To make a perfect society, anger and jealousy would have to be eliminated, and have only shallow emotions left. Then the people would have to be altered emotionally and have different attitudes. There would need to be no extreme emotions and there must be no pain and understanding of the world outside of them. If everyone had as extreme emotions as Harrison Bergeron in “Harrison Bergeron” then the entire community would be dragged down. However, if everyone in The Giver understood the world around them, and knew what love was, then they would have ruined the community. The people who run the communities don’t want the people who live in the community to know about things that were once important, and emotions.
In The Giver and “Harrison Bergeron”, the leaders of the societies want light, shallow feelings and no extreme emotions. In “Harrison Bergeron”, the people have “handicaps” that pull them down. They have a beeper on their ear, which only allows them to think in short bursts. In The Giver, everyone is made to be the same. They are taught that all jobs and people in the community are equal, and they don’t understand what the outside world is like. If the people in the community knew about feeling and colors, they may have rebelled.
In “Harrison Bergeron”, the people have “handicaps” that pull them down. They have a beeper on their ear, which only allows them to think in short bursts. In The Giver, everyone is made to be the same. They are taught that all jobs and people in the community are equal, and they don’t understand what the outside world is like. If the people in the community knew about feeling and colors, the may have rebelled.
In the two of these stories, they both have controlled emotions and don’t understand the world around them. For example, Harrison Bergeron’s father can hardly think, because he has a “handicap” on his ear. It makes loud noises every five seconds or so, and prevents him from thinking about his emotions. If Harrison Bergeron’s father could think, then he might think about rebelling. In The Giver, no one makes their own choices, the community leaders made them for you.
In the two of these societies, the people of the community both have controlled thoughts and feelings. They both don’t know “normal” life. They are altered so that they feel no extreme feelings. For example, Jonas from The Giver doesn’t understand love.
In both of these stories, the people in them are changed so that they have no hard feelings and they only experience the shallowest of shallow feelings. The people in The Giver don’t know anything about making their own decisions, and the people in “Harrison Bergeron” can’t think. They don’t know about the outside world and they have had their attitude have been changed. There is no jealousy or anger in either society. The people are basically unfeeling with almost no feelings. There can’t be any pain, or once the citizens of the community feel pain, they will rebel.
