lunes, 25 de agosto de 2008
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- Satire
- Is this our future?
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- Being Shot Down
- Harrison and the Ballerina
- Harrison and the Musicians
- Harrison's Actions
- Harrison on TV
- A Threat to Society
- TV, George, and Hazel
- Mediocrity is needed too
- Is Equality Equal?
- Trends in Reality
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12 comentarios:
The significance of these events is that it affected the people and consequently what he said became more powerful and dominate. Harrison said several times "I'm the Emperor!"(11) to show that the society he was leaving in was no longer "equal" and that he has the power to free all the people from the punishment, torture, and abuse of equality.
No, Vonnegut is definitely not suggesting to return to feudalism, he is suggesting to return to the "perfect model" of society.An admirable society build of good and evil, freedom and corruption.
i agree with you Hadar...
i think that he said "I am the emperor" to state that he was different and that he thought that this society that everyone was living in was not right and that it had to be changed. he was stating that he was stronger and smarter than most people and thatpeople could become like him if only they would revolt...
You could be right. But on the other hand, Kurt Vonnegut's writing was influenced by a number of Socialist leaders. It could be argued that Harrison Bergeron declared that he was the emperor to try to break himself from tyranny in the form of conformity. Vonnegut was probably trying to prove that conformity and equality are two VERY distinct topics, even though they wouldn't seem so different at first. It sort of makes me a hypocrite by saying in the freewrite that equality can only come with all beings being the same. This short story changed my perspective. If the Bergeron family agreed with "equality" so much, why were they so upset to see the agent of change get killed by the agent of conformity? Of course love had something to do with it, but change is a natural part of life that no person should try to interfere with, even if everyone is happy. Therefore, when Harrison Bergeron yells, "I am the emperor!" (11), he means to say that he is rising above conformity as a person who stands for freedom from the binds of "traditionalism" for better of for worse. His statement was a mere proposal to the masses that invited them to try something else. When Diana Moon Glampers shot him down in cold blood, it was a reminder to those same masses that nothing could change, and "equality" would never again be forgotten.
Another flaw in the human character is that everybody wants to build and nobody wants to do maintenance.
~Kurt Vonnegut, Hocus Pocus, 1990, Putnam Publishing Group
Appearing on t.v. right after they announced his break shows a little bit of humor. When Harrison says "I am the Emperor!" (11) he´s trying to get his point to the viewers. I agree with ryan and Hadar but if all people thought that ¨that society¨ is right, Harrison´s act didn´t even cahnge a bit in them. Although, some may look forward to a future where great can actually strive.
Touché. O.K., so maybe declaring himself as an emperor was pushing it just a little, but it's not like if you have FINALLY reached a state of Utopia, every last person is going to support everything that every other person does because they are all, in a way, like clones. Depriving society of the right to think and develop progressive ideas is a precursor to tyranny. You convince the masses that everything is all right, everyone is safe, and everyone is equal. If disaster hits and everyone starts to lose it because the flow of life has been interrupted, someone is BOUND to take advantage of them and call his or herself their "protector"?
Sound familiar much?
that is the way leaders do it nathan.
its how you gain support. the only thing is that when you gain support, you dont have to abuse it.
in this story, the handicapped general probrably gained support by promising a perfect nation where everyone was equal.
the support was abused when the citizens no longer could defend their beliefs, if they could have beliefs at all.
by removing the brain or thinking is just a way to keep power and this system only favors the handicapper general. people are no longer allowed to object to the system and there are severe consequences if you do.
i would say that this system is a little bit like the NAZI regime in germany.
I agree with Ryan.
Leaders gain power by hypnotizing the society through false statement to prove their qualities. In addition, some leaders use the weak points of the society to convince they are the once that society must elect. An example of this would be when Harrison offered the musicians power which they certainly did not have in an equal society.
Of course leaders use false statements to gain power.
They make promises and tell lies to change some people's minds/opinions.
Even though Harrison meant no evil when he declared himself emperor,(in my opinion, he just wanted freedom) he still made it sound like if all he wanted was power.
The events of Harrison Bergeron appearing on TV are a symbol of breaking free. It is also a sign of propaganda, using the television to influence to the viewers to think the same as him. His thoughts were of rebellion and of showing that individuality and difference and not conform for anything less, like Nathan said. When he screamed "I am emperor!" repeatedly, he did not allude towards going back to feudalism and that ancient system. What Harrison meant is that he is free and is the ruler of his actions. With this sign, he also caused fear in a great number of people, which let him persuade them easier.
Harrison says that because he thinks he can do a better job ruling the world. He is simply expressing the way he feels about the government at that time. He projects himself as the change the society needs. Harrison shouts he is the emperor because he wants the government to change to what it was before.
Showing Harrison on TV with no handicaps shows that he isn't equal anymore. He also showed that when he shouted that he was emperor he had the power to free people from this dictatorship, this so called equal society and let them show their true selves and personalities.
THe significance of the real Harrison suddenly appearing on the TV is that he had the power to do so, and could influence others who where watching him. He is someone that everybody is trying to catch, but no one could until he appeared on the TV set sudgesting that he was able to move around from a suposelly powerful organization.
He repeatedly says that he is the Emperor because he is the first one who was able to achieve his goal in appearing on the TV which makes him more inteligent than others. Inteligence also means power over the weak minded such as the people who are balanced by the government.
Vonnegut is sugesting that there are no perfect political institutions for everybody. There would always be a problem in each one of them.
-sachi-
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