Harrison Bergeron Essay--First Draft

Reflect on all of our class discussions whilst reading both the story and the UC Berkeley article and draft a five paragraph essay that addresses the following:

Stake a "claim" about the author Kurt Vonnegut's intention in writing the short story, "Harrison Bergeron".  As we discussed in class, all characters symbolize more than their designated "surface" characteristics. WIth that in mind, what was the author's intent in writing the story in regards to making a statement about our current society? What might the "Emperor: and the "Empress" represent in the society of 2081 as compared to our current society?  Is the article we read in class regarding UC Berkeley's potential decision to do away with public access to their online curriculum relevant to the story?  Why or why not? Be prepared to defend your opinion about not only the short story, but the article as well. with EVIDENCE FROM THE TEXTS. Remember! In literature, it is ABSOLUTELY okay to have opposite opinions or "claims" so long as you could back your opinion with evidence from the relevant texts. 

As we discussed today, this is your first essay in my class. As such, I will be using it as a diagnosis, so to speak, to gauge your prior knowledge in regards to essay writing.  Therefore, I urge you to utilize all you have learned up until this point in order for me to accurately assess what we need to focus on this year so that I can best prepare you for high school in regards to literary analysis and academic writing. 

Requirements: 

-first draft must be printed out BEFORE class on Tuesday. As we discussed today, technology always fails when you need it most! Therefore, if you are unable to print be sure to email me the night before letting me know. 

-the essays must be in MLA format. Here is a great resource for MLA!

https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/7...

Additional Resources:

-Short story full text: 

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BzbtlcAsIeTnb...

-UC Berkeley Article:

http://reason.com/blog/2016/09/19/department-...

Due Date:

Tuesday 9/27