FREE ESSAY ON HARRISON BERGERON A PICTURE OF INEQUALITY

HARRISON BERGERON A PICTURE OF INEQUALITY

Harrison Bergeron an 
Illustration of false equality
The year was 2081, and everybody was finally equal (208). This in a nutshell is the
premise of Kurt Vonnegut's short story Harrison Bergeron. Vonnegut's title character
Harrison Bergeron is a picture perfect human being: very tall, handsome and intelligent.
Although our society would deem these desirable attributes, in this story's 2081 AD
setting they are highly objectionable. Kurt Vonnegut uses the character Harrison Bergeron
to illustrate the danger of imposing total equality on a diversified population.
In Bergeron's society uniformity is strictly imposed upon all citizens. Physical
adjustments are levied to achieve this uniformity: tall people wear weights, disturbing
sounds administered through earpieces deter intelligent thought, and hideous masks
conceal beauty (208, 210-211). Handicap Generals continually clear citizens' minds
allowing them to think only in the present. These controls force the suppression of all
individuality. 
Because of his extraordinary innate attributes, fourteen-year-old Harrison contends with
extravagant controls. His seven-foot height dictates he wear scrap metal weighing three
hundred pounds. Large headphones, not earpieces, are required to subdue his intelligence.
His spectacles cause him to be half-blind and give him whanging headaches (211). In order
to offset his looks the Handicap Generals require that he wear a red rubber ball for his
nose, shave his eyebrows and cap his white teeth in black. In Harrison, Vonnegut has
obviously created an exceptional human being. 
When Harrison decides to escape his bonds he is considered an enormous threat. The
television station interrupts its normal broadcasts to warn the populous of him,
describing him as a genius and an athlete...extremely dangerous (210). Breaking into the
broadcast studio he appears Clanking, clownish and huge, Harrison stood in the center of
the studio. The knob of the uprooted studio door was still in his hand (211). Harrison
realizes his power, proclaiming Even as I stand here- crippled, hobbled, sickened-I am a
greater ruler than any man who ever lived! Now watch me become what I can become...
(211). His proclamation reveals the maturity of a fourteen-year-old, but indicates his
realization of his potential. Harrison issues the invitation to the first woman who dares
rise to her fee claim her mate and her throne (211). A ballerina who has the courage to
join him, reveals with the removal of her restraints she is blindingly beautiful (212).
Before he is killed and all memory of him is erraticated, Harrison shares with his
Empress the ecstasy of pure, unfettered emotion through music and dance. Harrison gives
all those who are witnessing this an example of what humans can be, proving he is not an
exception.
The almost instantaneous removal of the memory of Harrison and his televised murder from
the minds of even his parents is disconcerting. To maintain a status quo equality no past
history or future advancements can be allowed in Vonnegut's scenario. This ultimate
politically correct society has no potential for advancement. Medical, technological and
aesthetic innovations would come to a halt; the consequences of a stagnant society
include vulnerability to natural disasters and diseases. This has happened in past
history as well. In the dark ages evolution came to an end. During this period of time
people suffered and died because of plague and famine. 
Kurt Vonnegut uses the character Harrison Bergeron to illustrate the danger of imposing
total equality on a diversified population. Hazards are inherent in a freethinking
society; when Harrison realizes his potential his first reaction is to become a dictator.
But his next response is to share his newly released sense of freedom. And in sharing it
he discovers the ecstasy of creativity and shared emotion. Vonnegut thus reveals the vast
potential for human evolution. Harrison's rapid evolution from a dictator's stance to
sharing his ecstay illustrates Vonnegut's belief in the potential good of mankind's
ability if given the freedom to evolve. One wonders what kind of society Vonnegut would
have created had Harrison not been murdered