the LGBTAQ community, and giving the help or protection what they need. To the government in “Harrison Bergeron”, equality is everyone getting pulled down to in the same level. They believed that in order to be equal, everyone had to be average and nothing more.

Today, our government isn't as equal as you think. Some people are still getting charged more or less than other for the exact same crime, based off of gender or race, some people still aren’t able to get married, and other people’s rights are taken away because of their race or gender. In “Harrison Bergeron”, people still lost rights, but that was based off of abilities and only hindered those more able, rather than take even more rights from someone. So, in a way, the government in “Harrison Bergeron” was moving in the right direction, but going about it all the wrong way. Perhaps if they had, instead of lowering the citizens who were able, brought those less able up to a higher level, like giving more help when needed, it would be better. Think of it like this: Four people are standing in front of a fence, on equally tall stools. The first person, already taller than the fence, can now see even further, past the others. The second person was just barely tall enough at first, and now can see over the fence alright, but not as much as the first one. The third person couldn’t see over the fence at all, now their eyes can just barely see anything over it. The fourth person still  can’t see anything. In a way, the government in “Harrison Bergeron” took away the stools and dug holes for the taller people, when what they should have done was give taller boxes to the shorter people.

The government in “Harrison Bergeron” wasn’t good, definitely not, but wasn’t horrible. Like I said before, it moved in the right direction, but in the wrong way. Instead of making the ballerinas average, they should have helped them all become extraordinary in their own signature way. Instead of squashing the intelligence of the ones who were more intelligent, they should have utilized them to help those who weren’t as intelligent, and let them expand on their intelligence. Instead of making it harder for the strong people, they should have used them to help the ones who weren’t as strong and helped improve their strength. No, they may not have been equal that way, not exactly, but it would have been closer to the idea of equality that we hold dear than the one they showed there.

In conclusion, there isn’t exactly a better government between the one in “Harrison Burgeron” and the real life U.S. one we have right here at home, when it comes to equality. Both have some major faults, but both have their good parts too. Ideally, we would all be equal, but we aren’t. Not yet. Which is why we have to strive to work for equality, so that when we see our ballerinas, our athletes, or our educators in work, they’re not ordinary, they’re extraordinary.