thesis in harrison bergeron

A Summary and Analysis of Kurt Vonnegut’s ‘Harrison Bergeron’

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

‘Harrison Bergeron’ is a 1961 short story by the American writer Kurt Vonnegut (1922-2007). The story can be categorised as ‘dystopian satire’ or a ‘satirical dystopian story’, but we’ll say more about these labels in a moment. The action of the story takes place in the future America of 2081, where everyone has been made truly equal, physically, mentally, and aesthetically.

Plot summary

The story is set in the United States in 2081. True equality has finally been achieved: nobody is allowed to be stronger, more beautiful, or more intelligent than anyone else, so people who are deemed to have an unfair advantage are forced by law to use ‘handicaps’ which limit their powers or talents. A Handicapper General, named Diana Moon Glampers, is in charge of ensuring everyone obeys the law and wears their assigned handicaps at all times.

The story focuses on a couple, George and Hazel Bergeron, whose fourteen-year-old son Harrison is taken away so that he can be ‘handicapped’ because he is abnormally strong and intelligent. George is of above-average intelligence so is forced to wear earpieces which transmit distracting noises every twenty seconds, so that he cannot concentrate or, or think about things, for too long and thus use his intellect to his advantage.

George also carries forty-seven pounds of birdshot in a canvas bag, hung around his neck, to reduce his natural athleticism. When his wife suggests opening a hole in the bottom of the bag and removing some of the lead balls, because she can see how worn-out he is, he reminds her that such a crime carries a prison sentence and a fine.

George and Hazel watch ballerinas dancing on television, but George is unimpressed by them, since they aren’t very good: no more than average, at least, because they are not allowed to be supremely gifted at ballet. The naturally attractive dancers, like other beautiful people in society, are forced to wear masks which make them look less attractive.

The ballet show is interrupted by a live news broadcast, which reveals that their son, Harrison Bergeron, has escaped from jail, where he had been held on suspicion of plotting to overthrow the government. Harrison enters the studios where the ballerinas are dancing, and tears off the handicaps he has been made to wear, which include a red rubber ball for a nose (like a clown) to make him look less handsome, and a large pair of headphones rather than the small radio his father is made to wear.

Harrison then announces that he will become emperor of the world, and asks for a woman to claim her prize as his empress. One of the beautiful ballerinas steps forward, and he removes her mask and frees her of her handicaps. He does the same to the other dancers and the musicians, and orders them to play good music.

Harrison and the dancer then ascend to the ceiling, floating above the ground, and exchange a long kiss. At that moment, Diana Moon Glampers, the Handicapper General, arrives and shoots them both dead, before ordering the dancers and musicians to put their handicaps back on.

George, who was in the kitchen getting himself a beer, misses the killing of his own son live on television, while Hazel, owing to her low intelligence, almost immediately forgets what she has seen.

This story is satirical, but what precisely is Vonnegut satirising in ‘Harrison Bergeron’? Is he taking aim at the idea of state-mandated equity, which forces everyone to be mediocre, in order to show the absurdity of such a notion? Or is he, in fact, satirising those who would oppose attempts to level the playing field for everyone?

This latter interpretation is not as unlikely as it may first appear. The first thing to establish is that Kurt Vonnegut was aware of the dangers of government overreach, and the future society depicted in ‘Harrison Bergeron’ is clearly one in which the state has too much power over the individual. They can force people to carry bags of bullets around their necks to disadvantage them physically, and even prevent them from thinking too much. People are fed a diet of mediocre television to keep them docile and compliant.

This aspect of ‘Harrison Bergeron’ reads almost like a more extreme version of Ray Bradbury’s dystopias of the 1950s: not just Fahrenheit 451 , in which books are banned because the government wants to keep everyone stupid and passive, but Bradbury’s short story ‘ The Pedestrian ’, in which the police threaten to arrest a lone man walking the streets of an evening because he isn’t sitting in front of the television, consuming a diet of cultural dross, like everyone else.

But the other key theme in Vonnegut’s story, besides government overreach and the state’s attempts to keep everyone intellectually lazy, is the one for which it is perhaps best known: egalitarianism, or the struggle for equality between all people. And on this issue, ‘Harrison Bergeron’ strikes a more ambivalent note.

