Examples Of Hyperbole In Harrison Bergeron

In Harrison Bergeron, Kurt Vonnegut’s use of hyperbole helps to further his overall message of the story, in which oppressing humans in order to make everyone equal, only makes them rebel.
I think when Vonnegut says that “everybody was finally equal,” he used this as his overall hyperbole, because that was his main exaggeration. Not everyone is equal, because not everyone is being equally oppressed. Those who are beautiful and smart are made dumb and ugly, and those who were already ugly and dumb were left alone. Harrison’s mother had “perfectly average intelligence… had a little mental handicap radio in his ear.” Harrison’s mother was average, which the government required nothing of her to wear, because she on her own already had trouble thinking, and his father, who is above the normal intelligence, has to wear a handicap radio in order to make him a troubled thinker. This was the government’s way of making everyone equal – by oppressing society, and Vonnegut was able to interpret this message in his juvenalian satire. …show more content…
“And to offset his good looks… white teeth with black caps [.]” I believe that within these requirements, set on him and everyone else, is what finally got to Harrison – it’s what made him challenge the government by instating himself as “emperor”. The government isn’t spreading equality among its society, its spreading oppression. Vonnegut’s use of hyperbole makes this very clear to us. Vonnegut uses all of these “requirements” as an exaggeration to show us exactly how far the government is willing to go to make us all equal, but all that these limits do is ignite rebellion within the oppressed in order to fight