Essay on The Handicapper General

Just like George, the same thing happens to Hazel, due to Hazel’s short attention span and low intelligence, she watches her son brutally murdered and shortly forgets it. The couple’s son, Harrison, was imprisoned by the Handicapper General and her men a long time ago. When the couple sees their son on the television, it is the first time since God knows when. A person would imagine that the couple would immediately recognize their son, but total equality has ruined their chance. George, being more intelligent than hazel, tries to grasp the situation and recognize his son but is unable to because of the loud sound of his handicap.

The government developed new laws in order to bring equality among the Americans. However, they soon became influenced to change Americans to make them all equal. The government created devices that would weaken citizens abilities, looks, or talents. If a person was smarter, more athletic or good-looking compared to the other citizens, then they would force them to wear a “handicap”. “[The ballerina] must have been extraordinarily beautiful, because the mask she wore was hideous.

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

The last handicap Vonnegut mentions proves to be humorous by hyperbole. The government uses weights to oppose above average athletics. The handicap can range from any size, shape or weight. For example, George wears “forty-seven pounds of birdshot in a canvas bag, which was padlocked around [his] neck,” (Vonnegut 159). The more physically fit a person is, the more handicaps

For example, the eighth paragraph of part one talks about Hazel saying that George looked tired all of a sudden and should rest.  Also the third paragraph in part one says, “Every twenty second or so, the transmitter would send out some sharp noise.”  Granted that, this means Hazel has sympathy for George and feels as if he needs to take a break from keeping the canvas bag on his neck.  To clarify, George is most like sick and tired of the sound going off in his head.  The canvas bag hanging on his neck must be wearing him out, and it isn’t really good to keep something heavy as twenty - seven pounds on your neck, twenty - four,

“Harrison Bergeron”, written in 1961, is set in the year 2081. It tells the story of a future America where human equality is forced through the use of rudimentary devices that handicap above average people. The story’s baseline for average is a fairly low one, and the collective dumbing down has produced a society with almost no attention span and very little independent thought.

Have you ever been told you can’t do something because you are too qualified? In Vonnegut’s short story “Harrison Bergeron” this is what America has turned into in 2081. Vonnegut uses characters in his story to show the effects of a truly “equal” society with what happens when they want everyone equal and what happens to some of their health. Some of the characters he uses are Harrison, George, and the ballerinas.

Harrison Bergeron by “Kurt Vonnegut” is set in the year 2081, where all the people have been made equal through mental and physical handicaps. No one is slower, weaker, or smarter than anyone else. Harrison Bergeron who is taken from is family when he was fourteen years old has escaped. He takes off is handicaps, declares himself emperor and chooses one of the ballerinas to become his empress. After dancing and flying, Handicap General Diana Moon Glampers shoots them both dead. The theme of this story is total equality is not ideal as people may believe. It’s a mistaken goal that can result into a dangerous outcome.

"If I tried to get away with it, then other people'd get away with it—and soon we'd be right back to the dark ages again…" This statement by George Bergeron sums up Kurt Vonnegut Jr.'s short story "Harrison Bergeron" in one line. "Harrison Bergeron" is the story of a futuristic United States in the year 2081, where all individuals are made equal regardless of what their natural born characteristics were. They are made equal both mentally and physically, all to the same measure of intelligence and strength. In "Harrison Bergeron" the society has become apathetic and equally conformed because of the power of the Handicapper General, the forced use of handicaps, and the people within the society who continued to let

A perfect society where everyone is equal due to a variety of handicaps, but is everyone truly equal? In ‘harrison Bergeron” anyone who had any abilities whatsoever are forced to wear different handicaps depending on their ability except for the one person called the handicapper general, who does have power and is in charge of keeping the peace. If anyone disobeyes the law that forces them to wear handicaps, would be put in jail or even killed if they threatened the government's authority. Harrison Bergeron is a 14 year old boy who was put in jail because he had extraordinary abilities and he was suspected of plotting to overthrow the government.

A very unusual and new concept that 2081 uses is that they try conceal people’s intelligence, strength, and beauty while while the real world wants you to improve or express those qualities. In the beginning of 2081, its states, “The strong wore weights to make them weaker; the intelligent wore earpieces that kept them from taking unfair advantage of their brains, Even the beautiful, sometimes wore masks in situations where their beauty might simply be too distracting.” This explains how the society in 2081 brings down the intelligent, the strong, and the beautiful, preventing them to reveal any of those qualities. However, the real world rewards all of the things that the government in 2081 tries to hide. For example, in a high school graduation the school would give recognition to the valedictorian, which encourages students to do better in academics. While in 2081, they would not honor or give recognition the intelligent, instead they would try to make them more unwise, so no one would see the person’s real capabilities. The real society would never attempt to make a student more unwise like how the society in 2081 would. Our school system encourages for improvement on test scores or grades, and not disprovement. In 2081, the society has a different perspective of a handicapped person from the real world. The real world views a handicap person as someone with a disadvantage while in 2081 they view it as someone who has an advantage. In 2081, Harrison was considered, handicap even though he was a genius and strong. However, this is different to the real society because a handicap person today, would be someone with a physical or mental problem such as someone who can barely walk. This shows, that a handicapped person from 2081 would have the exact opposite skills as a handicap person in the real society. The society of 2081 would label a weak old man

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

Even thought the General Handicappers are not tracking their every single move, they have complete power over them. This complete power leads them to live a fearful life. Although, they almost never leave the house, they are still afraid that they might get caught if they disobey the rules. At the beginning of the story, Geroge says, "If I tried to get... would you?" (28). This explains that even though they are in their own house where no one is watching them, he's still scared to take the birdshot off. The General Handicapper leader have controlled them to this extended that they are now afraid to of disobeying in their own living room. This also explains that George now likes living this life, as he explains how we should follow the rules

By the year 2081 we have a new form of government. The handicapper general has taking over America. Everyone was equal in every which way. “All this equality was due to the 211th, 212th, and 213th Amendments to the Constitution,” (page 133) We are now 65 years into the future. Insecure people tried very very hard to make people equal. Unintelligent people are unaware of what is happening in the world to the full reality. The strong wore weights to make them weaker. The intelligent wore earpieces, it stop them from from thinking in large thoughts by sending loud distracting noises every 20 seconds. The unintelligent could only think for short burst at a time.

It was then that Diana Moon Glampers, The handicapper general, came into the studio with double barreled shotgun. She fired it twice and missed.