Made Equal In Kurt Vonnegut's Harrison Bergeron

“Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. tells the story of a futuristic America where people who are given handicaps if they are better than other people in order to give complete equality to everyone. The main message of “Harrison Bergeron” is that everyone doesn’t have to be the same for them to be happy. In fact, when everyone is equal they are sadder because they don’t know what real life is like, and they are able to be controlled. Harrison and Phillippa demonstrate that being unique brings happiness as they take off their headbands and learn how wonderful life can be when they can express who they are.

‘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.

Based on what I read, it says “every few seconds, a transmitter would make a sharp sound to stop George from thinking”, “That was a pretty dance, Hazel said”, and “George toyed with the idea of ballerinas shouldn’t be handicapped.” This is significant by the reason is that in twenty seconds, George was still able to think of how the ballerinas should not be handicapped when he has handicaps stopping him from thinking a few seconds later. As for Hazel, all she can think of was how the ballerinas dance beautifully. While others may believe that handicaps can control and maintain people to be equal, what they should think about is about the intelligence each person has. For example, George is above average and is able to have the advantage to think of many things.CONCLUSION

Kurt Vonnegut’s unique story “Harrison Bergeron,” displays a theme which is a warning about the dangers of equality, which is equality is a hindrance to an individual’s success and society’s success, but this hindrance is ironically, unequal. In the story, Harrison and his bride are arrested for their unwillingness and inability to stay within the bounds of equality enforced by the Handicapper General. Equality hinders the success of an individual like the weights hinder the beauty and grace of the ballerinas in the story. Equality doesn’t promote everyone to be equally better, but to be unequally worse. Handicaps are no use in ensuring equality, because one’s strengths will always shine through, such as Harrison’s strength and wit, or the

When Bruce Pittman directed Harrison Bergeron in 1995, most things changed from what was originally written by Kurt Vonnegut. In the film adaptation of this short story, the director had more or less the same idea the author had. Vonnegut presents a scary view of human society in the United States of the future, in which American citizens are all uniform. This then leads to their loss of individuality, and as a result, the deformity of humanness. Both the movie and the short story share these themes; they also have a multitude of other similarities, but have just as many differences. The theme might be the same in both, yet in the story, Harrison is portrayed as a seven foot tall, athletic, fourteen year old with a godlike complex, and the

Harrison Bergeron is a story written by Kurt Vonnegut. Vonnegut’s story is a warning to the world about the quest of equality, which is spreading all round in many nations with America on the lead. The story shows the reader how the equality issue can have negative impacts on people’s individuality, and the society. The story revolves around the protagonist, Harrison Bergeron who is an archetypical symbol that represents defiance, and individuality. He is used to represent the people who will stand up, and protest against cruel laws imposed by the state on equality, and encourage others to protest with him. Through the characterization of Harrison, George and Hazel, Vonnegut shows how the equality idea can go to the extreme. The

It is unbelievable the types of things humans would let happen to themselves and other humans just because it is the “social norm”. Things like blatant discrimination and racism, cruel and unusual punishment, unnecessary killing and slavery itself are all things that are caused by a lack of rational thinking stemming from the conformity in society.

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

These agents who could create such advanced handicapped devices clearly possessed above average brain power. The Handicapper General herself was clearly a superior being. “Diana Moon Glampers loaded the gun again. She aimed it at the musicians and told them they had ten seconds to get their handicaps back on” (Vonnegut). She was not equal to the rest of society by any means, for she had the complete right to alter people’s lives to fit the way society had laid out for them. These agents were obviously above the citizens in power, therefore they were not truly equal. This lays a clear understanding of a highly oppressed and misled society, living under a hypocritical

demonstrates how good intentions of the government are slowly used to manipulate people in society. One way the idea of manipulation is shown in the story is when the Handicapper General (H-G) Men takes 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 tells 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). In the extract, the author explained 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. Harrison’s parents, George and Hazel did not remember his son taken from because they were manipulated and not able to think long and hard about what happened to restrict the right of their choices. The other way is shown in the story, are the handicaps themselves and the way government uses it to their advantage. As the narrator introduces George, “ 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

In “Harrison Bergeron,” it becomes clear very soon that the society depicted in the story does not favor exceptional human qualities of any kind, be they related to intelligence, physical ability, or outward appearance. For instance, as the Bergeron family watches a ballet dance recital, the manner in which they determine which dancer is the best-looking is by the “hideousness” of the mask that the dancer is forced to wear. As the excerpt reads: “’Ladies and Gentlemen,” said the ballerina, reading the bulletin. She must have been extraordinarily beautiful, because the mask she wore was hideous. And it was easy to see that she was the strongest and most graceful of all the dancers, for her handicap bags were as big as those worn by the two hundred pound men” (Vonnegut n/a). When examining this passage through a Marxist theoretical lens, it becomes clear that Vonnegut is

When you look at it, the perfect society is what Russia was looking to achieve

The point of view in “Harrison Bergeron” is third person with limited insight. The focal character is George Bergeron, the titular character’s father. The story is written to show two settings: the living room of George and Hazel Bergeron, and the scene they are watching on their television. This point of view helps to develop the theme by showing what we assume to be an average couple in a futuristic setting, and by establishing a societal norm for the dystopian setting. The mundane point of view contrasts nicely with the very outrageous personality of Harrison Bergeron and his theatrical antics. This point of view also gives the reader a relatively objective look into the conflict between Harrison and the United States Handicapper General. The use of George as the focal character gives the reader insight into the mind of a man who wears a mental and a physical handicap. This allows the reader to see into George’s thoughts and how they process with the mental handicap in place, “every twenty seconds or so, the transmitter would send out some sharp noise to keep people like George from taking advantage of their

In an ideally progressive America, society should value both equality and diversity. Equality is justice. Diversity is individuality. Equality gives rights. Diversity enriches culture. Unfortunately, we do not live in an ideally progressive America. As equality in our society has increased, we have viewed it as progress. However, diversity has often been a source of conflict in our society. Jealousy, confusion, anger, and so many negative emotions have arisen from our differences and slowed the progress of equality. Perhaps, diversity should just be done away with. If we can not value our diversity, should we focus entirely on equality? Kurt Vonnegut’s “Harrison Bergeron” answers that question with a solid no, we should not. Through his

The common person shouldn’t have their thinking impaired to become equal to the people who are not as smart. “Hazel had a perfectly average intelligence which meant she couldn't think about anything except in short bursts” (217). With this quote it is saying that she was unable to think for long periods and by saying she was “perfectly average” which meant that other people had to have their thinking impaired to match Hazel’s. “And George, while his intelligence was way above normal, had a little mental handicap radio in his ear” (217). This is an example of a person with “abnormal intelligence” having his thinking, by law, be impaired to match the intelligence level of Hazel.