Analytical Paper #2
Shelby Lacina
ENGL 202
Prof. Morgan
Freedom, Equality, and Power
Authors Kurt Vonnegut and Flannery O’Connor are well known authors in the literature
community. Their precise and creative stories have allowed readers to expand their imagination
and think outside of the box. Vonnegut’s short story, “Harrison Bergeron” and O’Connor’s short
story, “Good Country People”, are stories that describe freedom, equality, and power. These are
common topics and themes with many of their short stories. “Harrison Bergeron” is a story
written 50 years in the future. With the government controlling every person, their thoughts, and
appearances, individuality is no longer a thing. George and Hazel Bergeron are two individuals
who were stripped of their freedoms to be themselves. The government has taken their power to
control people too far. In order to keep peace and fairness between all people, they installed mini
transmitters which release different sounds variables if a person focuses on one thing for too
long. Thus, takes away a person’s ability to think for themselves or in this instance, overthrow
the government. Harrison Bergeron, the son of George and Hazel, was not bound to follow the
government. His freakishly tall height and size allowed for him to escape the government,
destroy the transmitters of a few people, and try to live a life of freedom. Harrison’s plan came to
an end as he was shot to death for not abiding. The Bergeron’s witnessed their son’s death on live
television but were unfortunately unable to process his death and feel the emotions that tie in
with death as the government signed a sound to distract them from thinking too much about it.
Thus, showing the government having all the power and creating all people equal. In comparison
to “Harrison Bergeron”, “Good Country People” has a similarity with power and taking control
over a person. Hulga is an ordinary woman with a history only a few can relate to. With her
name originally Joy, she decided to be her own person and legally change her name. After a
tragic hunting accident when she was ten, Hulga lived a life facing many challenges, including
the loss of her leg. As life went on, she spent most of her time in school and with her family. Her
mother, Mrs. Hopewell, spent most of her time throwing out old cliches and trying to care of
Hulga. Though Hulga is 30 years old, Mrs. Hopewell still looked at her as if she was a child who
needed guided through life. As the day went on, a young Christian boy named Manley Pointer
made his way to their house to sell bibles. As he continued to use this conniving plot to get
whatever he wanted, Hulga seemed to fall for him entirely. After Manley deceived Mrs.
Hopewell and Hulga, Hulga began to fall for him and fantasize about seducing him. This was all
part of Manley’s plan to take control of Hulga and leave her powerless. Hulga was unable to
protect herself after Manley abandoned her by taking her prosthetic leg. “Some philosophers
have said motives are desires” (Oppy, 2014, P. 254). There I am unsure what Manley’s motive
behind embarrassing and manipulating Hulga was, he appeared to have enjoyed himself with his
cruel acts. If she was not partially blind and had both legs, she would have been able to protect
herself and not let Manley take advantage of her.
Similarity and Comparisons
“Harrison Bergeron”, the short story, shows what the government could potentially be
capable of. “The notion that population is important for national power, an idea widely
recognized among scholars but rarely explored empirically” (Gerring & Veenendaal, P. 305,
2020). If the government has the full ability to control all people and what they can say and do,
they ultimately have all the power to determine the future. “Together, the greater capital, human
capital, and innovation that a large population affords allows a society to produce more, which
should promote greater self-sufficiency” (Gerring & Veenendaal, P.305, 2020). If all people
follow the ways the government want, the government will then become too powerful for people
to be individual person and have the freedom to live the life they are destined to live. God didn’t
make us exactly the same for a reason. He purposely made us all different and challenges us in
different ways so we learn to embrace out individualities. As Romans 12:2 says, “And be not
conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove
what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God”. There are many instances
throughout the bible that indicate God made us different people. Even in the very first book of
the bible does it mention “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he
him; male and female create he them” (Genesis 1:17). This is to show our freedom and ability to
be our own person through Christ.
