Theme Of Harrison Bergeron

“Harrison Bergeron” Theme Analysis
Picture a society, far in the future, where everyone, by government control, must be on the same level. Kurt Vonnegut's dystopian story, “Harrison Bergeron” takes place in the year 2081, “where everyone is finally equal. They wern't only equal before God and the law, but they were equal in every which way.” Fourteen year old Harrison Bergeron was taken away from his parents, George and Hazel, by the government. Hazel has a lack of intelligence, while George is the complete opposite. The government placed a headset on him that makes a random noise every 20 seconds that interrupts his thoughts to keep him from being smarter than everyone else. This is not the only thing that they do to make sure everyone is

"It was tragic, all right, but George and Hazel couldn't think about it very hard. Hazel had a perfectly average intelligence, which meant she couldn't think about anything except in short bursts. 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” (Vonnegut 1) In this scene, we learn that George is of higher intelligence than Hazel, and the government makes him wear a handicap that interrupts his thoughts, causing him to not remember what his is thinking, and always loose his thoughts. George and Hazel are just some of the people who experience this in their time. Its not just them. Its everyone. So why is this an issue?? Because not only do these things not allow people be who they are meant to be, but it also does not let them be unique. We were all made with ceratin talents that make us all different, but in this society they are taking all of those things

“Scrap metal was hung all over him. Ordinarily, there was a certain symmetry, a military neatness to the handicaps issued to strong people, but Harrison looked like a walking junkyard. In the race of life, Harrison carried three hundred pounds. And to offset his good looks, the H-G men required that he wear at all times a red rubber ball for a nose, keep his eyebrows shaved off, and cover his even white teeth with black caps at snaggle-tooth random” (Vonnegut 3) This is just more ways that they handicapped people making them all the same. But this time it was Harrison Bergeron. He had a lot of good features and was really strong and tall, but of course they did not allow him to live that way and did a long list of things to him making everyone perfectly equal. If everyone in our world were equal, we wouldn't have things like the olympics, where people who are really good at what they do compete for the title. Or Technological Advantages, which help people who need help with tasks, other might find