On the one hand, the idea of state-mandated weights, radios, and masks to render supremely strong, clever, or beautiful people as weak, stupid, and ugly as the rest of the population strikes us as preposterously evil. Rather than pushing for a race to the bottom, a responsible and progressive government would seek to encourage weak citizens to pick up weights and build up their muscles, educate less intelligent members of society, and devise surgical techniques (such as plastic surgery) to make ugly people more attractive.

In one respect, then, Vonnegut’s story reads as a bedfellow of those satires which view communism or socialism as a way of making everyone equally miserable and poor, rather than trying to make everyone equally successful and financially comfortable.

Such an analysis is certainly defensible when we turn to the story and witness the ways in which, for instance, George Bergeron is effectively punished for his natural intellect by being bombarded with state-sanctioned noises on a regular basis: a peculiar kind of torture. The idea that one’s fourteen-year-old son could be taken away simply for being unusually strong and intelligent is abominable.

And yet Vonnegut doesn’t actually tell us why Harrison is taken away initially. We are just told that he has been taken away: nothing more. The news broadcast announces that he has been imprisoned for trying to overthrow the government.

Given George and Hazel’s short memories, and the fact that the story is focalised through them, we don’t learn, despite the story having a supposedly ‘omniscient’ third-person narrator, whether Harrison was simply taken away for being different or arrested because he had already presented a threat to the state by plotting a coup.

After all, George and Hazel have been allowed, following the application of their handicaps, to live ‘freely’ (at least relatively so) in their own home. Why was Harrison taken away? Because he was not just a little bit more intelligent than the average person, but vastly more ingenious than everyone else, so that all existing handicaps were useless on him? Or because he is already plotting something? The story refuses to tell us this.

Similarly, although the shooting of Harrison and his new girlfriend at the end of the story is shocking, Harrison’s lust for power – seeking to use his natural height, strength, and intellect to become ruler of the whole world – also strikes us as a nightmare prospect, so that the shock of his death is likely to be tempered with some degree of relief.

‘Harrison Bergeron’, in the last analysis, is a story which invites us to consider the lengths we are prepared to go to as a society in order to achieve equality. Clearly there are some things, like dancing or athletics or even thinking, which some people are more naturally gifted at than others. Do we want to punish them for their natural talent, or appreciate the things their gifts allow them to do? Just because we will never be an Olympic athlete, do we think it unfair that others get the chance to win a gold medal?

Most reasonable people would answer ‘no’ to this question. People are different, with different talents and skills. An ugly person might be extremely clever. A clever person might be a physical weakling. A body-builder might be thicker than a whale omelette. And Vonnegut’s point in ‘Harrison Bergeron’ appears to be twofold: first, that failing to accept that people are different from us is bad, and second, that government overreach is also bad.

And it is worth remembering that in 1961, when the story was first published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction , America was still struggling towards the legislation which would recognise that all citizens were in fact equal before the law. The Civil Rights movement would, throughout the 1960s, see African-Americans asserting their equality as racial segregation was gradually written out of state laws.

What this means is that ‘Harrison Bergeron’ is both a satire on the absurd attempts to make everyone the same and to disregard the important differences between us, and a story which rejects the human impulse to use one’s innate sense of superiority (whether real or merely assumed) in order to gain power over other people.

In this regard, Diane Moon Glampers is the villain of the story for seeking to impose equity on everyone using totalitarian force, but Harrison Bergeron himself is also a warning about what may happen if individuals are allowed to use their innate privileges for evil or depraved ends.

At the same time as it is a warning against enforced equity (i.e., everyone will be as mediocre as everyone else), the story also carries the seeds of an opposing message, namely that those who seek to enforce difference and to use their innate differences from others to attain power and privilege are also to be rejected and opposed.

