Harrison Bergeron

"Harrison Bergeron" is a short story written by Kurt Vonnegut in 1961. In this short story everyone has become completely equal thanks to new amendments to the constitution. People are given handicaps that distract them from thinking if they're too smart, masks to hide their faces if they're too attractive, and even weights if they are too strong. All of this begs the question, can equality be a bad thing?

It seems as though Vonnegut thinks so from reading this story. Although obviously everyone deserves equal rights to be treated equally, there is a certain point where equality could become too much. After all shouldn't some people be better at some things? This story even goes so far as to say that people were not good at their jobs because of their handicaps. The implications of this alone are very telling about what true equality would do to society. How productive can a society be if people are not allowed to possess job skills because it makes them unequal to? In this story this equality is achieved using science fiction, something Vonnegut is famous for. The technology in this story is only briefly explained but still as a reader you clearly understand the point of it.

Another theme that is persistent throughout Vonnegut's works is seen here, he is making a commentary on our own complacency. As humans we have a tendency to normalize our current scenario even if it isn't good for us, this can be seen in real life and very clearly in this story. In particular, we tend to accept whatever our government is doing regardless of the implications of their actions. For example, it has been 4 years since Edward Snowden informed us that the government is essentially watching our every move and yet there is very little outrage or even discussion about this. In general, the majority of people seem to only care when something directly affects them and because of this we can grow complacent.

"If I tried to get away with it," said George, "then other people'd get away with it-and pretty soon we'd be right back to the dark ages again, with everybody competing against everybody else. You wouldn't like that, would you?"

This quote highlights another key aspect of Vonnegut's writing, showing his use of humor while also conveying the way these characters feel about their current situation. The characters believe this because they are being manipulated by the government to think that competition is a bad thing. While this is an extreme example this is another case of Vonnegut commenting on real life. Perhaps Vonnegut believes the government abuses its power to manipulate its citizens.

"Harrison Bergeron" is an excellent short story by Kurt Vonnegut in which he uses his trademark characteristics to make a social commentary. Blending humor and science fiction he paints a picture of a dystopian world in which the government has taken advantage of its citizens.

Class Reflection

English has never been my favorite subject in school but at college I have begun to enjoy it. While I do enjoy reading I don't enjoy writing papers. This semester in English has been a good experience and I enjoyed it.

In particular, I enjoyed reading 'Oedipus', 'The Lottery', and I enjoyed the poetry section. Professor Candia is the first English professor I have had who has placed so much emphasis on an Authors background. Now that I have learned this way I am surprised that more teachers do not do this as it seems to usually have a large impact on their writing. Especially with the author I have chosen Kurt Vonnegut his life experiences very clearly reflect in his writing especially in 'Slaughterhouse Five'.

If I were to have one complaint about this class it would just be that the blog was separate from blackboard. Blackboard is nice for students because it allows us to have everything we need in one convenient location. I understand that the blog gives Professor Candia more freedom but because of not thinking to check the blog I did miss some information that I would have gotten had we used blackboard.

Overall I enjoyed this semester in English and think that all of the stories we read were very interesting.

Flourish

One of the most challenging and rewarding things that I have ever done is play music. Playing music allows you to come together with other people and put together something entirely new from nothing. Around 2014 I had started a new band with some friends and we began writing what we would later call 'Flourish'. In the following year we brought this project to life and released it. Writing music has always been a passion of mine and this was one of the first times I was able to work on a project that I could be proud of.

A lot of the lyricism on this project focuses on the internal struggles one of us was having with religion. This is a heavy topic that paired well with our instrumentals to really tie together the project. One verse reads

 "If you help me help myself to be like you, to be as great as the things you do, would you see in me what I see in you? I can't help but be myself. Figure this; you won't figure out how to be without doubt if you can't find the present in yourself. So break me down again to help me understand the man I am."

I think that while obviously the music is important when writing songs, the lyricism can often make the difference between a good song and a song that is just okay. Lyrics also allow the writer to attach a lot of personal meaning to a song and project a message. Because of this when we were writing the lyrics were something that we went over and changed many times before settling.

One song in particular I am proud of is 'Recollect'. While most of our songs were a collaborative effort Recollect was a song that I had wrote years prior and had consistently been working on. Being able to take a song that had been somewhat of a fixation of mine for years and truly fleshing it out was a great experience.

Looking back today on these songs is an interesting experience, because while I am happy with how Flourish came out each listen I think of more improvements we could have made. This has led me to believe that art is never truly perfect and we could've continued writing these same songs for years. Writing Flourish was an experience I am truly glad I was lucky enough to have and I hope that music will continue to bring me experiences like this one.