Harrison Bergeron written by Kurt Vonnegut is a dystopian short story published in 1961. The story talks about a handicap system which suppresses everyone to equal intelligence. The equality in this story is brought by the 211, 212 and 213th amendment of the constitution. However, as much as the government claims that people are to be equal in the society, they are required to bear with the handicap system and follow its rules to the latter. No one should be more attractive than the other, no one should be more intelligent than the other and all people should have the same physical capabilities and if not, they should wear a handicap that is equality according to the government.
The handicap system demands that those who are physically strong must carry weights to regulate their strength and those intelligent should wear a mental handicap ear radio that emits sharp noise. Moreover, the handicap system entails that those physically attractive whether male or female should put on a mask or a disfiguring gadget. Like for the case of Harrison, he is forced to wear a black cap on his teeth, a red rubber nose and shaved-off eye brows to hide his good looks since he is more attractive than the other people yet no one should be attractive than the rest of the people. One wonders, what is the need of all these handicaps if everyone is equal in every which way as the government claims? Equality in intelligence is being used as a tool of oppression and social control.
Average intelligence is getting lower and lower over the time because of the handicap system. In the Harrison Bergeron story, all people are lowered in order to meet the H-G standards and are not supposed to rise above the set standards and this affects the people’s intelligence. All the people in the society are being reduced to a common norm by the system. George Bergeron for example is an average intelligent guy but he is forced to wear an ear piece to keep him from developing sequential thoughts and become more equal than the rest of the people. Also, he is forced to carry added weights also to keep from becoming above average than the rest of the people in physical abilities. This clearly shows that the handicap system is bringing down average intelligence because of its demands that people should be equal in both thinking and physical abilities. Additionally, George’s intelligence is lowered by the handicaps he has to wear for the rest of his life in the name of being a good citizen who obeys the law. In this story, it is very evident that average intelligence is getting lower and lower overtime because initially, George was very intelligent but later on, he starts adapting to the weights and handicap radio in the ears and he is heard admitting “I don’t notice it anymore, it is just a part of me” (Vonnegut 220). He has finally accepted the oppression from the authorities and this hinders the growth of his intelligence.
Hazel, George’s wife is also forced to live the equal life in the society. She does not have to put on the handicaps as she is considered incompetent and has to follow the laws of the handicap system. She follows the laws without complaining but she is also seen pitying her husband with all the weights he has to carry along every day.
Harrison, George’s son is depicted as a special case in the story because of his attributes. He is more physically capable, intelligent and attractive compared to the rest of the people in the society. This attributes leads to his imprisonment so as to stop him from being more intelligent than other people in the society. His good looking and the fact that he was a genius and a gifted individual made the authorities send him to prison. The government here suppresses the people’s intelligence so that they do not rise up against them and that is exactly what was done to Harrison. Harrison was aware that the handicap system was unfair to the people and was lowering their intelligence by forcing them to wear handicaps and so he decided to break out of prison. He wanted to show them that he is intelligent and will no longer wear the weights and handicaps but was killed, thus ending this intelligent mind (Vonnegut 218). The handicap system plays with the people’s minds insisting on equality yet they are lowering their intelligence in order to continue suppressing them without resistance from brilliant minds. The people’s intelligence has been lowered completely by the handicap system, they cannot be above average.
The government in this story fears the people’s intelligence and they put them down into standard intellectual ability by reducing their intellectual prowess so as to have full control over them without resistance. The government is authoritative and oppressive and for them to continue being in control of the people and avoid being overthrown, they lower people’s physical ability and intelligence.
In conclusion, Kurt Vonnegut in Harrison Bergeron tells of how the handicap system oppresses the people by lowering their intelligence. It is very evident that average intelligence is getting lower and lower over the time because of the handicap system through the lives of George and Harrison. They are depicted as intelligent by the author but their intelligence is later lowered down by the government’s handicap system. The government manipulates the characters in the story by forcing them to wear weights and mental handicap ear radio’s so as to manipulate them not to question their authority. The mentally intellectual and the physically strong are forced to give up their intellectual and strength for so called society equality. The people’s intelligence is subverted by devices thus lowering their average intelligence.
Work Cited
Vonnegut, Kurt. "Harrison Bergeron". Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama Eighth Edition. Ed. Dana Gioia and X.J. Kennedy. New York: Long man, 2002. Print.
