...utopias (Dunn 1) and even before that, people wrote about the concept of utopian societies as if they were real. After reading multiple dystopian articles, short stories and even a book, it is easy to see that the concept of a utopia is one that ultimately cannot exist and that utopias ultimately perish and turn into a dystopia. All of the stories mentioned in this essay share one theme: the government plays a role in what they do, what occupation they have, who they interact with, and...
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...Dystopia Dystopia is often a society set in the future that has degraded into a repressive and controlled state, often under the control of some form of government but not always. A dystopian society can also be a planned structured society in which the conditions of life are deliberately made miserable. Some examples of these can be characterized by poverty, oppression, violence, disease, scarcity, and/or pollution for the benefit of a select minority or some unnatural societal goal. I am going to discuss how the short story “The Lottery," by Shirley Jackson and the film Demolition Man directed by Marco Brambilla exhibits dystopian. In the short story “They Lottery” the author makes a society where the town people are willing to kill each other in order to preserve a their idea of balance and success. The town in "The Lottery,” have employed what they sees as the fairest way to continue this ancient tradition. “The Lottery” is a story of misguidance and ultimate horror. The way the plot is structured takes the audience from one extreme (a very sunny, happy day) to another (a ghastly murder). The town is described as a simple and beautiful one, with children running and playing, happy to be out of school for the summer. The reader is led to believe that everything is perfect and the community is gathering for a raffle of some kind. After all, the story’s title is “The Lottery”. Lotteries have a positive connotation in most peoples’ mind. Lotteries are usually grouped...
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...of his works are science fiction used to “[help] lend form to the presentation of this world view without imposing a falsifying causality upon it (Reed),” as Peter Reed mentioned in an autobiography about Kurt Vonnegut. Vonnegut believed that science fiction offers a perception into an everyday society, rather than escaping it. The extraordinary events he experienced throughout his life served as motivation and influenced him to write stories about the world; as a result, Vonnegut showed an immense appreciation about life in his literary pieces. Kurt Vonnegut continued to pursue his goal of demonstrating to the world how wonderful life is through creations in the graphic arts. In 1950, Vonnegut published his first short story, “Report on the Barnhouse Effect” followed by “The Sirens of Titan” (1959), “Cat’s Cradle” (1963), “Slaughterhouse-Five” (1969), and “Breakfast of Champions” (1973). The society in which Kurt Vonnegut was a part of highly valued the ideal of equality; the short story “Harrison Bergeron” was written to foreshadow the oppression that such a society can cause if these ideals are taken too literal. In 1961, this short story was one of the most impactful short stories he has ever written, “Harrison Bergeron” critiqued an authoritarian government by using tone, theme, and symbolism. Vonnegut uses a satirical and humorous tone while presenting a serious topic to critique America in the 1960’s, both politically...
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...Harrison Bergeron Fairness and equality is what mankind strives for in a society, and it is what mankind is going to strive over the course of an eternity. For the longest time we’ve searched for a Utopian society, and in the short story “Harrison Bergeron” written by Kurt Vonnegut in 1961, mankind needs to look no further. Total equality, everyone is equal in Harrison Bergeron, which creates a utopian society in theory. But does total equality create a utopian society? The setting of the story shows the dull and dystopian society George and Hazel are living in. “The year was 2081, and everybody was finally equal. They weren’t only equal before God and the law. They were equal every which way…” The quote indicates the setting, a setting where equality has been forced and isn’t naturally caused equality. The dystopian society is also perfectly depicted in the following quote: “And George, while his intelligence was way above normal, had a little mental handicap radio in his ear.” The quote shows that the society puts limitations on individuals to create equality, which is not utopian at all. The story takes place in George and Hazel’s living room, which isn’t described in anyway, which is weird if you think about the time the story takes place. In many other Sci-fi stories the environment and locations are wildly described, but not in Harrison Bergeron. The reason for this could be the fact that, George and Hazel’s living room could be anyone’s living room. It could be my living...
