No class this week

The meetings this week for our rough drafts were very beneficial to the writing process. Having the class peer review our papers is definitely not as effective. Classmate’s reviews sometimes help but having the teacher’s opinion is far superior. Knowing exactly what the teacher wants will help the writing process and hopefully result in better papers and grades.

Harrison Bergeron

I enjoyed the short story, Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut, because of its sarcastic take of equality. The story takes equality to an over-the-top level in many ways and is a satire of the government. The handicaps that Harrison has, demonstrates the excessive ways this future government functions to dumb down the citizens, “he wore a tremendous pair of earphones, and spectacles with thick wavy lenses… Scrap metal was hung all over him… Harrison carried three hundred pounds.” Our capitalist economy requires that we survive by our own skill however in this piece everyone is dumbed down to the same level. Hazel is the representation of an ‘average’ person not needing handicaps, where her son is almost perfect and has many. Harrison represents free-will and human rights which the Handicapper General is restricting. This story shows how it’s easier to ‘dumb down’ people than to educate them.