No one can control this loss of freedom. People are born and rights and freedoms are instantly lost. Even though Aldous Huxley’s story, Brave New World and George Orwell’s story 1984 portrayed different predictions of what society could be in the future both stories shared a common loss of freedom of their people because of restrictions, the governments overstepping power, and brainwashing techniques. In both stories there was evidence of restrictions that lead to the loss of freedom of the people in their societies. One of the main pieces of evidence in George Orwell’s novel 1984 was the use of constant surveillance of their people with telescreens and spies.
In fact, he implies that it is actually ridiculous and very dangerous because in order to achieve physical and mental equality the government is literally reduced to torturing its own citizens. The effect this has on the citizens is that they become dumb and they hide
The amendments are made to make the people in the world equal in some kinds of ways. But, the amendments in this story are made so that no one is better or less equal to another in every kind of way such as looks, size, and level of IQ. Next is the handicapper or the one who keeps everyone in the world equal to one another by using masks or weights or even a head set that beeps so people can not even think about things. The handicap leader has to control all the people who try to not be equal to other and try to be greater by not listening to her. There is harsh punishment for everything you do to try to prevent from being equal to others.
With the world constantly pushing for equality among people, Vonnegut reveals a world that society is diligently working toward. Through this foreshadowing of the future, Vonnegut attempts to use Harrison Bergeron as mechanisms to reveal and warn of the dangers in being equal. The Handicapper General, symbolically portrays the idea of fairness in a society. The one in charge of lowering the capacity of a bright and intelligent person to the level of a normality. The year was 2081, and everybody was finally equal they were equal in every way.
What would happen to the world if the people were literally equal in every aspect of their lives? In Kurt Vonnegut's short story, "Harrison Bergeron," the world is finally living up to America's first amendment of everyone being created equal. Nobody was smarter than anybody else. In this society, the gifted, strong, and beautiful are required to wear handicaps of earphones, heavy weights, and hideous masks, respectively. For others, who do not receive these punishments, the handicaps may seem appropriate; to keep the playing field level.
The citizens are forced to use government assigned handicaps, so that they do not have any special gifts that are beyond the “average person,” which happens to be an absurdly low standard. Vonnegut presents his fictional world to the reader through a third person narrator who is describing the story of George and Hazel Bergeron as they watch TV and talk in their living room. The overall tone of this scene is deadpan and calm while they talk about terrible things like their totalitarianism government and the murder of their son. Using this, Vonnegut achieves the satire feel he was going for in order to show that he is actually making fun of the idea of absolute equality, not pushing for it. While George and Hazel are sitting in their living room talking, Vonnegut presents the reader with a variety of symbols which give “Harrison Bergeron” its true meaning.
The setting of the story takes place in two places; one in the living room couch of George and Hazel Bergeron, the other in the television they were watching. In the story, the government enforces laws that make all people equal. While George and hazel are watching television, George talks about the effects of disobeying the society’s laws and thus foreshadows future events. In the middle of the show of ballet dancers dancing, a news report flashes in the screen about their son, Harrison, escaping from jail. Harrison appears in the studio where the ballerinas are dancing and takes of his handicaps, which included his red nose, transmitter, and weights.
Their son, Harrison, was recently taken away for attempting to overthrow the government. The television, through which Vonnegut tells the story, is representative of television’s ability to control and sedate the masses. In the beginning of the story it is seen that everyone is content with the way things are, people being forced to dumb down their natural talents, but when Harrison shows up and tells the people what they are missing out on it is realized that they are content because they never knew how to experience their without restrictions. Harrison is a symbol representing individuality in America, particularly leadership as he says “I am the Emperor! Everybody must do what I say at once!” He doesn’t then tell them to take up arms against the government, but instead he has the band play music.
Both of our societies like to make a spectacle of the unusual instead of trying to understand where the differences lie and come to a common ground. Individuals that do not conform to society standards are made to feel like rejects and most often remove themselves from society by taking solitude away from everyone. In Brave New World, the savage ultimately found peace by taking his own life. There are so many incidents that occur on a daily basis in our society that individuals feel their only way to find freedom from society is by ending their
So, when the Party portrays the past a hellish world full of poverty, destruction and slavery - the people will begin to believed the Party has rescued them from this, especially when the party feeds them more lies about all the things they have done to help the people. Memory is also a powerful tool. The people who lived before the revolution would know of the world before and so in turn know the Party has done very little for them. This is why the Party keeps a strict control of things like history textbooks and personal mementos. By destroying records of the past, they're also limiting the memories of those people