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Kurt Vonnegut's Harrison Bergeron

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“The worst form of inequality is to try to make unequal things equal.” -Aristotle. When two things are compared with different values, they do not easily come together. This relates to the short story “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut, because the government changed citizens appearances and personalities because everyone was different. Harrison Bergeron was placed in jail on suspicion of plotting to overthrow the government. Then, Harrison escaped jail, interrupted a television program, and removed all his handicaps. Finally, the Handicap General was afraid of what Harrison might do without his handicaps, so she shoots him. Therefore, Harrison Bergeron’s motivation of the government to remove handicaps reveals how not everyone can, and not …show more content…

Handicaps were objects that limited citizens abilities, and Harrison recognized how unfair that was and was motivated to overthrow the government because of it. The intelligent ones, must have a radio in their ear that impedes their ability to think. The beautiful must disfigure themselves, and the graceful and strong must wear weights around their necks. “And George, while his intelligence was way above normal, had a little mental handicap radio in his ear. He was required by law to wear 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 keep people like George from taking unfair advantage of their brains” (13). Although George is intelligent, the government wants everyone to be equal, so they make citizens wear these handicaps to limit everyone's ingenuity. Furthermore, Harrison wanted to overthrow the government. “Harrison Bergeron, age fourteen,”... “has just escaped from jail, where he was held on suspicion of plotting to overthrow the government. He is a genius and an athlete, is under-handicapped, and should be regarded as extremely dangerous” (15). Again, Harrison was upset at the government trying to change people. Also, because he was better than other people prettier, stronger, and smarter, he was sentenced to jail. Although he was put in jail, he is determined to extinguish handicaps by eradicating the

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In the short story Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut, Vonnegut uses the three literary devices of imagery, motif, and dramatic irony to illustrate the theme that total equality breads pain. The short story starts off by introducing George and Hazel Bergeron and how their handicaps affect them, “He [George] was required by law to wear it at all times […] Every twenty seconds or so, the transmitter would send out some sharp noise […] There were tears on Hazel's cheeks, but she'd forgotten for the moment what they were about" (Vonnegut). The imagery and descriptive language used to describe George and Hazel’s handicaps shows the reader that the handicaps imposed upon people that makes everyone equal to one another does not make the people of

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875 Words | 4 Pages

Author Kurt Vonnegut who is considered one of the great American authors, wrote during the contemporary period. He wrote "Harrison Bergeron", in 1961. in this work,, we can see evidence of the characteristics, themes and style identifies with the contemporary movement which was extant in American letters between 1960's and present time. Kurt Vonnegut wrote during this time period of American literature, and as such, remains one of the most identifiable and iconic writers of his time.

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775 Words | 4 Pages

In the short story, Harrison Bergeron, Kurt Vonnegut depicts, through the use of satire and the setting of a future dystopian society, the harmful effects of conformity. Set in the year 2081, this society declares complete ‘equality’ for all, a baseline in which no human’s ability can surmount anothers. This is achieved by handicapping everyone, conforming the potential of human beings, crippling people to create supposed equality. Through the protagonist Harrison, a fourteen-year-old boy with a plethora of god-like, superhuman talents and abilities, the author illustrates the tension and conflict of individuality trying to prevail in a society so ingrained in the system of conformity.

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325 Words | 2 Pages

“Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut is a science-fiction short story, that has many powerful themes. One theme it that it’s okay to be different because complete equality is threatening. In the story George and Hazel have a son, Harrison who is intelligent, tall, strong, and handsome. The H-G take him away and then he breaks out and goes to a studio where he is broadcasted life. Then when the H-G find him and his Empresses they shoot them and they died.

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Another reason is that Harrison rebels by removing his handicaps. By removing his handicaps, Harrison was making it easier for people in the auditorium fear him. Harrison was even able to escape prison. The quotation, "...has just escaped jail, where he was held on

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554 Words | 3 Pages

Since the government did not want Harrison to have ideas of overthrowing the government, the Handicapper General gave him headphones to wear which made him forget his ideas and the headphones also gave him headaches. I thought that this society doesn’t make a good place for very intelligent people.

