Harrison Bergeron Group at eNotes

I agree with #3. Even though Harrison dies, I don't see the story as a...

Thu, 4 Sep 2008 21:02:28 PST

I agree with #3. Even though Harrison dies, I don't see the story as a tragedy. Vonnegut was making a point about individual freedom of expression, not about totalitarianism in general - that territory had been covered many times by Orwell, Huxley, and Rand by the time he wrote Harrison Bergeron - so for Harrison to take up with some underground band of rebel activists would have led equally to the diminution of his personality. Instead,...

I don't see Harrison Bergeron as being prideful. He is a young man who...

Wed, 4 Jun 2008 22:50:16 PST

I don't see Harrison Bergeron as being prideful. He is a young man who has been weighed down with "handicaps" and who has been jailed. I don't see him as having a major flaw. He simply broke out of jail and decided to "buck" the system and take over the television station. I saw that as very brave, actually. It may not have been super smart to do what he did because it got him killed; however, he died happy and...

Harrison's main flaw is probably his pride. Harrison was extremely...

Wed, 4 Jun 2008 17:13:26 PST

Harrison's main flaw is probably his pride. Harrison was extremely intelligent in the world of general acceptance and neutrality. In the society of the story, Harrison was so exceptionally smart that his handicaps, items worn by governmental order to decrease his God-given superiority, were greater than any other person's. Harrison escapes these handicaps and his prison, grabs a ballerina who also was heavily encumbered with handicaps,...

What would you say are the flaws of the character Harrison Bergeron?

Wed, 4 Jun 2008 15:53:52 PST

What would you say are the flaws of the character Harrison Bergeron?

Very interesting responses. :) I also find the students get into...

Mon, 14 Apr 2008 08:29:14 PST

Very interesting responses. :) I also find the students get into discussions about this story as it satirizes government and the control they exercise over our society. This never fails to bring in good discussion!

I love to use this story in my classes because like Kwoo said, it...

Mon, 14 Apr 2008 07:36:47 PST

I love to use this story in my classes because like Kwoo said, it generates a lot of discussion. I have a huge gang culture at my school so the discussions sometimes become very heated when we talk about equality on this scale. We discuss lots of hypotheticals in our class and it gets pretty interesting. It's a great story to kick off lessons about tolerance and why it's great to be different.

As we've discussed in some of the other groups, our society seems to...

Mon, 14 Apr 2008 06:00:26 PST

As we've discussed in some of the other groups, our society seems to promote mediocrity, which is at the heart of this story. What stands out for me is how above-average people have to be handicapped by wearing bags of birdshot so they'd be no better than the average person. I wonder if this satire might actually be prophetic!

"Harrison Bergeron" as a Satire

Sat, 12 Apr 2008 18:25:52 PST

I teach this story to my college freshmen in my Introduction to Literature course and it never fails to generate a LOT of discussion. My question to everyone is this...what makes this story so memorable for you personally or for people you know who've read it? I ask my students this each semester and wanted to see what people say about it here.

There are many interesting facts about Kurt Vonnegut, and I have listed...

Sat, 16 Feb 2008 20:02:38 PST

There are many interesting facts about Kurt Vonnegut, and I have listed some below that were new to me and I found to be interesting. I hope you find them interesting also.On February 13, 1945, Dresden, Germany was bombed killing 135,000 citizens. Vonnegut and fellow Allied POWs took shelter in an underground meatlocker, which was the basis of his book, Slaughterhouse Five. There is a song by the pop-punk band Nebula titled "So It...

I think the quote that summarizes the story of "Harrison...

Sat, 16 Feb 2008 18:51:00 PST

I think the quote that summarizes the story of "Harrison Bergeron" is from The Declaration of Independence":"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the...

Harrison Bergeron has many meanings or themes throughout. Freedom is one...

Sun, 10 Feb 2008 14:53:10 PST

Harrison Bergeron has many meanings or themes throughout. Freedom is one theme that is seen often and in different lights in the story. First, there is no freedom for the characters in the story. There is no freedom of expression as we see through the ballerinas who are terrible to watch, there is no freedom to be an individual because of the equalizing forced handicaps everyone in the society must adorn all the time. Harrison's parents...

I assume by meaning that you want the main theme of the story. I would...

Sun, 10 Feb 2008 14:47:34 PST

I assume by meaning that you want the main theme of the story. I would say that Vonnegut, the author, is showing us what happens in a society where competition is no longer allowed because the government has decided what is "normal" and what isn't. Anyone who is considered to be above normal, like Harrison and his father, is handicapped. No one who is less than normal should ever feel bad about him/herself. Society has become one...

What is the meaning or theme of the story "Harrison Bergeron"...

Sun, 10 Feb 2008 14:03:47 PST

What is the meaning or theme of the story "Harrison Bergeron" and how are the characters relevant to that meaning?

The setting for this story is a society in which equality is forced on...

Thu, 31 Jan 2008 16:42:43 PST

The setting for this story is a society in which equality is forced on all people by the government. The problem, however, is that if all people are equal, then no one can excel. Unless all people are superior in intellect and ability (the "superman" theory), then all will be average or even worse.You will find an excellent essay on this topic here at eNotes, entitled "Conditions in Society." I have placed a link to that...

Discuss the cult of mediocrity in "Harrison Bergeron."

Thu, 31 Jan 2008 16:30:28 PST

Discuss the cult of mediocrity in "Harrison Bergeron."

George did not remove the lead balls from the bag around his neck...

Tue, 8 Jan 2008 18:37:10 PST

George did not remove the lead balls from the bag around his neck because, as he mentions in the story, he's gotten used to them. It's one of the tragedies of that society that people's imposed handicaps are so familiar that they seem like part of them. He also doesn’t remove them because there would be a fine and penalty.

George does not remove some of the pellets from the fourty seven pound...

Tue, 8 Jan 2008 18:33:58 PST

George does not remove some of the pellets from the fourty seven pound bag of bird-shot around his neck while he is at home because the thought really doesn't occur to him. Even if the thought did occur to him it would be driven from his mind almost immediately by the mental handicap he was given by Diana Moon Glampers, the Handicapper General. The reason the thought never occurs to him is because this is the society in which they live. The...

In Harrison Bergeron, why does George choose to not remove some...

Tue, 8 Jan 2008 17:33:20 PST

In Harrison Bergeron, why does George choose to not remove some birdshot from the canvas bag around his neck to lighten his load?

"All men are Not Created Equal and it is the duty of the Government...

Wed, 14 Nov 2007 14:58:10 PST

"All men are Not Created Equal and it is the duty of the Government to render them so". This is the essence of the story, the pinnacle of the plot. I use this statement to describe the story to those who've never heard of it.

"THE YEAR WAS 2081, and everybody was finally equal. They weren't...

Fri, 9 Nov 2007 07:34:09 PST

"THE YEAR WAS 2081, and everybody was finally equal. They weren't only equal before God and the law. They were equal every which way. Nobody was smarter than anybody else. Nobody was better looking than anybody else. Nobody was stronger or quicker than anybody else. "The reason this is such a well put quotation is because this is what the society is about, equalizing all of its members. If someone is beautiful he or she is forced to...