Handicapped When They Wear The Headgear

As a result of these laws however, talented individuals were forced to use handicaps. These handicaps were special accessories designed for highly intelligent individuals, so that if they ever attempt to use their supreme mental abilities in any event, this accessory would impair their abilities. Hazel, a citizen within this society, did not use this accessory, since she had a short memory span. Another citizen within the society that was smarter, George, was forced to use this accessory. George had to wear a mental handicap radio around his ear that transmitted abrupt sounds to avoid the outgoing use of his mind. Along with the handicap radio, he had to wear a forty-seven pound of birdshot in a canvas bag to debilitate the use of his strength. Overall, the constitution of this new civilization hindered individuals to think about anything differently so that others that weren’t above the normal capacity standard of mental abilities didn’t feel as if they didn’t belong to the same world, and cause there to be conflict or “competition,” as the government would say, as a result of these inferiorities. The same was also applied to individuals who had greater strength than the typical standard – their strength was also impaired to match the ordinary standard set by officials of the government because the government believed differences in strength among citizens would also cause conflict.

Primarily, everyone in the story that are naturally born with above average abilities have to cover it up with things called handicaps.

In the story harrison bergeron the government is forcing everyone to be equal. For example people who are better looking than everyone else has to wear a mask or if your stronger you have to carry weight all the time. So the people who are better than others have these handicaps. In the story there's this 14 year old boy harrison and he has the most handicaps out of anyone. Harrison is in jail for being suspected to overthrow the government. Harrison ends up escaping jail and is trying to get rid of this handicap rule. Harrison's handicaps show him that he needs to put a stop to the handicap general. The short story “Harrison Bergeron,” written by Kurt Vonnegut Jr., teaches its readers that intelligence is power.

In 1961 Kurt Vonnegut wrote a short story titled Harrison Bergeron. The story starts out, “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.”(Vonnegut) Forced equality is the major theme in this short story, taking many features away from the characters including, their independent thought, their individuality, and their constitutional rights. “Harrison Bergeron” takes place in the future where everyone is subjected to wearing devices, also known as handicaps, that takes away unequaled, unsurpassed characteristics of the each person, in order to make every person average and equal to one another. Two of the main characters George and Hazel Bergeron are the first example of this ruling that we see in the story. George is described as intelligent and strong and therefore is subjected to many handicaps where his wife, Hazel Bergeron is considered to be average and therefore is not subjected to any handicaps. Benjamin Reed describes Hazel as, “so average even her name is the eye color between brown and blue. Her natural mental state is equivalent to George’s natural mind.” (7) Reed later describes their son, Harrison Bergeron as, “[possessing] amazing strength, god like beauty and stature and (presumably) a piercing intelligence,” (8) all of the features that the United States Handicapper General, Diana Moon Glampers, is trying to make uniform and equivalent. Diana Moon Glampers has Harrison

To achieve equality, the government denies it’s citizens their freedom and expression while torturing them in the process. The intelligent, strong, and beautiful are forced to hinder their attributes by wearing handicaps. Since George is considered one of the bright, he is required to wear a handicap radio in his ear: “Every twenty seconds or so, the transmitter would send out some sharp noise to keep people like George from taking unfair advantage of their brains” (Vonnegut 1). Meanwhile, the athletic and attractive are paying for having an upper hand as well: “They were burdened with sash weights and bags of birdshot, and their faces were masked, so that no one, … something the cat drug in” (Vonnegut 1). Having an advantage is the opposite because the government realizes it is more attainable to

The Handicapper General is Diana Moon and her task is to enforce the 211th, 212th, and 213th amendments to the people of the United States. She basically was in charge of dumbing down and disabling the people who were “above average”. If I lived in Vonnegut’s imagined society, I believe that I would’ve been handicapped in some way. They probably would have given me the body weights to wear because I play sports and I can tumble, and they also probably would’ve given me the earpiece that scrambles up your thoughts because I’m not amazingly smart, but I'm not dumb

If you are born with a gift in that society, you are limited to your full capability, so you will be like everyone else. However, in today’s society, being more intelligent and having a gift is praised and is rewarded. In the text it said, “ George while his intelligence was way above normal, had a little mental handicap in his ear.” This proves that George, while being above average, is punished and his gift is hidden so he will not be above anyone else in this “equal” society. It can also show that being tall or more visually appealing will be punished so you are equivalent to everyone else and that striving for total equality is not as beneficial as it might

