Harrison Bergeron Essay

816 Words4 Pages
“Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut is a prime example of what happens when government tries to “control man” and make a, in the government’s opinion, utopian society. Throughout the progression of “Harrison Bergeron,” one can see that trying to achieve total equality by any means is not the ideal way to attain a utopian society. Although the members of the public, for the most part, went along with what was happening it was primarily do to the handicaps that they were forced to wear. In the story the handicapper general Diana Moon-Glampers, a representation of a president or authority figure, is the main enforcer behind everyone wearing handicaps. The handicaps include chains for those who are gifted athletically, masks for those who are beautiful, and earpieces for those who are intellectually above average. “Harrison Bergeron at age fourteen is a physical specimen: seven feet tall, extremely strong, and exceedingly handsome.” Harrison contained many traits other than the ones obviously stated in the story. He had strength, leadership, athleticism, self-thought, and the ability to stand up for his beliefs, which no one else in the story possesses. Throughout the story the government does everything that it can to, in a sense, to hide Harrison. The government forces him to wear immense handicaps like huge head phones to distort his thinking, three hundred pounds of chains to hold him down, and glasses to impair his vision and give him head aches. Diana moon-glampers even has him arrested at the age of only fourteen on “suspicions of him over throwing the government.” Although Harrison faced all these adversities it did not stop him from breaking out of jail, taking over a telecast, and announcing himself the new emperor. Throughout the story, Harrison Bergeron faces many antagonists that he tries desperately to overcome. The handicapper general, Diana
Open Document