Response to "Harrison Bergeron" (Annam)

"Harrison Bergeron" is a short story by one of my favorite authors, Kurt Vonnegut. It's sort of a sci fi fiction piece about a dystopian society, where equality isnt neccesarily ideal. In fact, nothing in the year 2081 is ideal, rather miserable, oppressed, and to put it bluntly, insane for the lives of its civilians. No one is allowed to be better than the other. Everyone must be limited to medicoracy. Looks and intellect are among the things that are sized up or down to achieve an average standard. The worst thing to be in a society such as this one is beautiful or intelligent, quite contrary to todays reality. Anyone with an exceptional amount of these traits must bear numerous handicaps to minimize them.

Harrison Bergeron is the protagonist, a radical teenage boy of outstanding beauty, strength, and intelligence. Therefore, his natural advantages are covered up with handicaps. His eyebrows are shaven off and he must wear a clown nose to mask his beauty. An earpiece is implanted in him to frequently blast disarming noises into his brain and impede his thought process. He is given eyeglasses that cause him headaches, and is adorned with 300 pounds of scrap metal to hinder his above average agility.

Meanwhile, his parents sit incognizantly in their home, watching TV. His mother, Hazel, seemed to be "blessed" with an average intelligence from birth, and therefore is excused from experiencing the cruel handicaps, unlike her husband, George. He, like Harrison, has his physical state obstructed by a bag of lead balls tied around him, and his atypically progresssive intellect slowed down with an earpiece radio emitting various bewildering noises such as a twenty one gun salute. While reading, I thought why couldnt they just remove these degrading things from themselves while in the confines of their home. "Two years in prison and two thousand dollars fine for every ball I took out,” said George. “I don’t call that a bargain.”

The story heightens when Harrison escapes from the police, manages to get on TV and declares himself the "emperor", like a way of saying there are different classes, and some people will always be better or worse off than others, despite trying to control life against that. Harrison tears off all of his handicaps, and grabs a ballerina standing nearby and discards of her handicaps as well, to reveal the wonderful beauty and grace of both characters. They dance together, until they are shot down by the "US Handicap General", and thats that. Much like todays world, the gun is still all mighty.

I always seem to learn, think, and take away a great deal of inspiration when reading a Vonnegut story. In such societies, equality and fairness have a distorted connotation, where the lives of its beings are suppressed beyond belief and there is little that can be done to evolve or bring change. Much like Shirley Jacksons "The Lottery", Vonnegut explores in depth an almost alternate society in a parallel universe, yet ironically it takes place here on our own earth, and more specifically, in supposidly the most free and equal country in the world, America. Thats something to think about.