demonstrates how good intentions of the government slowly are used to manipulate people in society. One way this is shown in the story is when the “H-G(Handicapper General) Men” take away perceived people to be better than anyone else, to prison for a potential revolution and give little care for it by the handicaps put on them. As Vonnegut revealed to us, “ And it was in that clammy month that the H-G men took George and Hazel Bergeron's fourteen-year-old son, Harrison, away. It was tragic, all right, but George and Hazel couldn't think about it very hard.”(Vonnegut Jr. 1). The extract the author explained, was that the government would take action to potentially avert danger in any way; but presents the oppressive government exerting their power to kidnap Harrison Bergeron because he was more talented than other people. As Harrison got removed from his parents George and Hazel, they did not remember his son was taken from them; manipulating them to not think excessively long and hard of what happens to restrict the right to their own choices. The other way is shown in the story, are the handicaps themselves and the way to government uses it to their advantage as the narrator introduces him, “ And George, while his intelligence was way above normal, had a little mental handicap radio in his ear. He was required by law to bear it at all times. It was tuned to a government transmitter. Every twenty seconds or so, the transmitter would send out some sharp noise to prevent people like George from receiving the partisan advantage of their brains.” (Vonnegut Jr. 1). The excerpt indicates that George’s little advantage over others is intelligence shows the paranoia within of the government of a potential revolution; as they are incapable to “prepare anything”, but this demonstrates the thin choice people have in society to overcome to the regime’s wishes. By this, the government can exercise this power to regulate the

‘My God-’ said George, ‘that must be Harrison!’ The realization was blasted from his mind instantly by the sound of an automobile collision in his head” (Vonnegut 3). George’s epiphany helped him recognize the sound of his son's footsteps. When Harrison was still home George heard this noise all the time. Almost as soon as he made this realization his handicap goes off, producing a terrible, loud noise, causing him to forget his train of thought. The author uses the words “blasted” and “instantly” to help the readers understand the severity of the handicaps. He only has the epiphany that it is, in fact, his son on the TV because he was born with a very high IQ, in contrast to George’s wife who does not have a high intelligence and did not realize it was Harrison until George said so. Unfortunately, because of George’s elevated IQ, he has to have the radio handicap, which goes off and causes him to forget that he realized it was his son in the first place. The society deems these handicaps as important, because it stops people from having their own opinion which could lead to retaliation or an uprising. The epiphany that quickly faded from George’s mind demonstrates Vonnegut’s idea that one’s mental attributes will both benefit and fail them.

The government handicaps George’s mental abilities since they are above average, while Hazel’s mental abilities are average.

George does feel at times he is better and can accomplish more. While thinking about his job interview and the fact that it is only a "junior position," he feels "his necessity would make him bitter, but thankful." When he decides he needs to lie about his education at the interview he "laughs at own cleverness of nuance and logic," and thinks that "no one is Toronto would know the difference." George used big words like decrepitude and often corrected his actress roommate on

In “Harrison Bergeron,” mankind has created a different kind of torture for humans they have created handicaps that create loud noise to stop them from thinking too deeply and weights to slow him down and masks to make people uglier. “. . . had a little mental handicap radio in his ear. . . every twenty seconds or so, the transmitter would send out some sharp noise to keep people like George from taking advantage of their brains” (14-17). This technology made life miserable and dull and caused people to become oblivious to problems in their lives The author makes this story to tell his readers that being equal is not necessarily a good thing. The technology of the future is dangerous if treated without care or given to the wrong people. The authors both give warnings about the future and how we must be careful with technology and how being equal is not always good.

The differences between George Bergeron and I are striking, and we deserve a thorough investigation. We are separate in three ways: intelligence quotient and physical appearance. George lives with his wife, Hazel in an era where there’s nothing, but equality. His son, Harrison was taken away by the HG men, due to his mental and physical potential. In both story and the movie, George is shown to have handicaps and earphones, signally that he is mentally more capable of having an extremely high intelligence quotient; while I, on the other hand, does have an average intelligence quotient, but not as smart or as elevated as George. “And George, while his intelligence was way above normal, had a little mental handicap radio in his ear.” It is not very clear that George is fairly aged in the story, but the movie says else wise, but in my head, it seemed as if George was younger than the movie version of him. In the movie, George is physically displayed as a balding, aged man with the looks of a seventy or an eighty-year-old man. George often goes into deep

In the case of intelligence, a device is placed in their ear to pause the brain and hinder any higher-level thoughts. Painful sounds are released every twenty seconds to keep people from “taking unfair advantage of their brain.” (Vonnegut 1) The intellect of the Handicap General determines the baseline of what intelligence is allowed from anyone. In this case, there would be no way to educate. With the equality that is placed over everyone, there would be no possibility of higher level learning or a need for it. So how would a culture survive with no growth or expectancy of learning? There would be no justification for schools or secondary education. Everyone would have the same comprehension level. Other than understanding what is read, there is no use for reading except for pleasure or basic everyday function. No need for higher level mathematics or sciences.