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Home › Literature › Analysis of Kurt Vonnegut’s Harrison Bergeron

Analysis of Kurt Vonnegut’s Harrison Bergeron

By NASRULLAH MAMBROL on May 25, 2021

Kurt Vonnegut is celebrated more for his longer fiction than for his short stories. Nonetheless, Vonnegut’s “Harrison Bergeron,” originally published in the Magazine of Fantasy and Science in October 1961, and currently available in the author’s collection, Welcome to the Monkey House , is a very popular short story and is often cited as an example of dystopian science fiction with an emphasis on egalitarianism. One segment of the 1972 teleplay Between Time and Timbuktu was based on the story, and it was later adapted into a TV movie, Harrison Bergeron (1995), with Sean Astin in the title role.

Set in 2081, the story depicts society’s vain search for absolute equality. Specifically, this new world does not attempt to raise standards for the disabled or handicapped but rather chooses to implement a more onerous solution: to impede those who have superior intellect, beauty, or strength. This solution deprives individuals of their talents by employing masks, loud noises, and weights in an attempt to level the playing field for the less talented. Actually the government is attempting to place all members of society at the level of the lowest common denominator, a process that is overseen by the United States Handicapper General, the shotgun-toting Diana Moon Glampers, whose primary goal is to rid society of anyone who might threaten mediocrity and inadequacy. A similar (though less developed) version of this character and idea appeared in Vonnegut’s earlier novel, The Sirens of Titan.

In this brave new world, the exceptional are consistently repressed, arrested, thrown into mental institutions, and ultimately killed for failing to be average. The central and title character, Harrison Bergeron, is, of course, a threat to this community since he is physically fit, handsome, intellectual, and, what is worse, rebellious. As a result, he is forced to bear enormous handicaps. These include distracting noises, 300- pounds of excess weight, eyeglasses to give him headaches, and cosmetic changes to make him ugly. Despite these handicaps, however, he is able to invade a TV station and declare himself the new emperor. He then strips himself of his handicaps and begins to dance with a ballerina whose amazing beauty and skills have also been distorted by the authoritarian government in an attempt to restrict her advancement and recognition as a superior individual. As the couple dance in defiance of the “rules,” the two defy gravity as they “kiss” the ceiling and assert their artistic independence as well as their refusal to be controlled by an outside authority. The story ends abruptly with two shotgun blasts, suggesting to the reader that there is no forgiveness for those who defy society’s demand for conformity to the ordinary. Added poignancy is created by the framing story, in which Bergeron’s parents are watching TV and observe their son’s demise but cannot concentrate enough to remember the incident or assess its importance. Vonnegut’s point seems to be that without the nonconformists, the dreamers, and the different, society is doomed. The good intention of equality is marred by the way society decides to maintain it. To be fair to one group, it must necessarily be unfair to another. Yet if the brilliant and talented are hindered, society will be unable to improve, and the status quo will be all it can hope for.

Kurt Vonnegut/The New York Times

Vonnegut’s more pessimistic view of life may be termed absurdist. In this future society, growth and experimentation are no longer fostered, and science and technologies are devised to hurt rather than to help humankind. The complacency of Harrison’s parents who witness his murder and yet cannot remember why they are so sad indicates they both have submitted to a world where rebellion is not tolerated and where sameness is fostered and encouraged.

While many critics have considered Vonnegut’s story as an attack on the attempt to level all individuals, what Vonnegut is really assailing is the public’s understanding of what that leveling entails. Critics like Roy Townsend and Stanley Shatt seem to have missed the underlying irony of “Bergeron,” as well as its unreliable narrator, preferring to stress the obvious and ignore the fact that the story line offers an assessment of the foolishness that is “common sense.” Common sense is shown to be ridiculous in its assumptions about equality and in its belief that a sense of morality and ethics is intuitive. Moreover, since Vonnegut’s politics were Leftist in nature, it is unlikely that he would attack the concepts of communism and socialism.