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...The unforeseen future can hold a drastic change of lifestyle, different from what it is today. The authors of the stories criticize our present social system, by displaying a satirized dystopian future of society, in which the world is led by corporatism and has lost control of themselves as well as the ability to think and instead are governed by a higher form of power, having become controlled sheep. The dystopian possibilities shown in the stories aren’t that far out of reach. Many of the dystopian elements can be scene in today’s society but on a smaller scale. As time progresses our civilization can itself become incorporated in a reality that was once the plot of fictitious stories. The classic cult movie “They Live” by John carpenter exploits corporatism that is seen in a large scale in today’s society. The movie revolves around Nada, a happy go lucky wandering construction worker, who stumbles upon a pair of sunglasses that are capable of showing the world’s true nature. Through his sunglasses he can see hidden subliminal messages throughout the city that are projected by advertisements and mass media. He only sees the core of their message and only the reason why they exist. No matter where Nada looks, or at whichever magazine he flips open he can see the same subliminal messages, which can also be seen on money. The memos contain messages such as: “obey," “consume," “buy," “work, sleep, play” and are meant to restrain and control the population. Nada also discovers...
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...Harrison Bergeron Analysis Harrison Bergeron is a short story written by Kurt Vonnegut. The story is a about the society in America in 2081, a man called George and his wife, Hazel, and the way the society is controlling people, so they can fit into what the government call “average”, and thereby achieve the goal of being ‘equal’. In today’s society everybody strikes to be the best, better looking and smarter than anybody else, and therefore the thought about living in a society where everyone is equal might sound tempting, if you find the race of being the best tiring. A lot of the things that most young people are struggling with right now might disappear. No more jealousy and at best no more war. There is often created a dystopian world, when humans are trying to make it a utopian one. The story about Harrison Bergeron concerns this issue. Everybody is equal, which might sound like a utopian world but in fact is a dystopian society to be living in. “The year was 2081, and everybody was finally equal. They weren’t only equal before God and the Law. They were equal in every which way. Nobody was better looking than anybody else. Nobody was stronger or quicker than anybody else” The meaning of the word ‘equal’ has been taking to a whole new level and it is supposed to be making the society a better place, but in fact the thing it is doing, is controlling the citizens and taking away their freedom of thought, intellectual ability and their individual beauty and strength. An...
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...topic. The issue whether human nature is programmed in humans’ brains or if it is a decision based on beliefs, society, and the culture is very arguable. Philosophers throughout history, such as Thomas Hobbes, have offered their viewpoints of human nature, eventually reaching Sigmund Freud and other modern philosophers. However, in A Clockwork Orange, Anthony Burgess writes a story of a dystopian future version of Britain with the story revolving...
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...Vonnegut Jr.’s short story, Harrison Bergeron, is about control. The setting is based in future America, where everyone is forced to be equal. Harrison, the main character, breaks the law as the country watches on TV. The story begins by mentioning Amendments 211 through 213, making the reader aware of limitations that could potentially be placed on their freedom. In this story of perception, government agents are the deciding factor of a person’s fate and they ensure that laws are enforced. Beautiful people must wear hideous masks to make them equal to the ugly, the brilliant wear ear devices that alter their thought process and make recollection near impossible and the strong wear weighted bags to make them equal to those who are weak (Vonnegut, 1961). Forced equality is questioned by the handicapped and the outcome is a controlled society. Harrison is used to represent the people who will protest against such laws and encourage others to support his cause. The central idea is that the government could never make a perfect world by enforcing total equality but they can place limitations on people. Discussion Vonnegut uses a satirical and humorous tone while presenting a serious topic to critique America in the 1960’s, both politically and socially. The political system in the story is egalitarianism; this is the belief that all people should be treated equally in every way. “Harrison Bergeron” suggests the possible outcome of a society if it is...
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...on the book Welcome to the Monkey House: A Collection of Short Works by Kurt Vonnegut. Welcome to the Monkey House: A Collection of Short Works consists of 25 short stories most of which had previously appeared in magazines such as The Atlantic Monthly, Ladies Home Journal, Fantasy and Science Fiction Magazine, Collier’s Magazine, Saturday Evening Post, The New York Times, Esquire, Venture, and Cosmopolitan. The title story appeared in Playboy magazine the same year the collection was released. Eleven of the stories were reprinted from Vonnegut’s 1961 short story collection Canary in a Cat House (Vonnegut). This paper will focus on four futuristic science fiction stories from the collection. These stories, “Welcome to the Monkey House”, “Harrison Bergeron”, “Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow”, and “Unready to Wear” all share a dystopian science fiction theme. Science and technology are supposed to make the world a better place, but instead, Vonnegut concludes they only create a new set of problems (Farrell, “Science and Technology in the Works of Kurt Vonnegut”). Television is often a target of satire in much of his fiction from the 1950’s. He describes it as desensitizing and numbing while deceiving the masses (Werlock). Vonnegut uses satire and pessimism throughout these dystopian stories. Satire is a special form of literature that seeks to uncover ridiculous ideas and customs in a society (Mowery). Each story portrays a totalitarian government that proposes an irrational...
