Harrison Bergeron

"Harrison Bergeron"
Author Kurt Vonnegut
Country United States
Language English
Genre(s) Dystopia, science fiction, political fiction, short story
Published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (first release)
Publication type Periodical
Media type Print (magazine)
Publication date 1961

"Harrison Bergeron" is a satirical and dystopian science-fiction short story written by Kurt Vonnegut and first published in October 1961. Originally published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, the story was republished in the author's Welcome to the Monkey House collection in 1968.

Replacing the economic equality with the over-stretched one, i.e. complete equality in terms of equal looks, brains and body, the story satirizes the American Cold War anti-Communism propaganda that portrayed the former as equally absurd as the latter. Mostly overlooked by American interpreters and readers, the real object of satire is revealed at the end of the story with the main character breaking the law of gravity to achieve his over-stretched idea of freedom, and declaring himself "the Emperor".[1] This interpretation is confirmed by the author himself, stating that his satire is "about intelligence and talent, and wealth is not a demonstration of either one".[2]

Plot

In the year 2081, amendments to the Constitution dictate that all Americans are fully equal and not allowed to be smarter, better-looking, or more physically able than anyone else. The Handicapper General's agents enforce the equality laws, forcing citizens to wear "handicaps": masks for those who are too beautiful, radios inside the ears of intelligent people, and heavy weights for the strong or athletic.

One April, 14-year-old Harrison Bergeron, an intelligent and athletic teenager, is taken away from his parents, George and Hazel Bergeron, by the government. They are barely aware of the tragedy, as Hazel has "average" intelligence (a euphemism for stupidity), and George has a handicap radio installed by the government to regulate his above-average intelligence.

Hazel and George watch ballet on television. They comment on the dancers, who are weighed down to counteract their gracefulness and masked to hide their attractiveness. George's thoughts are continually interrupted by the different noises emitted by his handicap radio, which piques Hazel's curiosity and imagination regarding handicaps. Noticing his exhaustion, Hazel urges George to lie down and rest his "handicap bag", 47 pounds (21 kg) of weights locked around George's neck. She suggests taking a few of the weights out of the bag, but George resists, aware of the illegality of such an action.

On television, a news reporter struggles to read the bulletin and hands it to the ballerina wearing the most grotesque mask and heaviest weights. She begins reading in her unacceptably natural, beautiful voice, then apologizes before switching to a more unpleasant voice. Harrison's escape from prison is announced, and a full-body photograph of Harrison is shown, indicating that he is seven feet (2.1 m) tall and burdened by three hundred pounds (140 kg) of handicaps.

George recognizes his son for a moment, before having the thought eliminated by his radio. Harrison himself then storms the television studio in an attempt to overthrow the government. He calls himself the Emperor and rips off all of his handicaps, along with the handicaps of a ballerina who he proclaims his "Empress". He orders the musicians to play, promising them royalty if they do their best. Unhappy with their initial attempt, Harrison takes control for a short while, and the music improves. After listening and being moved by the music, Harrison and his Empress dance while flying to the ceiling, then pause in mid-air to kiss.

Diana Moon Glampers, the Handicapper General, enters the studio and kills Harrison and the Empress with a ten-gauge double-barreled shotgun. She forces the musicians to put on their handicaps, and the television goes dark. George, unaware of the televised incident, returns from the kitchen and asks Hazel why she was crying, to which she replies that something sad happened on television that she cannot remember. He comforts her and they return to their average lives.

Characters

Style

Here, Vonnegut is influenced by his early work as a journalist. His sentences are short and easily understood so as to be largely accessible.[4] A dystopian setting enhances his social and political critique by imagining a future world founded on absolute equality through handicaps assigned to various above-average people to counter their natural advantages. A similar subject can be found in L. P. Hartley's dystopian novel Facial Justice from the previous year of 1960.

Yet Vonnegut also punctuates his dystopia with humor. Even the most horrifying scenes are underlined by jokes or absurdity. When the news announcer is supposed to read a news bulletin he has to hand it to a nearby ballerina because of his speech impediment, and the ballerina then alters her voice to a "grackle squawk" because it would be "unfair" to use her natural voice, described as a "warm, luminous, timeless melody". This absurdity highlights the madness of the world of "Harrison Bergeron".

Parallels with The Sirens of Titan

A similar dystopian society to that of "Harrison Bergeron" appears in Vonnegut's 1959 novel The Sirens of Titan. When the Space Wanderer returns to Earth he finds a society in which handicaps are used to make all people equal, eradicating the supposedly ruinous effects of blind luck on human society. The narrator claims that now "the weakest and the meekest were bound to admit, at last, that the race of life was fair".

The strong are burdened with "handicaps" (consisting of "bags of lead shot" hung from various parts of the body) and the beautiful hide their advantageous appearance through "frumpish clothes, bad posture, chewing gum and a ghoulish use of cosmetics". Unlike in "Harrison Bergeron", the citizens in The Sirens of Titan choose to wear these handicaps voluntarily as an act of faith towards the Church of God the Utterly Indifferent, although it is suggested that not to do so would invite social condemnation. There are no handicaps for above-average intelligence mentioned in The Sirens of Titan. The society of Harrison Bergeron addresses differences in intellectual and cognitive ability and their entailing advantages.

Adaptations

The story has been adapted for the screen at least four times.

In the real world

In 2005 the story was quoted by attorneys in a brief before the Kansas Supreme Court. Vonnegut was quoted as saying that while he did not mind the story being used in the suit, he disagreed with the lawyers' interpretation of it.[2] U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia quoted the story in PGA Tour, Inc. v. Martin.

See also

References

  1. Hattenhauer, Darryl (Fall 1998). "The Politics of Kurt Vonnegut's "Harrison Bergeron"" (requires registration). Studies in Short Fiction. 35 (4).
  2. 1 2 Rothschild, Scott (2005-05-05). "Vonnegut: Lawyers could use literary lesson". LJWorld.com. Retrieved 2009-08-06.
  3. Khawaja, Zainab (2011): Socialism, Communism, & Harrison Bergeron.
  4. Allen, William Rodney (1991): Understanding Kurt Vonnegut. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, p. 3.
  5. Harrison Bergeron at the Internet Movie Database
  6. "2081" by Jow Crowe, Revolution Science Fiction, retrieved 2010-01-29

Further reading

External links

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