In fact, it is Harrison himself who embodies the past oppression of a dominant culture, and readers should remember his desire is to be emperor, to reassert his superiority and the power it entitles him to wield. Instead Vonnegut seems to satirize society’s limited view of egalitarianism as only intelligence, looks, and athleticism. He never addresses income distribution (the separation between rich and poor) or class prejudice (the difference between the powerful and the powerless) even though both are signifcant issues for America. The mediocrity Vonnegut decries is not a result of the future but a continuation of past practices, an antiintellectualism that is depicted in Harrison’s parents, Hazel and George, whose ideas seem to be shaped by what they see on TV and little else. Controlled by a corrupt value system that says to ignore sad things and be satisfied with normality, it is their world that is condemned more than the world of Diana Moon Glampers. They have facilitated her rise to power with all the coldness and sterility that one might associate with the lunar goddess. Freedom is not the greatest good for the smallest number; nor does it hold that a classruled society will promulgate economic success. Though the story’s message appears quite simple, its moral is rather complex, forcing individual readers to think twice before they reduce its meaning to a sentence or two. Vonnegut was clearly not just trying to side with the radical Right’s objections to big government, and “Harrison Bergeron” is definite evidence of how his convoluted texts beg for more contemplation than they have been previously given

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Harrison Bergeron

Kurt vonnegut, ask litcharts ai: the answer to your questions.

Welcome to the LitCharts study guide on Kurt Vonnegut's Harrison Bergeron . Created by the original team behind SparkNotes, LitCharts are the world's best literature guides.

Harrison Bergeron: Introduction

Harrison bergeron: plot summary, harrison bergeron: detailed summary & analysis, harrison bergeron: themes, harrison bergeron: quotes, harrison bergeron: characters, harrison bergeron: symbols, harrison bergeron: theme wheel, brief biography of kurt vonnegut.

Historical Context of Harrison Bergeron

Other books related to harrison bergeron.

• Full Title: Harrison Bergeron
• When Written: 1961
• Where Written: United States
• When Published: 1961
• Literary Period: Postmodern, Contemporary
• Genre: satire, science fiction
• Setting: America in the year 2081
• Climax: Harrison Bergeron is shot and killed by the Handicapper General
• Antagonist: Dianna Moon Glampers
• Point of View: Third Person

Extra Credit for Harrison Bergeron

Real World Applications. In a 2005 Kansas Supreme Court case on public school financing, attorneys arguing against equal funding for all public schools quoted “Harrison Bergeron” to claim that a statewide requirement for equal school funding would result in an unconstitutional deprivation of resources from students in wealthier districts. Vonnegut responded on the record, stating that he believed the attorneys misinterpreted his story, which is more concerned with talent and ability than it is with wealth.

Pop Culture. Harrison Bergeron has been the source of several TV and film adaptations, including adaptations for PBS and Showtime.

68 Harrison Bergeron Essay Topics & Examples

🏆 best harrison bergeron essay topics & examples, 🎓 simple & easy topics in harrison bergeron, 📌 most interesting topics in harrison bergeron, ❓ harrison bergeron essay questions.

