Trying to remember the name of a short story I read

[DeM0nFiRe]

Hey guys,

A while ago I read a short story in my history class. This short story is fairly old, I believe it was written in the 1950's. It was about a "utopia", so to speak, where everyone was forced to be exactly the same as one another. (The story was a satire of communism, if I remember correctly) Anyone who is smart has to have a device in their ear to play sounds when they are thinking to disrupt them so that everyone is equally stupid. Everyone who is athletic has to wear weights all of the time so everyone is equally sluggish. Dancers, I believe, had to wear a device that would shock them at random so that everyone was equally uncoordinated. It was a pretty good story, and I would like to read it again. Does anyone know the name of it?

 

[Grathea]

A Wrinkle In Time, by Madeleine L'Engle?

 

[Surmuck]

I don't see how that fits the description AT ALL grathea? Maybe I just read it wrong, but I remember A Wrinkle In Time fairly well - plus DeM0nFiRe said it was a short story - so unless it was an excerpt that still wouldn't fit the description.

I guess the last planet they went to (what was that called, anyway) was sort of like this - but I don't remember anything like athletes wearing weights, or dancers getting shocked.

 

[DeM0nFiRe]

Yeah, it was not A Wrinkle in Time. if it helps, I am fairly certain it was written by a guy. And it was a short story, yes.

EDIT: Haha, Triumph! I found it! I really reccomend you guys read it. It is called "Harrison Bergeron" by Kurt Vonnegut. (Darn, written in early 1960's not 1950's XD I was close)

I found a link to the whole story here: http://instruct.westvalley.edu/lafave/hb.html

Also, the dancers were not shocked, just weighted like athletes XD

 

[Akirau]

Ah, I remember reading that like 2 years ago in my English Class. It was actually pretty interesting for that short of a story. For us, we read it because we had just read "The Giver" and it related to it.

 

[DeM0nFiRe]

I read it in history class during the Cold War section :P

The writing style is actually fairly immature, but the concept is a pretty good one. It's actually pretty cool how he can do so much character development i n such a short space. Unfortunately, the the goal he reaches with the development is still immature XD

 

[Eduardo]

The story is really interesting, Its a greate satire., I wonder how they fixe the size of a person... hum... :P

 

[Mundane]

That is Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut. It's a GREAT social satire. I read it in my freshmen year of high school and it's one of my favorite short stories. :biggrin:

 

[DeM0nFiRe]

Heh, thanks Mundane. If you'll look up a few posts you'll see that I have already found that out ^^ Thanks anyway, though.

And yeah, it is a great story. It could have been written better, but it's a good idea nonetheless.