Figurative language adds to the mood and meaning of a piece of literature and helps differentiate literary texts from informative or scientific works.

In this short story, Vonnegut uses alliteration. Alliteration occurs when words beginning with the same consonant are placed close to one another. An example of this is the repeated "h" sounds in:

Harrison's appearance was Halloween and hardware.

The alliteration puts extra emphasis on the words beginning with h.

Another example of alliteration, this time using "b," is when the thoughts of George, Harrison's father, flee him like "bandits from a burglar alarm."

Vonnegut also uses dialogue. When Harrison's parents, George and Hazel, converse, this illustrates how the handicapping devices have made it difficult for them to have anything but the most inane kind of conversation:

"That was a real pretty dance, that dance they just did," said Hazel.

"Huh," said George.

"That dance—it was nice," said Hazel.

Imagery is description that uses any of the fives senses of sight, sound, taste, touch, and smell. In the example below, Vonnegut employs visual imagery (and alliteration) to show the ballerina's as masked and weighted down, saying they are:

burdened with sashweights and bags of birdshot, and their faces were masked ...

At the end of that sentence, Vonnegut uses a cliche—an overused phrase—that echoes the unoriginal way George has begun think in this dystopic society. The naturally intelligent George, reflects that the handicapping of the ballerinas insures that nobody:

would feel like something the cat drug in.

Vonnegut also uses sound imagery so that his readers have a strong sense of what the alarms that interrupt George's thoughts are like:

"Sounded like somebody hitting a milk bottle with a ball peen hammer," said George.

Kurt Vonnegut uses multiple types of figurative language in "Harrison Bergeron." Some examples include: 

• "His thoughts fled in panic, like bandits from a burglar alarm." (22)
• "In the race of life, Harrison carried three hundred pounds." (24)
• "Harrison's appearance was Halloween and hardware. (24)"
• "Harrison looked like a walking junkyard." (24)
• "Harrison snatched two musicians from their chairs, waved them like batons as he sang the music as he wanted it." (25)
• "Harrison tore the straps of his handicap harness like wet tissue paper, tore straps guaranteed to support five thousand pounds." (25)

Figurative language uses words or expressions in a way different from their literal meaning. Vonnegut utilizes different types of figurative language in his short story both to depict the scene for the reader and to establish the character of Harrison as someone impressive and larger than life.

"His thoughts fled in panic, like bandits from a burglar alarm." This is an example of personification. Personification is a type of figurative language where a non-human thing is given human qualities. In this case, his thoughts (not human) are fleeing like bandits.

"In the race of life, Harrison carried three hundred pounds." Vonnegut used this statement as hyperbole to establish Harrison's character as one with a heavy burden. Hyperbole is an exaggeration. Harrison doesn't really carry 300 pounds in a race—he is unduly weighed down by the handicaps deemed necessary for him by society. 

"Harrison's appearance was Halloween and hardware." This is a metaphor, which is a comparison between two dissimilar things. Harrison's appearance clearly is not a holiday or a set of tools or equipment. But Vonnegut uses the metaphor to create an image for the reader—of a man with grotesque, inhuman handicaps imposed by the state.

"Harrison looked like a walking junkyard." This is a simile, which is a comparison that uses the words "like" or "as." Vonnegut uses it to paint a picture of Harrison in his audience's mind. 

"Harrison snatched two musicians from their chairs, waved them like batons as he sang the music as he wanted it." This is another example of hyperbole along with a simile. Vonnegut exaggerates Harrison's treatment of the musicians because no one could wave people as easily as a light baton. He also compares the musicians to batons. 

"Harrison tore the straps of his handicap harness like wet tissue paper, tore straps guaranteed to support five thousand pounds." This is another example of hyperbole. Vonnegut exaggerates the way Harrison tears the straps, and he exaggerates the weight they could support. His use of figurative language creates a picture in the reader's mind that merely stating basic facts could not.

In "Harrison Bergeron," Vonnegut uses figurative language to set the scene for the reader and clearly establish Harrison as a character. The repeated use of figurative language in the story makes clear for the reader both the extent of Harrison's abilities and his resulting handicaps.

In Kurt Vonnegut's satire, "Harrison Bergeron," there are, among others, the following elements of figurative language:

SATIRE

The entire first paragraph is satiric as Vonnegut writes that in the year 2081 "everybody was finally equal."  People are "equal" in intelligence, physical appearance, and athletic abilty:

All this equality was due to the 211th, 212th, 213th Amendments to the Constitution, and to the unceasing vigilance of agents of the United States Handicapper General.

This satire continues into the next paragraph in which the author writes that "it was tragic."

Of course, the satiric language and tone continues throughout the story.

VERBAL IRONY

It is clear in the first paragraph of the story that Vonnegut is using the words equal and equality ironically.

METAPHOR

In describing the metaphor, the narrator states,

Her voice was a warm, luminous, timeless melody.

But, after apologizing [satire], she made her voice "uncompetitive": "Harrison Bergeron, age fourteen," she said in a grackle squawk....

In the race of life, Harrison carried three hundred pounds.

Screams and barking cries of consternation came from the television set.

 

SIMILE

but Harrison looked like a walking junkyard.

Harrison tore the straps of his handicap harness like wet tissue paper,...

The bar snapped like celery

They leaped like deer on the moon.

UNDERSTATEMENT

Within the example above on metaphor, there is understatement, as well:

...and she began again, making her voice absolutely uncompetitive.

PERSONIFICATION

The photograph of Harrison Bergeron on the screen jumped again and again,....

...for many was the time his own home had danced to the same crashing tune [figurative language]

ALLUSION

He flung away his rubber-ball nose, revealed a man that would have awed Thor, the god of thunder. 

HYPERBOLE

He flung away his rubber-ball nose, reavealed a man that would have awed Thor..... [obvious exaggeration=hyperbole]

They leaped like deer on the moon.

 

Give an example of one figurative element in "Harrison Bergeron" by Kurt Vonnegut.

Kurt Vonnegut's futuristic short story "Harrison Bergeron" is replete with figurative language of many kinds. You asked for one, so I chose simile because they are vivid and effective in making Vonnegut's point about the ridiculousness of equality (rather than equal opportunity) for all. I have italicized all the similes in the passages below.

He uses this simile to impress upon his readers how badly people will feel (in 2081, anyway) if they are not as beautiful as someone else.

[T]heir faces were masked, so that no one, seeing a free and graceful gesture or a pretty face, would feel like something the cat drug in.

Another handicap people are given is earpieces which distract the more intelligent citizens so they will not be able to think as clearly and therefore be more intelligent than anyone else.

"Sounded like somebody hitting a milk bottle with a ball peen hammer," said George.

The title character, Harrison Bergeron, is only fourteen years old, but he is an extraordinary young man in every way, In fact, he weighs three hundred pounds with all the handicaps he carries.

Harrison looked like a walking junkyard.

Harrison is wearing a contraption on his head, and when he begins to take off this handicap, "the bar snapped like celery."

Just before he is shot down by the Handicapper General, Harrison and a beautiful ballerina display beauty and grace, something which certainly makes them unequal to everyone else. First, though,

Harrison snatched two musicians from their chairs, waved them like batons.

Then, "a ballerina arose, swaying like a willow," and she and Harrison "leaped like deer on the moon."

All of these similes serve to depict the world of both oppressive equality and ecstatic and beautiful inequality.