Harrison Bergeron Total Equality

Imagine living in a place where everybody was equal in every way possible. If a society was 100% equal, there would be no such thing as beauty, fame, talent, and much more attributes which make us who we are today. In the short story “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut, characterization and word choice warns his readers of the potential drawbacks of a totally “equal” society by showing how dangerous total equality could be.

First, George an older above average intelligence man was far too outgoing for his brightness. Therefore by law it is required that he must wear a little metal handicap radio in his ear that sent excruciatingly sharp noise every 20 seconds or so. In doing so this caused him to be equal with everybody else in the society. WIth that George also had an above average amount of strength and was forced to wear 47 pounds on his back at all times.

He is an absolute genius, athlete, under handicapped, which causes him to be classified as “extremely dangerous”. Also Harrison has just escaped from jail after after being accused of trying to overthrow the government. Due to his intelligence, it was mandatory that he had wore a tremendous pair of headphones, and spectacles that had thick wavy lines. Which caused him to have be half blind and occasionally has raging headaches. It was required for him to be constantly wearing 300 pounds of scrap metal n his body. Although one day Harrison snapped, as he shouted “ I am the emperor, do you hear me? I am the emperor! Everybody must do i say at once!” At this time the whole entire showdown was being broadcasted on television for the whole world to see. Not long after the Handicapper General burst threw the doors with a “double barrel 10 gauge shotgun”, she aimed down the barrel at Harrison as she shot him dead to the floor. In an “all equal society” even the slightest rebellion will result in death no matter who you