HARRISON BERGERON HARRISON Take out your picture of

HARRISON BERGERON

HARRISON? Take out your picture of Harrison 3. Consider the character of Harrison in terms of both his physical qualities and personality traits. On your picture, determine why he has been burdened with all of these handicaps.

HARRISON A THREAT? Why is Harrison Bergeron such a threat to society? How old is he? How does Harrison behave? How do others react to him?

DEFINING MAP Create a thinking map defining the functions of the agents of "the United States Handicapper General” Answer the following questions in the FRAME OF REFERENCE: What threats to society do such agents combat? What political processes could lead to such absurdities? How is radical mediocrity achieved and enforced?

MASS MEDIA To what extent do television, radio, and the mass media generally function like George's mental handicap radio? Consider Neil Postman's observation in his book Amusing Ourselves to Death: "this ensemble of electronic techniques called into being a new world-a peek-a-boo world, where now this event, now that, pops into view for a moment, then vanishes again. It is a world without much coherence or sense; a world that does not permit us to do anything; a world that is, like the child's game of peek-a-boo, entirely self-contained. But like peek-a-boo, it is also endlessly entertaining" (77). "Infotainment" did you say?

SIGNIFICANCE? What is the significance of the real Harrison suddenly appearing on the TV set where his escape from prison was being reported? Why does he repeatedly say, "I am the Emperor!"? Is Vonnegut suggesting a return to feudalism and its aristocratic political institutions?

WHAT WAS HE THINKING? What is Harrison trying to accomplish? Harrison says "I shall now select my Empress!" How does the motif of the rescue of the 'damsel in distress' translate in socioeconomic terms? What is suggested concerning the ownership of the means of (re)production?

WORDS HAVE MEANING… What is the significance of Harrison telling the musicians, "I'll make you barons and dukes and earls"? What different values underlie such ennoblement? What role do beauty and aesthetics play in Harrison's rebellion?

A KISS… OR MORE? What is the meaning of Harrison's and the ballerina's flight-like dance and kissing? What is meant by the statement, "not only were the laws of the land abandoned, but the law of gravity and the laws of motion as well" ?

HIDDEN MEANING… What is the meaning of Harrison and the ballerina being shot down by Diana Moon Glampers, the Handicapper General? How are we as readers supposed to react to Harrison and the ballerina’s execution? What are the suggestions of her name? What ethos (culture/symbolic meaning) is conjured by the mythological associations of the Greek goddess Diana and the moon? (e. g. coldness, sterility).

ENDING… 1. How do Hazel and George react to the televised murder of their son? Why does Hazel Bergeron forget what she is crying about? What is the meaning of the last words of the Bergerons, "that one was a doozy" ?

IRONY dance speak think handicap Dancers who can’t _______ Announcers who can’t ________ Smart people who can’t _________ Everyone has artificial __________

SATIRE Vonnegut pokes fun at government policies that: punish the gifted and successful, redistribute resources, and encroach upon civil liberties. The tone is satirical; theme is serious. (explain this statement)

EQUALITY What's striking about Vonnegut's story is its hyperbole: equality is enforced in every identifiable respect. What are the appropriate limits to ensuring equality and why?

EQUAL RESULTS? ? ? "Equal is not always fair in 'Harrison Bergeron'": The Declaration of Independence states "all men are created equal. " Does this mean everyone should be the same? Should everyone have the same results? Explain Some, including the government in "Harrison Bergeron, " misunderstand the meaning of equality, thinking it guarantees equal results as opposed to equal opportunity under the law and in the eyes of God.

HOW CAN BIG GOVERNMENT BE DANGEROUS? What could happen if the government had too much authority? Can you think of any past, or present, governments that had too much power? How does the story "Harrison Bergeron" explore the dangers of giving government too much authority? What are some examples?

DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE Read the Declaration of Independence. Discuss the phrase "all men are created equal and that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. " What did Thomas Jefferson and other founding fathers mean? How have modern politicians warped the expression? Can an equality of results be obtained? Has equality under the law been obtained?

THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION Even the U. S. Constitution, a document created to limit government, has been turned into an instrument of oppression by Diana Moon Glampers and her kind by adding 186 amendments to it. How is this ironic?

