Harrison Bergeron Character Analysis

"Government's first duty is to protect the people, not run their lives".- In "Harrison Bergeron" the author Kurt Vonnegut explains the kinds of sufferings people had to deal with for equality in the year 2081. People with above average intelligence were required to wear mental handicaps, and on the other hand people with average intelligence did not. Two main characters, Harrison and George, are examples of the type of society the people lived in. The process behind creating equality in a dystopian society requires mandating intelligence, controlling physical abilities, and a overpowering government. In order for everyone to have the same level of intelligence mental handicaps are required. Mental handicaps were forced onto the people that had high intelligence. "And George, while his intelligence was way above normal, had a little mental handicap radio in his ear... Every twenty seconds or so, the transmitter would send out some sharp noise to keep people like George from taking unfair advantage of their brains"(Vonnegut 1)The government thought that using their intelligence was wrong and unfair to the less intelligent. Intead of putting their intelligence to good use they are getting rid of it. This is just one of the ways that the government ensures equality.

The people that danced well and had good physical abilities had to wear physical handicaps. " He tried to think abourt the ballerinas... burdened with sashweights and bags of birdshot, and their faces were masked, so that one, seeing a free and graceful gesture or a pretty face, would feel like something that the cat drug in"(Vonnegut 1). Since the ballerinas were good dancers the physical handicaps prevented them from making other people look bad. The government is not lettung the people prefrom to their best ability. Instead of supporting the people the government is continuiosly holding them