Harrison Bergeron, a story by Vonnegut, was written with an intention of identifying g the most important issues on feminism surrounding the society. Feminist criticism is a theory used in literature that deals with the examination of the portrayal of women characters ( Carroll, 2006 ). The intention is to offer clarity on gender relationship ( Jackson, 2010) . Harrison Bergeron is about a society/community where the aim of the government ids to achieve equality in its population. The story, which is set in the future tense, there are some amendments of the constitutions that have already been made to better the current state. The responsibility of Handicapper General and his men is to ensure equality of the population ( Rodrigues, 2019) . However, ironically, the story’s more intelligent and brighter characters have their abilities slowed down by use of radios and bags. At the same time, the more beautiful like the female ballet dancers are forced to disguise themselves in ugly masks- with the intention of making them equal to the others.
Using a feminist lens to analyses the story, where women’s position and gender roles are portrayed. As far as IQ is concerned, the Intelligence Quotient (IQ) for men is better that that of the women. For this reason, women are supposed to forfeit their feminine nature for equality purposes. Besides, gender equality is only concerned about dystopia. Harrison’s mother, Hazel Bergeron, does not use any handicaps- she is of “normal intelligence” ( Soares & Watson, 2016) . Being normal means that she cannot be able to understand anything or especially on superficial maters. As the story begins, the difference between Hazel and George are outlined. George is portrayed as being intelligent contrary to Hazel, who is portrayed as being ordinary. This shows how the writer uses his characters to relate feminist theory.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
References
Carroll, P. S. (2006). Learning to view literature instruction with literary lenses: One group's story. English Journal , 95 (3), 74.
Jackson, V. E. (2010). Critical theory and science fiction: A Lens into technology in education . Hillcrest Publishing Group.
Rodrigues, J. (2019). Exploring Vonnegut and “Slaughterhouse-Five”.
Soares, L., & Watson, P. (2016). Empowering adolescents through critical literacy. Middle School Journal , 37 (3), 55-59.
