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Harrison Bergeron
"Harrison Bergeron" contains much irony. The leaders of this society have tried to achieve equality by making everyone equally talented, equally beautiful, equally intelligent, and so on. But...
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Harrison Bergeron
Mood refers to the emotions a story evokes in the reader; tone refers to the author's attitude about the subject matter that comes through in the writing. Tone will usually remain constant in a...
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Harrison Bergeron
When Harrison makes this statement, he is weighed down by all his handicapping gear. After he says it, he begins to rip off everything that is weighing him down, such as his handicap body harness,...
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Harrison Bergeron
In a work of literature, situational irony occurs when there's a discrepancy between what's expected and what actually happens. A prime example of this takes place in "Harrison Bergeron" when we're...
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Harrison Bergeron
The climax of a story comes when the conflict or tension reaches the highest pitch. In "Harrison Bergeron" this comes when Harrison appears on TV, calls himself an "Emperor," rips off the devices...
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Harrison Bergeron
In Vonnegut's future dystopian America, every citizen is completely equal in all facets of life due to the 211th, 212th, and 213th Amendments to the Constitution. In addition to the three...
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Harrison Bergeron
Dramatic irony occurs when the audience knows something that the characters in a story do not. In Harrison Bergeron, George and Hazel buy in completely to their society's values. The chief value is...
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Harrison Bergeron
Vonnegut is most probably offering us a political metaphor for what can happen when people throw off the shackles of government control and live their lives the way they want to. The totalitarian...
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Harrison Bergeron
Harrison is taken away by the government men in the month of April. This is a time of year which, according to Vonnegut, still drives people crazy by not being springtime. And there's certainly...
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Harrison Bergeron
“Harrison Bergeron” is Vonnegut’s jab at making fun of the American fondness for the ‘lowest common denominator’ in certain aspects of civic life. To the objective sociopolitical and...
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Harrison Bergeron
Vonnegut describes Harrison Bergeron as looking like a "walking junkyard" as his cumbersome handicaps hang from his body without their typical military neatness. In addition to the extraordinary...
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Harrison Bergeron
All of these options except B are perfectly plausible answers. However, I would argue that D best expresses the underlying message of "Harrison Bergeron." All too often, we take our individuality,...
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Harrison Bergeron
The masks, earphones, body weights, and headgear are designed to handicap individuals who are more attractive or smarter or faster than others. As the narrator says in the first sentence,...
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Harrison Bergeron
In the opening paragraph of the story, Vonnegut boldly establishes the theme of equality by declaring that "everybody was finally equal" in the year 2081 and people were completely equal in all...
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Harrison Bergeron
When Harrison Bergeron enters the television studio, the first thing he does is to proclaim himself Emperor. The second is to demand obedience from everyone. The third is to declare himself the...
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Harrison Bergeron
"Harrison Bergeron" is set in a society in which everyone is "equal." The word "equal," however, is ambiguous and Vonnegut's dystopia has settled on the worst possible interpretation, which is...
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Harrison Bergeron
The prevailing atmosphere is one of oppressive absurdity. This is a world in which citizens are forced to wear handicaps as part of an attempt by the government to make everyone equal. The...
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Harrison Bergeron
He tried to think a little about the ballerinas. They weren't really very good-no better than anybody else would have been, anyway. They were burdened with sashweights and bags of birdshot, and...
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Harrison Bergeron
Kurt Vonnegut's celebrated short story "Harrison Bergeron" is considered a dystopian science fiction short story that is satirical in nature. In "Harrison Bergeron," Vonnegut creates a dystopian...
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Harrison Bergeron
One effect of Harrison declaring himself emperor is that he pulls off all the handicappers that constrain his movements, setting himself free. Second, he chooses an empress, saying he will pick the...
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Harrison Bergeron
The ballet is an example of situational irony, which occurs when events turn out differently than we expect. The ballet is ironic because Harrison and the ballerina dance beautifully together,...
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Harrison Bergeron
George and Hazel are Harrison Bergeron's parents, who live a difficult, oppressed life under the government's strict equality policy. In Vonnegut's celebrated short story "Harrison Bergeron," the...
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Harrison Bergeron
The major goal of this society is, evidently, to render everyone equal: no one is smarter than anyone else or better looking or stronger or faster or more graceful. People who would be smarter or...
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Harrison Bergeron
There is something unrealistic, it should be noted, at the heart of Harrison Bergeron's character: everything about him is larger than life. He is only fourteen years old, and yet he is already an...
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Harrison Bergeron
In Vonnegut's celebrated short story "Harrison Bergeron," the United States Constitution has been amended to ensure that each citizen is completely equal in every facet of life. In the year 2081,...