• Kurt Vonnegut’s Harrison Bergeron In the context of the time when no one is eager to struggle with blatant violation of a right to be someone, not a philosophical zombie, the protagonist is an expression of freedom of choice.
• Harrison Bergeron Theme In summary, the loss of freedom and civil rights would lead to America’s dystopia are the main messages of Harrison Bergeron. We will write a custom essay specifically for you by our professional experts 808 writers online Learn More
• An Analysis “Harrison Bergeron” Despite the fact that the author tries to portray an equal society, it is discriminatory since it ensures equality through suppression of citizens’ rights, while the current American society espouses the equality of opportunity.”Harrison Bergeron” […]
• “Harrison Bergeron” and Real Life In a world where people are held back because of their talents, and their intelligence is marred by the social rules of all people being the same, Harrison refuses to succumb to the pressure and […]
• The “Harrison Bergeron” Short Story by Kurt Vonnegut The equality, mindset, and physicality of a totalitarian regime are the main topics being stated in the very beginning by the phrase, “Nobody was smarter than anybody else.
• “Harrison Bergeron” a Short Story by Vonnegut Absolute equality is not an objective worth pursuing, as many people think, according to Vonnegut’s argument in “Harrison Bergeron,” but rather a misguided one that is destructive in both the process and the results.
• “Harrison Bergeron” a Short Story by Kurt Vonnegut He argues that egalitarianism calls for the suppression of the bright and hardworking in order for them to be equal with the rest; that it assigns much importance to peaceful living at the expense of […]
• Harrison Bergeron and Malcolm X as Revolutionaries Harrison was the man who was not afraid to stand up to the existing social order and makes some steps to achieve his major goal, which was to make all people free from burdens that […]
• Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut Literature Analysis The author manages to make people think of the essence of equality and possible hazards associated with the society of equals.
• An Analysis of the Theme of Human Psychology in “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut
• Theme Analysis of Short Stories “The Lottery” and “Harrison Bergeron” by Jackson and Vonnegut
• The Concept of Dystopia in “Harrison Bergeron,” “The Giver,” and “Uglies”
• Equality’s Dark Side in “The Unknown Citizen” and “Harrison Bergeron”
• The Sheepish Nature of Humans and the Absolute Power of the Government in “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson and “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut
• “Harrison Bergeron”: Compare the Epic War or Socialism vs. Capitalism
• The Power of Equality in Kurt Vonnegut’s “Harrison Bergeron”
• An Analysis of the Importance of Individuality in “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut
• The Fight for Equality in “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut
• Repressive Society in “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut
• The Idea and Desire to Change in the Characters of Harrison and Elisa in Kurt Vonnegut’s “Harrison Bergeron” and John Steinbeck’s “Chrysanthemums”
• Mistreatment and Endangerment in “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut
• Surveillance in Foucault’s Panopticism and Vonnegut’s “Harrison Bergeron”
• The Differences and Similarities of the Book “Divergent” and “Harrison Bergeron”
• An Illustration of a Society in Which Everyone Is Mentally, Physically and Socially Equal in “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut
• An Analysis of Equality of Individualism in “The Very Old Man Enormous Wings” by Gabriel Marquez and “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut
• The Use of Satire in “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut
• Using Irony to Emphasize Human Nature in Stephen King’s “Popsy” and Kurt Vonnegut’s “Harrison Bergeron”
• The Political Messages Behind “Harrison Bergeron”
• A Comparison of the Cases of Equilibrium and “Harrison Bergeron”
• “Harrison Bergeron” and the Weighted Burden of Marxist Utopia
• The Issue of Conformity in Sylvia Plath’s “Initiation,” Kurt Vonnegut’s “Harrison Bergeron,” and Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery”
• Utopia and Dystopia in “Harrison Bergeron” and “The Lottery”
• The Tragedy of Forced Equality in “Harrison Bergeron”
• The Portrayal of a Wold Run by a Powerful Government in Suzanne Collins’ “The Hunger Games” and Kurt Vonnegut’s “Harrison Bergeron”
• The Theme of Social Equality in “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut
• The Dangers of Blindly Following Authority in “Harrison Bergeron,” “The Lottery,” and the Case of the West Memphis Three
• Uniformity and Deformity in “Harrison Bergeron”
• Social Independence and Prejudice in “Harrison Bergeron” and “V for Vendetta”
• Effects of Equality in “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut
• What Is the Central Message of “Harrison Bergeron”?
• What Is the “Harrison Bergeron” Story About?
• How Does the Government Enforce Handicaps in “Harrison Bergeron”?
• Why Is “Harrison Bergeron” Such a Threat to Society?
• What Is the Author’s Central Attitude Towards the Society He Describes in “Harrison Bergeron”?
• What Is the Irony in “Harrison Bergeron”?
• Is Everyone Truly Equal in “Harrison Bergeron”?
• What Happens to Harrison at the End of the Story in “Harrison Bergeron” and Why?
• What Is the Central Conflict in “Harrison Bergeron”?
• How Would “Harrison Bergeron” Define Equality?
• What Do the Ballerinas Represent in “Harrison Bergeron”?
• How Does “Harrison Bergeron” His Handicaps?
• Why Was Harrison Thrown in Jail Before the Story Began in “Harrison Bergeron”?
• What Is Satirized in “Harrison Bergeron”?
• Why Was “Harrison Bergeron” in Jail?
• What Does the Ending of “Harrison Bergeron” Mean?
• What Are Some Examples of Euphemism in “Harrison Bergeron”?
• How Is “Harrison Bergeron” a Dystopia?
• How Long Was “Harrison Bergeron” in Jail?
• What Happened to “Harrison Bergeron” and His Empress at the End of the Story?
• Who Killed Harrison Bergeron?
• Why Is Harrison Bergeron a Hero?
• Why Does the Ballerina in “Harrison Bergeron” Have to Wear a Mask?
• What Does Harrison Represent in “Harrison Bergeron”?
• Is Harrison Bergeron an Antihero?
• How Is Harrison Bergeron Brave?
• What Is Ironic About the Handicapper General in “Harrison Bergeron”?
• Why Was Hazel Crying in “Harrison Bergeron”?
• What Do George and Hazel Symbolize in “Harrison Bergeron”?
• What Is the Meaning of the Last Words of the Bergerons That Was a Doozy in “Harrison Bergeron”?
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Marian University proudly partners with community businesses and organizations to support their respective missions, as well as enhance student engagement. One class has been working with us at the Vonnegut Library for the last few years. Students in Stacy Wriston’s English 239 class often volunteer at the library, helping with tours or projects or assisting with off-site events and fundraisers. This past term, Wriston’s students read the Kurt Vonnegut short story, Harrison Bergeron, for the first time. They shared their reactions and how they felt Vonnegut’s writing is still relevant today. We thought it would be fun to share these narratives to further support the important role of this Indy-born author and the Vonnegut Library in our community.

