Chelsea Caballero Martinez

Mr. Choi

English 9A

31 October 2017

A Ungovernable Society

Have you ever wondered what life would be like in a controlled society? Harrison

Bergeron is a short story written by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.. This short story is about a dystopian

society that is controlled and limited. Within the short story Diana Moon Glampers, the mask,

and the earpiece are significant symbols that parallels in our society. The flaws that are similar

are Trump with his controlling, makeup/ surgeries, and technology.

Diana Moon Glampers resembles Trump and his way of controlling our society. Diana is

the handicapper general, she controls all the society with many handicaps. According to

Harrison Bergeron, the Handicapper General had shown her true colors. It was then that Diana

Moon Glampers, the Handicapper General, came into the studio with a double-barreled ten

gauge shotgun. She fired twice, and the Empress were dead before they hit the floor. (Vonnegut

1) Diana is harsh and a cruel person that is cold blooded. The fact that she deadeye killed them

with no compassion or mercy means that she wouldnt care on other human lifes. In society it

shows how people dont care about others especially when an example is the shooting that

occurred in Las Vegas. Stephan Paddock, the guy who shoots in Las Vegas during a county

concert didn't care. This is the same of all the terrorist that have been happening. In the

documentary film of Inside North Korea, a young man named Shin Dong had escaped from
North Korea to China but his family had died as a consequence. According to this, citizens are

treated as prisoners. This means that having a controlled world shows the fear pressure within

one another.

In society there are masks, either showing insecurities or imperfections from someone.

In Harrison Bergeron, it states, She must have been extraordinarily beautiful, because the mask

she wore was hideous. (Vonnegut 2) As stated, the ballerina had to cover her face with a

horrific mask for being stunning. In todays society, girls often use makeup or even surgeries to

cover their natural beauty only because theyre afraid to be unique compared to others. As

presented in an experiment, The professors discovered that those exposed to Barbie doll images

produced lower self-esteem and a greater desire for a thinner body shape that in the other

exposed conditions. Around 162 girls shown to Barbie dolls had been effected only for small

physical details. Because of the expectations of being beautiful, many teens have affected their

health mentally and physically.

In society, technology is one of massive issues which resembles to the ear piece. The

earpiece are usually used by quick-witted people, George was toying with the vague notion [...]

But he didnt get very far with it before another noise in his ear radio scattered his thoughts.

(Vonnegut 3) George is the father of Harrison, he is an above average brilliant man. Based in the

short story a new sound or alarm is let out every twenty second or so, just in case a brilliant

person tries to think of a way of escaping or hacking their way out. As stated, the earpiece is a

distractions, such as how technology is. In the article, 11 Pros and Cons of Children Using

Technology, it explained how technology could cause people to develop disabilities by not doing

outdoors activities and less socializing by person. This means that technology is causing peoples
health to worsen. Also, since people are stuck to a screen, they are having a huge possibility of

getting cyberbullied.

Throughout the short story, theres been symbolizations parallelled to the society. From

Diana Glampers, the mask, to the earpiece correspond to Donald Trump, makeup/surgeries, and

technology in a way of having connection between societies. Harrison Bergeron, provides life

lessons such as how society is affecting people as a whole. This means that even if life is

controlled or hypnotized, people have a way to see a way of hope from it. Also this type of

controlling over people who arent much with power, but with simple things such as phones, the

obsession of perfection, and knowledgement. Todays society is related to the short story by the

limitations and strict nation. A world with a controlled society is a replication if todays society.

The way we are controlled and monitored every movement by the technology around us. Also

we are controlled with the trends and popularity of objects.