Harrison Bergeron Group

Question:

ebb2741
ebb2741
Student
High School - 10th Grade

Why does Harrison represent the spirit of rebellion?

Kurt Vonnegut's "Harrison Bergeron"

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Posted by ebb2741 on Sunday August 16, 2009 at 7:31 PM and tagged with character analysis, harrison, harrison bergeron, theme, vonnegut.

Answers:

  1. mwestwood
    mwestwood Teacher
    Community / Jr. College

    eNotes Editor

    Already incarcerated for "suspicion of plotting to overthrow the government," Harrison Bergeron represents the spirit of rebellion when he escapes and enters the television studio where he cries,

    I am the Emperor!....Everyone must do as I say at once!....Now watch me become what I can become.

    Harrison tears the straps of his handicap harness tossing the devices away.  He smashes his headphones and spectacles against a wall.  He removes all the devices which make him "equal" to everyone else.  His act of rejecting mediocrity is one thing, but his declaration of making himself emperor is another.  This act suggests the ironic theme of corruptive power.  For, Harrison has gone beyond asserting his individual freedom as he rejects social equality forced upon him by handicaps to becoming dictatorial as he declares himself emperor. In "Harrison Bergeron," Vonnegut's satire of the contemporary quota system and social equality as well as the mind control of the media makes the protagonist Harrison a figure of rebellion.

    Sources:
    http://www.enotes.com/harrison-bergeron/themes

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    Posted by mwestwood on Sunday August 16, 2009 at 8:00 PM