Lauren McNeely1

Lauren McNeely

16 February 2011

Weaver

LNG 312

We each have our own personalities, character traits, desires and goals,

which make us who we are. However, could you imagine being told how to think,

act and feel on a daily basis? Unfortunately for the characters in each of the stories,

this is the life they were told to lead.

Rand’s-Anthem; Vonnegut’s-Harrison Bergeron; and Niccol’s-Gattaca, all

center around government control, conformity, and consequences in which each of

the characters experienced. Having no control over my own thoughts, and daily

activities would be an awful way to live and would have a profoundly negative effect

on me, as it did for the characters in each of the stories.

Individualism is key, without it our world would be in total chaos and values

and morals would be a think of the past. However, the government did not see it

this way. In a world like Harrison’s all people would be stripped of their intelligence

and physical capabilities. For example, Harrison’s father, a genius, who has to have

a handicap in his ear to scramble thoughts, “A buzzer sounded in George’s head”.

This shows just how crucially the government does not want people to learn and

grow, and how serious they take the lives of their people. “The minute people start

cheating on laws, what do you think happens in society?”- Hazel Bergeron. This also

shows how brain washed Hazel and all people are and that she will not get any

smarter because it’s easier for the government to take control of her. “She must
 Lauren McNeely2

have been extraordinarily beautiful, because the mask she wore was hideous.” The

government forced her to wear this mask, as a way to equalize the appearance of

all people. “They weren’t only equal before God and law. They were equal every

which way”. This states how the government took control of the people and

designed them to be equal. Although all were given the same rights, this made for

an extremely bland and boring society.

When someone would veer away from government control the

consequences would be dire. Handicaps that are removed will result in death or

punishment in H. Bergeron. In society, as we know it, handicaps are looked upon as

negative and people are often alienated for having them, but in “HarrisonBergeron”

this is reversed, as handicaps are a necessary part of functioning in society. In

Gattaca, if you are