The History Behind the Story
Historic events and cultural changes affect the stances of the presentations of the issues
on hand. The issues of freedom, equality, and power are challenged in both stories. These
challenges differ in both stories as one story is due to the government being too powerful and the
other story is due to a man having too much power over a woman who is not equal to him. As
said in “Harrison Bergeron”, past events and history taught the government and people that
equality was unnecessary, and it was more important to create all people equal in every way
possible. “They weren’t only equal before God and the law. They were equal every which way.
Nobody was smarter than anybody else. Nobody was better looking than anybody else. Nobody
was stronger than anybody else” (Vonnegut, 1961). Equality isn’t the only thing that was forced
in the story. The government forced the people to give up their freedoms to abide by what they
had set in place. “The free citizen was one who was able and willing to conduct his or her own
conduct according to the norms of civility; the delinquent, the criminal, the insane person, with
their specialized institutions of reformation, were the obverse of this individualization and
subjunctivization of citizenship” (Rose, P. 233, 1999). The ability to go against the government’s
orders to abide by their laws gave a glimpse of why people did not rebel against them. The tragic
death of the Bergeron’s son, Harrison, show the reality of what would happen if people tried to
take back their freedom and not be equal to others around them. People are equal in many ways.
Our freedoms are equal as long as we are morally good. “We do not expect people to be the
same, but we see differences as having no bearing on how people ought to be treated as citizens.
Or differences, when they do matter, will not matter in the sense of being a basis for hierarchical
class structure” (Schmidtz, P. 107, 2006).
Other historical events and cultural changes have affected the outcome of “Good Country
People”. With the loss of her leg and her not so perfect vision, Hulga faces many challenges with
her day-to-day life. Her intelligence and highly sophisticated education help make up for it.
Though Hulga may be considered book smart in the real world, it is apparent she has not been
faced with a person whom she develops feelings for. As Hulga is faced with a new obstacle of
jugging her feelings with someone whom she thought she had seduced, she is taken back when
she becomes overpowered. She has not faced something similar to this in her past and her books
and education did not prepare her for handling a man who takes advantage of her. “We are not
equal in terms of our physical or mental capacities. Morally speaking, we are not all equally
good. Evidently, if we are equal, it is not by virtue of our actual characteristics but despite them”
(Schmidtz, P. 107, 2006). With both Manley and Hulga having ‘similar’ disabilities, one would
think both would have pure intentions as they have enough to physically deal with every day. A
hard lesson Hulga had to learn is that not everyone has pure intentions and a kind heart as she
does.
Freedom, equality, and power are many things that are taken advantage of. The short
story “Harrison Bergeron” and “Good Country People” are no different. Both stories show the
challenges that occur when freedoms are taken away, equality is forced or revoked, and when
power is in the hands of the wrong person. Both stories show similarities of the misery the
characters face when they are forced to do what they do not want to do. In the end, our freedoms,
the ability to be equal yet different, and the power to make our own decisions is what matters
most.
Reference Page:
Freedom. (2011). In T. Baldwin & C. Preti (Eds.), G. E. Moore: Early Philosophical
Writings (pp. 17-86). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
doi:10.1017/CBO9780511921285.005
Gerring, J., & Veenendaal, W. (2020). Power. In Population and Politics: The Impact of
Scale (pp. 305-320). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/9781108657099.014
Rose, N. (1999). Control. In Powers of Freedom: Reframing Political Thought (pp. 233-273).
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511488856.008
Schmidtz, D. (2006). Equality. In The Elements of Justice (pp. 107-108). Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511817519.018
O’Connor, Flannery. “Good Country People.” The Collected Stories of Flannery O’Connor. New
York: Farrar, Strauss, and Girous. 1971. 271-291
Vonnegut, K. (1961). Harrison Bergeron. Mercury Press.
Oppy, G. (2014). Freedom. In Describing Gods: An Investigation of Divine Attributes (pp. 253-
268). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/CBO9781316091807.010]
Genesis 1:27. Genesis 1:27 NKJV - - Bible Gateway. (n.d.). Retrieved December 13, 2021, from
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%2B1%3A27&version=NKJV.
Romans 12:2. Romans 12:2 NKJV - - bible gateway. (n.d.). Retrieved December 13, 2021, from
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans
%2B12%3A2%2B&version=NKJV.
