The Moment of Truth in “Harrison Bergeron” and “The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind” Essay Example

A moment of truth in a story or a novel is when the climax hits, and the main character's decision could influence the ending. In a moment of truth, the decisions that are presented to the main character could drastically turn the story, either increasing or decreasing the chance of a good/bad ending. Two stories that featured characters who faced a moment of truth are “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut and “The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind” by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealers. The main characters in both stories faced moments of truth when they try to solve issues in their society.

Vonnegut’s “Harrison Bergeron” is set in a society where everyone is equal, and those above the standards are brought down to be equal with everyone else. Handicaps are used for those above the “average”. Harrison Bergeron’s moment of truth comes when he tries to solve the issue by going on T.V and removing his handicaps. 

“Harrison thrust his thumbs under the bar of the padlock that secured his head harness. The bar snapped like celery. Harrison smashed his headphones and spectacles against the wall. He flung away his rubber-ball nose, revealed a man that would have awed Thor, the god of thunder.” After Harrison removed his handicaps, his physical attributes wowed everyone. He wants to prove a point that everyone above average should not be suppressed and lowered to others' standards. This moment of truth eventually results in his death, as well as that of a dancer, and is an example of how a story's climax and a character's decision could change the plot.

 In “The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind”, by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealers, a boy named William is faced with problems in his village that he wants to try to help solve. William had read this book about windmills when an idea came into his head: the windmill could help his village solve its problems. “With a windmill, we’d finally release ourselves from the troubles of darkness and hunger.” After he found out that the windmill could help his village; that it could produce enough power for light and to irrigate their farms. It helps prevent his village from starving and having to navigate through the darkness. This shows a moment of climax since it would be a critical moment for William to choose whether or not to find a way to build the windmill. The moment of truth results in him believing that he could build a windmill and sets off looking for the materials to build the windmill. 

To summarize what has been stated, Vonnegut’s “Harrison Bergeron” and Kamkwamba and Mealer’s “The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind” both had critical moments of climax where it could dramatically change the ending of the story. The stories show how important a decision is in life, and how it could affect everything in life.