Intrigued
due to my previous knowledge of Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five, his earlier work “Harrison Bergeron” naturally
became my next victim of analysis. When I read the brief summary of this piece,
I was immediately drawn towards the characters and the dystopian setting they
were put under. Taking place in the year 2081, society is now obligated to be
exactly equal; one must wear weights to counteract their good strength, wear
grotesque masks to cover their good looks, and attempt to change their voice to
disguise their appealing voices in order to level out their talents to the
average public. This concept was a possibility that I never concerned myself
with which ultimately drew my interest in the short story.
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| Handicapped Ballerina |
The theme present in the plot is that
absolute equality is not an ideal worth sacrificing individual rights for. To
execute this unjust and unreasonable utopia, the government ran by the
Handicapper General tortures its citizens. Although as a reader, this concept
would seem outrageous, but for the public who has endured such laws for a good
amount of time, the insistence of total equality has seeped and internalized
within them. Others who are unsatisfied with the struggles they have to bear
can neither complain nor make a change in fear of the return of the “dark ages,”
filled with competition and inequality. In this setting, Harrison Bergeron
symbolizes bravery and resistance to injustice. He signifies revolution and
defiance that still exists in the American public. He displays none of the
cowardice and passivity that most have given into. Although his rebellion is
admirable, he is assassinated by Diana Moon Glampers, the Handicapper General.
The murder of individuality and healthy competition is symbolized in the last
scene of Vonnegut’s “Harrison Bergeron.”
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