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Literary Devices In Harrison Bergeron

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In today’s society people are treated badly for being different, there is constant competition to find the best in various activities. The story Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. is a dystopian short story of a society that has made each individual equal in every which way and how one boy named Harrison Bergeron rises as a dystopian hero and makes it his mission to show people that there is another way where they can be free and live their lives not hiding their talents, thus questioning the government.Vonnegut uses devices such as imagery and simile to better send a message to todays society that being different isn’t a bad thing it’s human nature, it’s what makes society great and allows humankind to evolve. In the story to keep every citizen equal, the government has given more skilled individuals handicaps to prevent them from becoming too advanced for their system of society. The handicaps keep people in order but also …show more content…

Harrison Bergeron does this by exposing the public to what it looks like to be free,by demonstrating a beautiful dance without his handicaps, the author highlights this moment by using imagery. This is shown when he states “ And then, in an explosion of joy and grace, into the air they sprang! Not only were the laws of land abandoned, but the law of gravity and motion as well. They reeled, whiled, swivelled, flounced, capered, gamboled, and spun. They leaped like deer onto the moon.” This passage represents the beauty of how Harrison and the ballerina danced, Vonnegut purposefully changed his language so the reader could see the emphasis on what life is like without the handicaps. Words like ‘whiled’ and ‘swivelled are usually used to describe somethings beautiful and majestic, as if Harrison was meant to be a dancer and it was something that he couldn't

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