Harrison Bergeron
Certainty of Failure: Kurt Vonnegut's Perspective of Communism in "Harrison Bergeron"Author Kurt Vonnegut Jr. is known for many classic writings such as "Breakfast of Champions," "Mother's Night" and "Welcome to the Monkey House." In many of his stories there is the theme of rebellion against those in power, which leads the reader to believe that Vonnegut does not trust ruling factions. Many of his novels are written to depict the evils which governments can commit. In "Harrison Bergeron," Kurt Vonnegut Jr. warns us through exaggerations of what might happen that communist societies as a social system are destined to fail in achieving the true ideals of communism. The word communism itself is derived from the word community, which is in essence what a communist state is supposed to be, a community. As John Grey describes it:"Communism is a society without money, without a state, without property and without social classes. People come together to carry out a project or to respond to some need of the human community but without the possibility of their collective activity taking the form of an enterprise that involves wages and the exchange of its products. The circulation of goods is not accomplished by means of exchange:
There becomes a need for a ruling party. If others could think for themselves, they too would have seen what Harrison saw. So they came with the idea of handicaps, which brought all the above-average people and the average people to the level of the below-average ones. In his short reign as "King" of the television studio, he exposed the world to beauty and art the likes of which had not been seen since the inception of the idea of making everyone equal. Thus, their position of power was preserved. Those who wear them must do their jobs and live their lives while having to endure this form of torture. The manner in which superior strength is limited also distinguishes some from the rest. Pieces of scrap metal, sash weights and canvas bags filled with birdshot, known as "handicap bags," are padlocked around the necks of the stronger than average, so the extra strength with which they were born is now used to support the extra weight that they must carry around at all times. Laws have been passed in an attempt to make everyone equal in almost every way imaginable. They all work together for the good of the community without expecting a personal reward for their work and the result of their work must not be traded for personal gain. " (1332) In this way, the United States Handicapper General ensures that everyone is equal. All announcers have serious speech impediments, perhaps because the H.
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