Question

The year was 2081, and everybody was finally equal. 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 or quicker than anybody else. all this equality was due to the 211th, 212th, and 213th amendments to the constitution, and to the unceasing vigilance of agents of the united states handicapper general. —"harrison bergeron," kurt vonnegut copyright 1961, by kurt vonnegut jr. vonnegut wrote this story in 1961. why did he describe a society 120 years in the future? a future setting distances vonnegut's audience from the story and minimizes the risk of offending readers. a future setting allows for a sharp contrast between present-day society and the future. a future setting provides a warning of what could happen if present-day society does not address a problem.

Answer 1

It was a future setting allows for a sharp contrast between the present-day society of year 1961 and the future 2081. He describe it to show he sees the future of humanity that the once dream of the oppressed and the undermined is equality become a reality in the future and gives hope to continue and strive for the future.

Answer 2

The correct answer is B) a future setting allows for a sharp contrast between present-day society and the future.

He described a society 120 years in the future, a future setting that allows for a sharp contrast between present-day society and the future.

In his futuristic story, the author warns the reader about the risk of a totally egalitarian society. For this to happen, in the novel, the US government creates legislation and tortures its citizens to have an egalitarian society. The intelligent cannot learn anymore, the pretty ones had to use a mask to distortion their beauty, and so on. Equality is a decree by law.

American writer Kurt Vonnegut wrote the story in 1961 and published it in "The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction." He was an acclaimed writer who also wrote: "Mother Night" (1961), Jailbird (1979), and "Hocus Pocus" (1990).