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809 Words | 4 Pages

In the community, they had a Handicapper General which was the person who was in charge of the handicaps. Handicaps are basically restrictions. If you were strong you would wear weights, if you were pretty you would wear a mask, and if you were smart they would put a buzzer in your ear to scatter away all of your thoughts. Everyone was brought down to the same level and had no freedom to be themselves all because the Handicapper General wanted to make a utopia but in reality, she was making a dystopia. "Two years in prison and two thousand dollars fine for every ball I took out," said George.

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747 Words | 3 Pages

In addition this story a character name harrison bergeron who was in a jail because he tried to take off his handicap and he also tried to plot to overthrow the government. Another character named george also had to wear a handicap and every twenty seconds a transmitter would send a sharp noise to keep him from using unfair advantage of his brain. The theme of the story is being equal isn’t always fair. Body paragraph 1: These 3 paragraph will explain the theme that being equal isn 't always fair. The first piece of evidence

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1318 Words | 6 Pages

In the story "Harrison Bergeron," it tells of a dystopian world where people had to wear devices (handicaps) to make them equal, even though their perception of equality is not the same as most people would perceive it. The main characters are Hazel and George, who are Harrison's parents. They introduce themselves and explain to us how their world works. Hazel has "average" intelligence and looks, while George has a higher "intelligence," so he has to wear mental handicaps that play sounds to stop him from thinking too much. As they are watching ballerinas with physical handicaps on TV, a news report comes on and explains how Harrison has escaped from custody and " looked like a walking junkyard’(45) since he has so many handicaps due to his physical appearance and his mental capabilities.

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In the movie Harrison started off just going through the motions with his handicaps, trying to pretend that his brain was being “slowed down”. Then he got taken in by a secret society and was under the influence that he was being granted freedom. Later after falling in love with a girl named Phillipa in the society he realized that he needed to help his family and the citizens be able to experience life without being held back. He acted upon this and showed the world the possibilities if they didn’t have handicaps. With dvd’s from a long time ago.

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693 Words | 3 Pages

The reader can see that Harrison’s strengths are viewed as criminal and threatening when the author uses words such as “genius” and “athlete” to describe how he is dangerous to society. The reader can also see that even though Harrison is handicapped, he still is able to break free. This tells the reader that Harrison is stronger and more intelligent than the handicaps the HGs put on him. Efforts to make him equal are thwarted and inevitably end up in the killing of Harrison so the people watching wouldn’t get the same

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165 Words | 1 Pages

Equality is a great idea that we should strive for and achieve; however, being made equal physically and mentally by the government could be very unfair. People should still have characteristics that make us different. One can be diverse but still equal to his neighbor. Kurt Vonnegut Jr.’s use of point of view, conflict, and imagery in his short story “Harrison Bergeron,” illustrates how difficult living in a world where everyone is the same would be.

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808 Words | 4 Pages

Vonnegut describes the severity that the handicaps can go, “the rest of Harrison’s appearance was Halloween and hardware. Nobody had ever born heavier handicaps… but to give him whanging headaches besides” (2). Harrison was attractive, tall, intelligent, athletic— but everything that he had no control of had to be taken away. Such vivid descriptions reveals Vonnegut’s purpose of trying to convince the reader that they must reevaluate what they truly want for the future and well-being of

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443 Words | 2 Pages

Weight handicaps to make him as weak as the weakest person in America. Mental handicaps to make his train of thought as short as the most empty-headed person. Beauty handicaps to make him as ugly as the most grotesque person. He was equal with everybody else and he had no freedom

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349 Words | 2 Pages

No matter how many handicaps you put on someone they aren’t going to change. It’s kind of like trying to cover up beauty with a mask or make-up. Handicaps have no value in making anyone equal. Although equality is needed, no one in “Harrison Bergeron” is solely based on appearance and how smart you are. Equality is treating everyone one with the same amount of respect so therefore, no one in this short story is

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