Harrison Bergeron

A detailed Summary of 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:

"When the power got into the hands of stupid people unfit for governing the country, they had to find a way to protect their position. 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. Thus, their position of power was preserved." (Vit, ref 2)

"Harrison Bergeron" also supports the view that all communist societies inherently become dictatorships in which those in power will do anything to stay in power. In order for communism to work, the society must become a community. There must not be any form of greed, and all members of the community must be willing to go by the watch words of "from each according to their abilities, to each according to their needs" (Grey). However, it is often impossible for a community to define each individual's abilities or their needs. There becomes a need for some sort of organization designed to govern the community and to assess the abilities and more importantly needs of the members of the community. There becomes a need for a ruling party. But absolute power corrupts absolutely. More often than not, once in power, the ruling party abuses its power in order to further its own causes. There is no reason for Diana Moon Glampers to be the Handicapper General. In "God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater", she is described as a "sixty-year-old-virgin who, by almost anybody's standards, was too dumb to live" and "No one had ever loved her. There was no reason why anybody should. She was ugly, stupid and boring." (Vonnegut 1978, 56) But somehow she got a position at the top of the society, and she wanted to keep it.

In today's society communism is considered a bad thing. As Vonnegut has tried to show the world, communism as a social system is bound to fail in achieving the ideals behind communism. Yet there are some disturbing trends in society. Communities are popping up all over the place: online communities, business communities, and everyone is striving for some form of equality: equality between the sexes, and equality amongst races. Perhaps if we continue to strive so hard for these things we may eventually end up living in a society where "....everyone was finally equal. They weren't only equal before God and the law. They were equal every which way."

By showing the world what can happen if individual thought is lost, Vonnegut emphasizes the importance of individuality, and subsequently, individual ideas, in modern society. The greatest discoveries in human history have all arisen as a result of individuals with unique ideas which went against the grain of popular belief at the time. Without individual thought, people such as Christopher Columbus, Abraham Lincoln and Albert Einstein would never have been able to contribute to modern society as they did.

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Approximate Word count = 2002
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Novels