From the beginning, the audience can see that Harrison resembles an average human being, and not as Vonnegut described in “Harrison Bergeron”. The features depicted in the short story included a clown nose, shaved off eyebrows, and scrap metal handicaps, but when he stands on stage to give his speech, he is wearing a white gown and maintains the average human image. Since Harrison appears normal, one can conclude that he is. As he starts his speech he grabs the crowd's attention by saying, “There’s a bomb… I strongly suggest you remain in your seats” for “there’s a detonator in my hand.” Although this statement feels like a threat, Harrison’s intentions were never to hurt anyone, for there was not a bomb under the theater- only a device that sends television signals. Thereafter, Harrison pours out his emotions in his endeavor to, “shine a light, so last, all the world can see” (5).
In this passage, the author describes how Harrison looks and his handicaps. “Scrap metal was hung all over him. Ordinarily, there was a certain symmetry, a military neatness to the handicaps issued to strong people but Harrison looked like a walking junkyard. In the race of life, Harrison carried three hundred pounds. And to offset his good looks, the H-G men required that he wear at all times a red rubber ball for a nose, keep his eyebrows shaved off, and cover his even white teeth with black caps at snaggletooth random.”This illustrates how the government took away uniqueness.
In this story Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. This story takes place in the future year 2081. In the year 2081 they were all treated the same and had to wear handicaps so no one would have more power over anyone else . In addition this story a character name harrison bergeron who was in a jail because he tried to take off his handicap and he also tried to plot to overthrow the government. Another character named george also had to wear a handicap and every twenty seconds a transmitter would send a sharp noise to keep him from using unfair advantage of his brain.
In the text of “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut the government has wrongly interpreted equality and made it into a ghastly, horrible thing. This is awful because they are nearly torturing their citizens to ensure equality. George is a citizen of the society and the father of Harrison Bergeron. He is required to wear an ear radio, to keep him from using his above average intelligence. This radio like many other handicaps that ensure equality has horrible effects.
The historical seriousness of the battle of the bulge and bombing of Dresden are contrasted by many ironies and dark humour; the fantastical, science-fiction-type place of Tralfamadore is, in truth, an outlet for Vonnegut to show his incredibly serious fatalistic views. The surprising variations of the seriousness and light-heatedness allow Vonnegut to show effectively that war is absurd. The most important historical plot strand of Slaughterhouse-Five is Billy Pilgrim’s war experience which occurs during the last six months of World War II. This plot strand follows Billy through the battle of the Bulge and his presence as a POW during the bombing of Dresden, Germany. Vonnegut contrasts these documented milestones with incredible amounts of dramatic irony and dark humour.
Their son, Harrison Bergeron is imprisoned for rebelling against government rule of an equal and safe society. In the short story “Harrison Bergeron” the prevalent theme is, equality is not the key to a safe society. In “Harrison Bergeron,” the weight balls and ear radios serve as a symbol of unfair equality throughout the story. Without these tools, there would be diversity among George and Hazel's society. The author writes, “Nobody was smarter than anyone else.
When Harrison removes his rubber-ball nose, that is used to prevent his “good looks”, Vonnegut writes that it “revealed a man that would have awed Thor, the god of thunder.” The allusion of Thor, who is usually portrayed as very handsome, helps the reader visualize how Harrison looks by evoking a mental image. The audience may also feel a deeper connection through the text by seeing a familiar name. The use of figurative language in this story brings life, emotion, and detail to an entirely different
Vonnegut illustrates Billy’s indifference through the pathetic nature of Billy’s character as the temperature in Billy’s basement, which he does nothing to adjust, leads to his feet going numb. Using both diction and irony, Vonnegut divulges to the reader one of his personal beliefs on life; apathy causes one to lead a meaningless
Having a perfect world is ideal, but there are many things could go wrong and it could ruin everything. Problems arise because it is impossible for everything to be perfect. During the story, they live in an ideal world, but one person, Harrison Bergeron, decides that he doesn’t want to live that way and tries to overthrow the government. Equality can be a good thing, but it can also be problematic. The idea of living in a world where everyone is equal has many benefits and good qualities.
Imagine a life where everything seemed perfect. No wars, no diseases, no prisons, etc. This was life in “2BR02B” by Kurt Vonnegut. However with this perfect lifestyle, one flaw can be seen, which was population. The United States stayed at a stable forty million, killing off a person every time a child was born.