Mary A. Ziska

First Impression of Kurt Vonnegut Was Nothing Short of Total Amazement

I was introduced to the writings of Kurt Vonnegut when I read Harrison Bergeron . Having no prior knowledge of Vonnegut’s writing style, I didn’t hold expectations of any sort and was hoping to, at a minimum, find the short story interesting. Much to my surprise and delight, I found myself completely absorbed into the story, even laughing out loud at times. What is remarkable, is the theme and story line of Harrison Bergeron isn’t in any way a light-hearted comedy. Rather, its theme is a sobering one of government control taken to an extreme to impose equality for all citizens.

In 1961, Kurt Vonnegut wrote his satirical, science-fiction short story with a dystopian view of equality. Harrison Bergeron’s setting is in the living room of George and Hazel Bergeron in the year 2081. Hazel has an average level of intelligence and beauty. She does not have any handicaps placed upon her, nor does she have to wear a mask to hide any above-average beauty. George, her husband, does have capabilities above the average person and must always wear his government-assigned handicaps; for every citizen in America is to be equal both physically and mentally. In order to keep George, a man with a high level of intelligence, from thinking for too long on any subject, he must wear an earpiece that emits sharp noises that are transmitted by the government every twenty seconds. Because of Vonnegut’s witty and satirical writing style, I found myself laughing at the absurd comments made by Hazel to George when he receives a transmitted noise. For example:

“George was toying with the vague notion that maybe dancers shouldn’t be handicapped. But he didn’t get very far with it before another noise in his ear radio scattered his thoughts. George winced. Hazel asks George what the sound had been. After hearing George’s answer, Hazel states with some envy “I’d think it would be real interesting, hearing all the different sounds (Vonnegut, 1961).”

How in the world Hazel could be envious of George hearing the sounds when her husband just winced from them, is comical. Another example of Hazel’s hilariously absurd comments:

““Boy!” said Hazel, “that was a doozy, wasn’t it?” It was such a doozy that George was white and trembling, and tears stood on the rims of his red eyes (Vonnegut, 1961).”

By using these silly comments made by Hazel, Vonnegut was able to write this short story in a way that doesn’t make the reader feel depressed. In a sober view, it is very sad to think of George and of the frustration he must feel, knowing that any important thought he might like to think upon will disappear almost as quickly as the thought first appeared. I also found it sad that George accepted the handicap the government assigned to him without any real anger. However, in order to live in a society of government-controlled equality, a person would need to be resigned to dealing with the restrictions or face punishment. Hazel and George’s 14-year-old son Harrison Bergeron resisted. I will leave you with this cliff-hanger, so that you will want to read this short story and discover what happened.

 I am in awe of Vonnegut’s ability to write a satirical story providing humor for his audience, while sending an important message at the same time. Kurt Vonnegut may have written this story in 1961, however, the message he was communicating is very relevant in 2019. In today’s politics, there is an ever-increasing amount of talk regarding equality. Our government was set up so that all its citizens are to be treated in an equal way, with equal rights. It was not set up with the intention that everyone should be equal. No one should be forced to remain at a lower level than what he or she can achieve, nor should anyone be forced to give away, with or without compensation, something that he or she has worked hard to attain.

