vision; and a red rubber ball for a nose and black caps on his teeth that make him look deeply unattractive.

However, despite the best efforts of the regime, Harrison's spirit cannot be broken. He's a romantic, adventurous soul, and it comes as no surprise when Harrison escapes from prison, casts off his handicaps, declares himself Emperor, and dances with a ballerina on live national TV. When all's said and done, Harrison has the soul of an artist, and it is this, more than anything else, that allows him to enjoy his all-too-brief taste of freedom. The artistic soul, in all its creative, imaginative depth, is ultimately impervious to any attempt by the Handicapper General to break it.

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 enemy of the state—seven feet tall with superhuman strength, genius-level intellect, and the grace and coordination of a trained ballet dancer. Much like the world he inhabits, he pushes the limits of plausibility (and that may be entirely the point).

In this story, Vonnegut crafts a world in which the ideal of equality has been pushed beyond all rational limits, in which those who exhibit above average or exceptional ability must handicap themselves so that they would no longer stand out from anybody else. It is a society that would impose mediocrity through the government's monopoly of force. Harrison (on the other hand), with his almost superhuman abilities, is the absolute antithesis of everything this society values and represents. In taking over the television studio and dancing with the ballerina, he is engaged in a significant act of rebellion against the State (and for that act, he is executed at the end of the story).

In terms of personality traits, one of the most extraordinary factors to keep in mind is his age: he's only fourteen years old, and yet he's already engaged in an act of political resistance, and has a coherent political ideology which he espouses. At the same time, he displays fearlessness in his willingness to defy this imagined United States of the year 2081 and no small degree of brashness in how he goes about doing so.

An "inference" is a rational deduction which is made based upon premises assumed to be true. It is a logical conclusion that can be drawn by using observation—in this case, through the reading of a text. 

We can make an inference about Diana Moon Glampers, the Handicapper General of the strange futuristic society presented in "Harrison Bergeron." Although every citizen within this story who is seen as more beautiful, more intelligent, more capable, etc. than the standard "average" is given handicaps to mute or dull their abilities, we can infer that this is not true for the Handicapper General herself. Diana Moon Glampers oversees, regulates, and enforces the use of handicaps; at the conclusion of the story, she shoots and kills Harrison Bergeron and the ballet dancer for removing their handicaps and threatens to do the same to the musicians.

Clearly Glampers must possess at least some superior talents in order to hold this governmental position; yet she does not seem encumbered by any handicaps which could threaten the effectiveness of her rule. This exposes a crack in the system which otherwise allegedly aims to equalize everyone. We can make this interference based upon her unchecked power, her possession of a weapon, and the physical and mental speed with which she shuts down Harrison's coup.

An inference that can be made about a character from Vonnegut's "Harrison Bergeron" is that derived from the actions of Harrison once he escapes; namely, that power is corruptive.

When Harrison escapes from prison, he comes to the television station, and feeling his superiority, he takes over the station, shouting,

"I am the Emperor! ...Do you hear? I am the Emperor! Everybody must do what I say at once!" He stamped his foot and the studio shook.
"Even as I stand here--" he bellowed, "crippled, hobbled, sickened--I am a greater ruler than any man who ever lived! Now watch me become what I can become!"

Clearly, having been unjustly imprisoned causes Harrison to revolt and seek redress. But, when he finds himself in control of the studio and throws off his handicaps, his sense of power becomes corruptive because he names himself emperor:

"I am the greater ruler than any man who ever lived! Now watch me become what I can become!" 

Then, he declares that he will select his Empress, and challenges one of the women to dare to rise. A beautiful ballerina comes to him and they leap through the air "in an explosion of joy and grace" as they express their superiority.

The tremendous influence of technology is easily apparent to readers as the entire plot centers upon what Harrison Bergeron's parents, George and Hazel Bergeron, perceive on the television. In fact, their names are reminiscent of a very successful television program of the 1960s about a very successful corporate lawyer. George Baxter, and his maid, Hazel. This medium of television is desensitizing and thought-shifting rather than thought-provoking, and certainly, it has an effect upon George Bergeron.

• When his son Harrison is taken away by the police"on suspicion of plotting to overthrow the government," George has offered no resistance. Later when George tries to think of him, a "twenty-one gun salute " in his head prevents him from doing so.
• When his wife suggests that he remove his handicaps that cause him such pain, George refuses, saying, "I don't notice it any more. It's just a part of me." He is submissive to this government.
• In fact, he is  convinced that his discomfiture is appropriate.

"If I tried to get away with it...then other people'd get away with it--and pretty soon we'd be right back to the dark ages again, with everybody competing against everybody else. You wouldn't like that, would you?"

• George has been so influenced by the new society he lives in that he tells his wife that society falls apart if people cheat on the laws. But, with all the noise going on in his head, George loses track of where he is and what he was thinking.
• When his son comes on the television screen, George identifies his son on the television screen, but experiences more pain in his head until the television tube burns out. George simply goes to the kitchen for a can of beer.
• As he returns, George tells his wife to "Forget sad things" when she mentions the sight of Harrison's shooting that they have just witnessed on the television. Then, he again shudders under his submission to pain of his mental shocks. 

 George Bergeron, a naturally intelligent man, is greatly repressed by his society, a repression to which he now offers little residence.