In his short story “Harrison Bergeron,” Kurt Vonnegut presents a vision of a distant future in which Americans have been forced into slavery disguised as equality through the use of physical and mental handicaps. This frightening vision represents a common theme in science fiction literature as it “depicts a future government that controls its people by eliminating mental stimulation” and “warns of controlling trends in society” (69). For example The government in our short story has given all the smart people in their nation a headset to keep them from thinking deeply. “the transmitter would send out some sharp noise to keep people like George from taking unfair advantage of their brains.” (3) By doing this, the government has turned everyone