Harrison’s Warning “Harrison Bergeron,” written by Kurt Vonnegut, is a story about a perfectly equal society taken place in the year 2081. A society through which the government handicaps everyone to make everyone equal in every way and is proven through the author’s use of imagery in his writing. Equality is very important to society and, “The original and traditionally American concept of equality is ‘equality under the law’ (Moore, Stephen, and Peter 29). Being feared from his intelligence, athleticism, and good looks Harrison is handicapped by society and is visualized throughout the story through the author’s use of imagery of his handicaps. First, Harrison is a young man with a more than average intelligence, is feared by his government,
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Harrison’s athletic handicap has him looking, “like a walking junkyard,” as a pile of scrap metal (Vonnegut 43). Harrison’s athletic handicap only adds to him being tired of the government controlling him in every way and contributes to him wanting to tear his handicaps off and get others to see what he really is. Harrison being strong and athletic, “tore the straps of his handicap harness like we tissue paper,” proves to the reader that he is very strong and is feared by his society, and he is willing to break all handicaps to get society to see how their government is controlling everyone once and for all (Vonnegut 43). The athletic handicap of carrying three hundred pounds of scrap metal, as the author describes, is one of Harrison’s strengths and his government’s way of controlling him and ultimately resulting in everyone being the same in every …show more content…
The government handicapped Harrison of his good looks by requiring him to modify the way he looks, “the H-G men required that he wear at all times a red rubber ball for a nose, keep his eyebrows shaved off, and to cover his even white teeth with black caps at snaggletooth random” (Vonnegut 42). Harrison’s handicap of his good looks only makes him even more furious and motivates him to break the law by breaking his handicaps once and for all. Harrison’s society is truly governed by a government that wants everyone to look the same; however, Harrison wants to be different by letting the people know in his society that they are all being blinded by their government. The author describes Harrison being tired of the handicap that handicaps his good looks when, “He flung away his rubber-ball nose, revealed a man that would have awed Thor, the god of thunder,” (Vonnegut 43). This proves that Harrison’s society is scared to tell people the truth and goes to great lengths to keep people in the dark about their true talents and only motivates Harrison even more to get people to see what he can contribute to their
Harrison’s athletic handicap has him looking, “like a walking junkyard,” as a pile of scrap metal (Vonnegut 43). Harrison’s athletic handicap only adds to him being tired of the government controlling him in every way and contributes to him wanting to tear his handicaps off and get others to see what he really is. Harrison being strong and athletic, “tore the straps of his handicap harness like we tissue paper,” proves to the reader that he is very strong and is feared by his society, and he is willing to break all handicaps to get society to see how their government is controlling everyone once and for all (Vonnegut 43). The athletic handicap of carrying three hundred pounds of scrap metal, as the author describes, is one of Harrison’s strengths and his government’s way of controlling him and ultimately resulting in everyone being the same in every …show more content…
The government handicapped Harrison of his good looks by requiring him to modify the way he looks, “the H-G men required that he wear at all times a red rubber ball for a nose, keep his eyebrows shaved off, and to cover his even white teeth with black caps at snaggletooth random” (Vonnegut 42). Harrison’s handicap of his good looks only makes him even more furious and motivates him to break the law by breaking his handicaps once and for all. Harrison’s society is truly governed by a government that wants everyone to look the same; however, Harrison wants to be different by letting the people know in his society that they are all being blinded by their government. The author describes Harrison being tired of the handicap that handicaps his good looks when, “He flung away his rubber-ball nose, revealed a man that would have awed Thor, the god of thunder,” (Vonnegut 43). This proves that Harrison’s society is scared to tell people the truth and goes to great lengths to keep people in the dark about their true talents and only motivates Harrison even more to get people to see what he can contribute to their