Carly Tarter

Harrison Bergeron

My first impression…

This is my first time reading stories by Kurt Vonnegut, and the first thing I noticed about his writing is how much passion is put into his stories. You could feel his emotions while reading the stories. I felt as if I were in the story and playing a role as the character. He also knows how to keep you wanting more. Whenever the stories seemed to slowly lose my interest, he knew exactly what to say to pull me back in to read more.

Emotions are what keep me wanting more…

After reading Harrison Bergeron, I could truly feel the heart-felt passion and sadness that the story creates. This story is all about equality and how everyone has different things that have happened to them to make them no better than anyone else. George had noise going off in his ears whenever something was going to happen that would have an impact on him. With the way that Vonnegut wrote, I could feel the pain George was feeling whenever he would explain the loud boom in his ears. I could feel how lonely and confused Hazel was every time she thought she would remember something, but she never could. She knew she was sad, but she could not remember she was sad about her son. The way the author explained her emotions made you know exactly how she was feeling.

Equality in today’s world…

I believe that in the story, Harrison Bergeron , Vonnegut was trying to say equality is never something that is going to work in the world. As much as everyone wants there to be less violence and more love, equality is not the answer. In today’s world, there are too many people with their own unique ways, and making everyone equal would take that out, and the world would be a sad, lonely place, just like it was in the story. They may think it would make the world a better place, but everyone would be lonely and quiet. No one would be able to express their true feelings. Everyone being different is what makes the world go ‘round.

Ross Didelot

Vonnegut First Impression

Reading Harrison Bergeron for the first time, I was immediately transported into the dystopian future that Kurt Vonnegut details. Through his words, Vonnegut illustrates a world where forced equality is normalized to the point of required physical and mental handicaps. It is a tale of what society could become if twisted by certain radical idealists. More than anything, I found this story to be a reflection of the American position of a fair and equal society or what the drawbacks of equality could be.

Kurt Vonnegut uses a writing style that assists the audience in visualizing a scene of the story. He sets the scene using exposition, giving basis to the setting. What really helped me to envision the story was Vonnegut’s use of dialogue. The main characters of Harrison Bergeron, George and Hazel Bergeron, converse throughout the story. I found it almost like reading a movie script. It was effective, as I envisioned the scene in my head.

My original reaction to Harrison Bergeron was one of intrigue. I tend to find stories of fictional alternate societies interesting, especially when they are in direct contrast to reality. One paragraph in, and I was hooked. I found that I felt sympathy for George, as I would go mad if I had a device that emitted jarring sounds every twenty seconds. The end of the story set me up for an emotional reaction. When Harrison makes his rebellious run, I was inspired. I felt a positive resolution coming. When Harrison was taken down, I felt crushed. To top it off, his parents were not able to remember that they saw it happen, if they could remember their son at all. That might be the saddest part of the story.

As I believe this story is a reflection on a fair and equal society, I think that it has modern-day relevance. Throughout American history, our country has always pushed for freedom and equality. Through the civil rights movement, women’s rights movement, and LGBT rights movement, it is even in recent history that we have pushed toward more equal legislation. What Vonnegut shows us in Harrison Bergeron is what if we become too equal? It begs the question, is there such a thing as too equal? Personally, I do not think we are anywhere near the dystopia of Harrison Bergeron. However, the story does make for interesting food for thought.

Lindsey Young

My First Exposure to the Work of Kurt Vonnegut

            I am nearly 40 years old, and I am ashamed to say that this past week was my first experience reading a piece by Kurt Vonnegut. After reading the short story, Harrison Bergeron , I was intrigued with how Mr. Vonnegut used simple dialogue and virtually no description of setting to describe how total government control over equality would negatively affect the population. Even though this story presents an implausible narrative, its theme of losing our freedom as well as our ability to feel emotion or think for ourselves can be related to the current ideals to make everyone more equal.