REALITY… What actual developments, policies, trends involving government-enforced equalizing, "handicapping, " in America might Vonnegut be parodying in "Harrison Bergeron"? What conceptions of equality motivate such policies and trends?

THEME: THE DANGER OF TOTAL EQUALITY In “Harrison Bergeron, ” Vonnegut suggests that total equality is not an ideal worth striving for, as many people believe, but a mistaken goal that is dangerous in both execution and outcome. To achieve physical and mental equality among all Americans, the government in Vonnegut’s story tortures its citizens. The beautiful must wear hideous masks or disfigure themselves, the intelligent must listen to earsplitting noises that impede their ability to think, and the graceful and strong must wear weights around their necks at all hours of the day. The insistence on total equality seeps into the citizens, who begin to dumb themselves down or hide their special attributes. Some behave this way because they have internalized the government’s goals, and others because they fear that the government will punish them severely if they display any remarkable abilities. The outcome of this quest for equality is disastrous. America becomes a land of cowed, stupid, slow people. Government officials murder the extremely gifted with no fear of reprisal. Equality is more or less achieved, but at the cost of freedom and individual achievement.

THEMES: POWER OF Television is an. THE immensely powerful force that. TELEVISION sedates, rules, and terrorizes the characters in “Harrison Bergeron. ” To emphasize television’s overwhelming importance in society, Vonnegut makes it a constant presence in his story: the entire narrative takes place as George and Hazel sit in front of the TV. Television functions primarily as a sedative for the masses. Hazel’s cheeks are wet with tears, but because she is distracted by the ballerinas on the screen, she doesn’t remember why she is crying. The government also uses television as a way of enforcing its laws. When dangerously talented people like Harrison are on the loose, for example, the government broadcasts warnings about them. They show a photograph of Harrison with his good looks mutilated and his strength dissipated. The photo is a way of identifying the supposedly dangerous escapee, but it is also a way of intimidating television viewers. It gives them a visual example of the handicaps imposed on those who do not suppress their own abilities. Television further turns into a means of terrorizing the citizens when Diana Moon Glampers shoots Harrison. The live execution is an effective way of showing viewers what will happen to those who dare to disobey the law.

MOTIF OF NOISE The noises broadcast by the government increase in intensity and violence during the course of the story, paralleling the escalating tragedy of George’s and Hazel’s lives. When the story begins, a buzzer sounds in George’s head as he watches the ballerinas on TV. As he tries to think about the dancers, who are weighed down and masked to counteract their lightness and beauty, the sound of a bottle being smashed with a hammer rings in his ears. When he thinks about his son, he is interrupted by the sound of twenty-one guns firing, an excessively violent noise that foreshadows Harrison’s murder. Thoughts about the laws of equality and the competition that existed in the old days are shattered by the sound of a siren, a noise that suggests the extent to which the government has literally become thought police. As Harrison barges into the television studio, George hears a car crash, a noise that connotes the injury of multiple people. The noise that interrupts George roughly at the same time that his son is being executed on live TV is described only as “a handicap signal, ” an ominously vague phrase. Vonnegut suggests that the noise is so awful that it can’t be mentioned, just as the murder of Harrison is so awful that George and Hazel can’t fully comprehend it. The final noise George hears is that of a riveting gun, an appropriate echo of the way Diana Moon Glampers killed Harrison.

SYMBOLS: HARRISON BERGERON Harrison represents the spark of defiance and individuality that still exists in some Americans. He has none of the cowardice and passivity that characterize nearly everyone else in the story. Rather, he is an exaggerated alpha male, a towering, brave, breathtakingly strong man who hungers for power. When he storms into the TV studio and announces that he is the emperor, the greatest ruler who has ever lived, he sounds power-mad and perhaps insane. At the same time, however, his boastfulness is exhilarating. It is an exaggerated expression of the defiant urge to excel that some Americans still feel. When Harrison rips off his steel restraints and handicaps, the physical strength and beauty he reveals reminds some viewers that underneath their own restraints and handicaps, they too are still talented or lovely. But in the end, Harrison, symbol of defiance, is killed in cold blood by Diana Moon Glampers, the administrator of government power. The quick, efficient murder suggests that if a defiant spirit still exists in America in 2081, its days are numbered.