Kurt Vonnegut's Harrison Bergeron

Harrison Bergeron: An In-Depth Analysis Kurt Vonnegut Jr. published his science fiction short story “Harrison Bergeron” in 1961. Vonnegut’s timing for the publishing of Harrison Bergeron ironically happened during the “era that was marked by the Vietnam war, anti-war protests, and the civil rights movement.” (history.com). The author of “Harrison Bergeron” uses a man versus society conflict woven into a multitude of deep symbols to illustrate his version of dystopian America into a digestible short story that readers of all ages can ponder. There are a wide range of abundant symbols appearing in this short story, including but not limited to the United States Constitution and even the month of April. The conflict within Vonnegut’s short story (which is primarily man versus society with a secondary conflict of man versus man tied

The proclaimed Handicapper General of “Harrison Bergeron” also has the middle name Moon, which is fitting because, as previously mentioned, the Greek mirror of her Roman namesake is the goddess of the moon. In “Harrison Bergeron,” the primary conflict of the story appears to be man versus society, and by extension, the secondary conflict of the story is man versus man. Harrison and possibly his parents are against society; the only difference between how Harrison handles his battle with society and how his parents handle their battle with society is that Harrison gets physical and his parents are stuck with temporarily thinking about it due to being permanently stifled by their handicaps. Harrison goes as far as breaking out of jail, ripping off and out of his handicaps and temporarily taking whoever could witness his event by storm. Harrison believed in his goal of fixing this messed up and “equal” society so much that he died for