            I found it interesting that very little description is given to the setting. The reader is aware that the story takes place in 2081, and the plot unfolds in George and Hazel’s home and a filming studio. No detail is given upon the appearance of the rooms or how technology has changed in the future, yet I had no problem envisioning this tale. The lack of this detail does not take away from the theme of the story, rather Mr. Vonnegut uses the cruelty inflicted by the government and the accepting and obedient actions and simple words of his characters to relay his message of the negative effect of total government control over equality.

           To me, Vonnegut used the government’s abuse of power and the behavior of the characters to represent a society that lost their freedom, their individuality, the ability to think for themselves and feel emotions. The government used “handicaps” in order to make the population equal in intelligence, ability, and appearance in order to create a society that was “equal in every which way.” Some of these “handicaps” included a hideous mask for the ballerina to conceal her beauty, a radio transmitter for George to interrupt his thoughts so he would not take “unfair advantage of his brain,” and pieces of scrap metal that hung around the title character Harrison in order to impede his strength and athletic ability. These characters, who were considered above average, were subjected to greater cruelty and seemed to endure their fate out of fear of fines, imprisonment, or death.  The most severely “handicapped” character, Harrison Bergeron, was unmercifully murdered due to his broadcasted rebellion of the government as he tore off his impediments and declared his freedom of choice. As George watches the death of his son, we see that he is crying, but when Hazel returns to the room and asks why, he says “I forget, something sad on the television.” The emotional response in the characters has been diluted. The dialogue of simplistic language and poor grammar of George and Hazel’s interaction reveals the stunted advancement of their intelligence. These characters are no longer able to form their own opinions but seem to accept the government’s assertion that total equality is best for society and strict regulations are needed.

            In today’s push towards a more socialistic approach to wage equality and government healthcare, there is debate over how much control the government should be given. There are many who agree there needs to be reform in income distribution and medical coverage, but there is concern over trading some of our freedom of choice for the hope of equality. We have watched as other nations that have implemented a socialist government fall due to political corruption and vying for more control. I believe Vonnegut’s depiction of a society that has lost its freedom and personal expression and lives in fear of disobeying the ultimate authority in Harrison Bergeron , even in its extreme nature, has a valid warning in giving the government too much power to instill strict regulations and garner control in order to ensure equality.

           My introduction to Kurt Vonnegut this week through Harrison Bergeron has me wanting to read more of his work. To me, his use of simplistic dialogue really contributed to showing the intellectual and emotional decline of the characters forced to obey the strict regulations of a totalitarian government. I found that his use of an exaggerated narrative draws the attention of the reader and places emphasis on the message of the dangers of authoritative control and sacrificing freedom and self-expression in the name of equality.

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Home — Essay Samples — Entertainment — Film Analysis — “Harrison Bergeron”: a Story vs a Film

"Harrison Bergeron": a Story Vs a Film

• Categories: Film Analysis Harrison Bergeron Movie Review

About this sample

Words: 463 |

Published: Dec 5, 2018

Words: 463 | Page: 1 | 3 min read

Works Cited

• Bergeron, K. (2005). Harrison Bergeron. In Welcome to the Monkey House (pp. 7-17). Delacorte Press.
• Cantor, J. L. (2016). Hollywood Films about Schools: Where Race, Politics, and Education Intersect. Routledge.
• Harrison Bergeron. (n.d.). Directed by C. Weitz. (2009). Accessed on [Insert Date] from [Insert Source].
• Kurzweil, R. (2000). The Age of Spiritual Machines: When Computers Exceed Human Intelligence. Penguin Books.
• Maddox, T. (2010). F. Scott Fitzgerald, George Orwell, and "Harrison Bergeron": An Introduction to the Short Story. Interdisciplinary Literary Studies, 11(2), 1-16.
• Orwell, G. (1949). Nineteen Eighty-Four. Secker & Warburg.
• Pellerin, K. (2017). "Can a Real Equality Happen When "Harrison Bergeron"?" The Explicator, 75(2), 106-109.
• Vonnegut, K. (1961). Harrison Bergeron. The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, 21(5), 7-14.
• Vonnegut, K. (1968). Welcome to the Monkey House. Delacorte Press.
• Worland, R. (2015). The Essential Mystery: The Making of a Genre. University of Chicago Press.

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