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...Universal Storytelling Elements Movies, such as The Maze Runner, follow an extremely similar chain of events in comparison to other stories of the same genre. The Maze Runner takes the prototype storytelling strategy of dystopian societies, and creates a feel similar to the recognized short story called “The Lottery”. The story begins with a teenage boy arriving at an open field surrounded by walls far too high to reach. This boy instantly found himself at the center of many other boys of the same age who seem to be completely used to people showing up there. While this may seem like a simple story, the detail added to The Maze Running that gives the unique feel is that everybody in the field were also somehow forced into this...
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...The Irony of Freedom Is a society “equal” if people, who are born with different qualities than the normal citizen, are oppressed to conformity? Kurt Vonnegut explores this question in his short story and uses several ironic situations to illustrate how unequal this futuristic dystopian society actually is. This homogenous world is based on false premises that by molding variations in individuals can result in conformity; however, people are born with human predispositions and differences related to body size, intellect, and beauty. This inclination of diversity makes it genetically impossible to adapt to a sterile conforming society, which exemplifies the story’s main theme. In “Harrison Bergeron”, the author, Kurt Vonnegut, uses irony to illuminate the story’s theme of society versus the individual by exhibiting the limitation of people’s freedom, deciding what morality is, and the...
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...Bergeron" perhaps takes America's First Amendment that all men are created equally a little to seriously. His futuristic short story gives the reader a glimpse of what a truly equal society would be like. In Vonnegut's society various constraints are used to handicap and equalize the citizens; earphones that emit piercing noises to distract the thoughts of the gifted, heavy weights to weaken the strong, and hideous masks to hide ones natural beauty. Vonnegut's dystopian world exposes the dangers and disadvantages of a society with complete equality of all citizens portrayed by imagery, satire and a not so happy ending. In the beginning of the story the reader is given a glimpse of a truly equal society. Vonnegut emphasis his view of extreme equality and the role the government plays in enforcing it. The year was...
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...setting. Popular science fiction novels are 2,000 Leagues Under the Sea, The Hunger Games, and The War of the Worlds. But science fiction is also seen in short stories."Old Glory" is a dystopian short story about a future United States. Unlike in The Hunger Games, the narrator does not feel like the setting is dystopian. In the future United States, people cannot say anything they want. If they speak out, they are killed. "Harrison Bergeron" is also dystopian and is a society where everyone must be equal. While reading the story, readers find out that equality in fact is not always right if used...
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...Equality strips society of its freedom and individuality. The undercover superheroes in “The Incredibles” and the handicapped citizens in “Harrison Bergeron” have confronted this exact issue. These two stories incorporate a strict, elaborate system of equality that when disrupted, impose consequences that the characters must suffer. Kurt Vonnegut’s dystopian story, Harrison Bergeron, and The Incredibles, directed by Brad Bird, address the implications of total equality. Both texts use a satirical approach of exaggeration and reversal to convey this message. In the movie and dystopian short story, a governmental authority controls the characters and limits their liberty. To maintain equality, they cannot take unfair advantage of their unique...
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...In her short story “Bloodchild,” Octavia Butler presents a dystopian society in which humans draw little agency. Isolated from Earth, Humans (who are referred to as Terran throughout the story) are stranded animals on a far away world and are used by Tlic as birthing vessels. Despite its very overt science fiction elements, Bloodchild is as much as story about a far off dystopia as it is a story located in present conditions. That is to say, Bloodchild embeds enough elements of current Western civilization within its narrative that the story positions itself as a dystopia of the present day. First, Bloodchild confuses the reader’s notion of space and temporality by gradually revealing its science fiction and dystopian elements. The story opens with the line, “My last night of childhood began with a visit home” (3). Here, Bloodchild positions itself as a coming of age story. This is critical because immediately, at the stories inception, the story posits an exploration of distinctly human themes: rites of passage, coming of age, loss of childhood, etc. This is juxtaposed with the way the gradual revealing of dystopian elements in Bloodchild. For instance, it is not until page 25 (out of 32) that the reader finally learns that the story does not take place on earth. T’Gatoi says, “And your ancestors, feeling from their home world, from the own kind who would have killed or enslaved them – they survived because of us” (25). The overall effect of the gradual development...
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