Final Project Writing

Final Project Writing

[Charles Nyanway]

[Name of the Institution]

Absolute Government

The tendency of absolutism is not uncommon in this world of tussles and conflicts. Every now and then, this problem has evolved in the pages of history and the world continues to face it even in this civilzed age today. Government was created by the primitive men as the solution to many of his problems. Nevertheless, this government became absolute in its approach when it tried to dominate every aspect of life. This is the gigantic problem as this absolutism is obvious in several corners of the world. This totalitarian government is perilous for the people, and for the society in general as people suffer a lot in such government systems. People just become puppets and stooges, and follow every single dictate of their rulers. This is the tragic situation. The dark and ills-side of absolutism is highlighted frequently in several pieces of writings. Several authors around the world deliberated and tried to awake people against this capricious tendency of governments. In this vein, these short pieces of literature, “Harrison Bergeron” and “All the King’s Horses” depict that absolute and totalitarian governments are basically a source of deprivation for the people as they impose different irrational norms and give more significance to their own strategic objectives rather than people’s welfare and well-being.

The stories Harrison Bergeron and the All the King’s Horses are the different in their context and depiction. The one piece is about the normal conduct of the society under normal conditions. On the other hand, All the King’s Horses is about the special circumstances such as war theaters. In Harrison Bergeron, a man who is not willing to surrender his individual rights is killed ruthlessly by the government agent. Whereas, the story All the King’s Horses shows that people are deprived of their rights when there is war. Kurt Vonnegut pictures an ideal society in Harrison Bergeron and then in another short story, he portrays chaos and disorder among people due to the paranoid situation in the country. However, there is some similarity in these literary pieces as well as the author uses a perfect scenario for these two masterpieces. He utilizes the same narrative and expository discourse to simplify the perils of aboluste governments in the society.

No one can escape the totalitarianism of the total government, not even the sane voices. This is what that the author tries to illustrate in this short fictional story. The story Harrison Bergeron ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"QlW1xiLX","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Vonnegut, 1962)","plainCitation":"(Vonnegut, 1962)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":11,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/ZD9MNZ2P/items/LEVYDS9M"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/ZD9MNZ2P/items/LEVYDS9M"],"itemData":{"id":11,"type":"book","title":"Harrison Bergeron","publisher":"Mercury Press","number-of-pages":"6","source":"Google Books","language":"en","author":[{"family":"Vonnegut","given":"Kurt"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["1962"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Vonnegut, 1962) is the well-read masterpiece of the Kurt Vonnegut. He is the most vocal critic of the absolutism in governments. His story illustrated that sometimes the government or those-in-power impose different set of irrational beliefs such as superficial equality in the society. People are made superficially equal by wearing different handicaps which is not realistic in approach. Equality is not achieved with such means and the author opines that governments become so irrational that they spoil good deeds as well. Here, in Harrison Bergeron, the noble concept of equality was distorted. People were forcefully made equal and when one person resisted, he was killed for his rebellion. So, this is drawback of absolutism which the author explains with his rationality.

Furthermore, the story of All the King’s Horses is another reflection of same concept of absolutism in governments. The authors here explains the importance of strategic objectives for those in power ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"xNgJoz3S","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(\\uc0\\u8220{}All The King\\uc0\\u8217{}s Horses,\\uc0\\u8221{} n.d.)","plainCitation":"(“All The King’s Horses,” n.d.)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":13,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/ZD9MNZ2P/items/Z4FXFRVQ"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/ZD9MNZ2P/items/Z4FXFRVQ"],"itemData":{"id":13,"type":"webpage","title":"All The King's Horses","abstract":"First published in Collier's (1951-02-10) The story takes place in the early years of the Cold War and centers on U.S. Army Colonel Bryan...","URL":"https://www.goodreads.com/work/best_book/42454258-all-the-king-s-horses","accessed":{"date-parts":[["2019",5,17]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (“All The King’s Horses,” n.d.). He highlights that governments ought to take care of their own people, but at times they totally surrender them. This is the usual modus-operandi of the government which is not sympathetic to his people’s need and wishes. The author used a fantastic discourse to picture a fictitious scenario of a war where Us governments was much focused on the conduct of war rather than the expertise of people. He is very eloquent about the war scenario which is characterized by confusion, animosities and, secret campaigns. People were treated like machines by the government and there is total insecurity among masses. Kurt Vonnegut approach in this masterpiece is very narrative as he discusses the war scene and the consequent tragedies.

As a matter of fact, I think the author in both stories was very clear about his theme which was the perilous side of the absolute governments. Kurt Vonnegut in his several stories have raised the most pressing issues of the time and he is well-known for his satirical literary style. Being an American, he knows the society well. He is really effective in articulating the underlying issue that exist everywhere in absolute governments. The issues he highlighted are still common in this modern world, where several totalitarian governments exist and people are bereft of their rights. More accurately, this state of affairs is common in the conflict-stricken Middle East and in some Communist countries ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"OdffxtD3","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Almond, 1956)","plainCitation":"(Almond, 1956)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":190,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/ZD9MNZ2P/items/2U7HSWDL"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/ZD9MNZ2P/items/2U7HSWDL"],"itemData":{"id":190,"type":"article-journal","title":"Comparative Political Systems","container-title":"The Journal of Politics","page":"391-409","volume":"18","issue":"3","source":"journals.uchicago.edu (Atypon)","DOI":"10.2307/2127255","ISSN":"0022-3816","journalAbbreviation":"The Journal of Politics","author":[{"family":"Almond","given":"Gabriel A."}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["1956",8,1]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Almond, 1956).

In a nutshell, it may be fairly suggested from the above discussion that both short stories “Harrison Bergeron “and “All the King’s Horses” are eye-openers. Both literary masterpieces share the same them of absolute governments. The author takes a great pain in highlighting the critical aspects involved when goverrnments become unmethodical in their approach. He depicts that societies get ruined by such irrational means and ends. The strict of following of Machiavellianism in society gets nowhere. People suffer under such system and when it happens people has the right to overthrow governments. People ha the legitimate right to object to such absurd systems. Hence, this is the main idea of the author who used his satirical style to raise awareness among masses.

References

ADDIN ZOTERO_BIBL {"uncited":[],"omitted":[],"custom":[]} CSL_BIBLIOGRAPHY All The King’s Horses. (n.d.). Retrieved May 17, 2019, from https://www.goodreads.com/work/best_book/42454258-all-the-king-s-horses

Almond, G. A. (1956). Comparative Political Systems. The Journal of Politics, 18(3), 391–409. https://doi.org/10.2307/2127255

Vonnegut, K. (1962). Harrison Bergeron. Mercury Press.