Symbolism In Harrison Bergeron

How can a story such as Harrison Bergeron, which takes place in the future, contain so much relevance in today’s world? By means of symbolism, and Vonnegut uses it in many ways throughout this short story. Symbols in a story, allows us as readers to make comparisons from the reading to our lives. Symbolism is the practice of using a person, place, or thing to represent a more rational idea. Symbolism is expressed in Harrison Bergeron, by Harrison Bergeron, the handicapper general, Diana Moon Glampers, and of course, the handicaps themselves. The main character, Harrison Bergeron, is a key symbol for freedom and rebellion in this story. His greater knowledge and stature alone showed the potential of what a civilization fully based on equality could have been had it not been for the handicaps. His physical and mental attributes allowed him to be a nearly perfect human, which made him appear to be even more forceful because of the average person’s handicaps. “Even as I stand here… …show more content…
This concept was run and controlled by Diana Moon Glampers, who appeared to be of average intelligence, but because everyone else was now below average, due to handicaps, she was more powerful. Her character for the most represented the laws themselves. While some were inspired by Harrison’s actions, when the general, Diana Moon Glampers, shot him, the people were scared back to their previous, below average, mental state, and felt under control of the government. What I found interesting is that it appeared no one in the government had handicaps, yet they enforced handicaps very strictly on the citizens. “…the Handicapper General, came into the studio with a double-barreled ten-gauge shot gun… Diana Moon Glampers loaded the gun again. She aimed it at the musicians and told them they had ten seconds to get their handicaps back on”