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Harrison Bergeron
Both "Harrison Bergeron" and Brave New World are examples of dystopic literature. Vonnegut's short story depicts a future in which society's concerns with egalitarianism have become oppressive in...
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Harrison Bergeron
In the dystopian society depicted in "Harrison Bergeron," it's considered unacceptable for anyone to be smarter than anyone else. Harrison's father, George, certainly falls into this category. A...
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Harrison Bergeron
Harrison is ridiculously large and strong, as well as incredibly good-looking. For this reason, he has been weighted down with three hundred pounds of scrap metal, saddled with thick glasses, and...
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Harrison Bergeron
Harrison made choices that resulted in his being taken away by the "H-G men"—the men working for the Handicapper General, Diana Moon Glampers—as we learn when his father, George, thinks briefly...
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Harrison Bergeron
The science-fiction short story "Harrison Bergeron" by Kurt Vonnegut is set in the year 2081. To discern what Vonnegut's satirical targets are, read the story carefully and note where he uses...
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Harrison Bergeron
The main moral or ethical dilemma the story wrestles with is how to mediate or juggle the competing priorities of treating all people with dignity and equality while recognizing that some have...
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Harrison Bergeron
Ultimately, "Harrison Bergeron" is a criticism of egalitarianism (as well as society's tendency to advance social progress through government action). Vonnegut advances this criticism by creating a...
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Harrison Bergeron
In Vonnegut's futuristic American society, the government has mandated that every citizen must be equal in every facet of life to ensure complete uniformity. In order to create a perfectly equal...
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Harrison Bergeron
The science fiction short story "Harrison Bergeron" by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. is a dark dystopian comedy in which everyone is "equal every which way." To accomplish this, a branch of the government led...
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Harrison Bergeron
Kurt Vonnegut begins "Harrison Bergeron" by remarking that in the year 2081, everyone was finally equal: They weren't only equal before God and the law. They were equal every which way. Nobody was...
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Harrison Bergeron
George has to wear a miniature radio transmitter in his ear. This is tuned to a government radio station which emits loud noises approximately every twenty seconds. George is highly intelligent,...
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Harrison Bergeron
After watching the ballerinas on television, George comments that they dance "no better than anybody else." This is because they are handicapped, or weighed down, by "sashweights and bags of...
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Harrison Bergeron
Hazel suggests that George should take out just a few balls from the bag of birdshot weighing forty-seven pounds, which is padlocked round his neck. George grimly replies that the penalty for doing...
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Harrison Bergeron
It is initially unclear what the news announcer is saying because he has a serious speech impediment, like all announcers in this dystopian society. Since it is impossible for him to make himself...
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Harrison Bergeron
We learn in the opening to "Harrison Bergeron" that: All this equality was due to the 211th, 212th, and 213th Amendments to the Constitution, and to the unceasing vigilance of agents of the United...
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Harrison Bergeron
Just before we are told that Hazel has tears running down her cheeks, we are told that her "fourteen-year-old son, Harrison," has been taken away by "the H-G men." This sudden loss of her son must...
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Harrison Bergeron
In the satirical science-fiction short story "Harrison Bergeron" by Kurt Vonnegut Jr., the author has created a world in which physical and mental equality has been dictated by law. Vonnegut shows...
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Harrison Bergeron
As noted, the world of this story offers no freedom and no individuality. It also depicts a distorted concept of equality that reduces everyone to the same lowest common denominator. Equality, in...
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Harrison Bergeron
In Vonnegut's celebrated short story "Harrison Bergeron," the dystopian United States government has mandated uniformity to ensure complete equality throughout society. In the short story,...
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Harrison Bergeron
The first line of "Harrison Bergeron" by Kurt Vonnegut gives readers the most important details about the setting of this story: The year was 2081, and everybody was finally equal....
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Harrison Bergeron
The story "Harrison Bergeron" takes place in the United States in the year 2081. All of the action of the story takes place in the living room of Hazel and George Bergeron, Harrison's parents....
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Harrison Bergeron
There are several examples of satirical irony in "Harrison Bergeron." First, when Harrison is younger, his parents do nothing when the H-G men come to take him away. They simply follow along with...
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Harrison Bergeron
The main conflict in “Harrison Bergeron” is between the citizens of the dystopian society and the government that has imposed handicaps on people to make them “equal.” The government of this...
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Harrison Bergeron
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...
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Harrison Bergeron
The citizenry of America in 2081 have been made equal in order to take away their civil rights, desensitize them, and control them. By not allowing a person to be superior to anyone else,...
