| "Harrison Bergeron" | |
|---|---|
| Author | Kurt Vonnegut Jr. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Dystopia, Science fiction, Political Fiction, short story |
| Published in | The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (1st release) |
| Publication type | Periodical |
| Media type | Print (Magazine) |
| Publication date | 1961 |
"Harrison Bergeron" is a satirical, dystopian science fiction short story written by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. and first published in October 1961. Originally published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, the story was re-published in the author's collection Welcome to the Monkey House in 1968.
Contents |
The plot is set in the year 2081. Due to the 211th, 212th and 213th Amendments to the Constitution of America, all Americans are mandated equal. “They were not only equal before God and the law. They were equal every which way." In America no one is more intelligent than anyone else, no one is better looking or more athletic than anyone else. In order to stop any sort of competition in society these measures are enforced by the United States Handicapper General. The current Handicapper General, Diana Moon Glampers, and her team of agents have developed several forms of "handicaps." Beautiful people are forced to wear masks, athletic people have to carry weights, and intelligent people have to wear radios in their ears that interrupt thoughts with loud noises. In April 2081 the agents of the Handicapper General take fourteen-year-old Harrison Bergeron away from his parents, George and Hazel. The couple is not aware of the full extent of that tragedy because Hazel is of average intelligence and George has to wear the mental handicap radio. Later that day the two are watching ballerinas on live television where the talented dancers have weights on their arms and feet. The show is interrupted by a bulletin announcing that Harrison Bergeron has escaped from prison. A picture of Harrison wearing several handicaps is shown. Suddenly the photo is replaced by images of Harrison storming the studio. Ripping off all his handicaps he declares that he is the emperor and a greater ruler than anyone else. He chooses one of the ballerinas as his empress, liberates her from her handicaps, and starts to dance with her. They dance until they kiss the ceiling. A few seconds later Diana Moon Glampers enters the studio and kills Harrison and his empress with a shotgun, and then the screen goes dark. George Bergeron misses these events, having left to get a beer. He returns and finds Hazel crying on the couch. She says that something sad must have happened on TV, but that she cannot remember what it was. George tells her to forget about sad things.
Harrison Bergeron is the fourteen-year-old son of George and Hazel Bergeron. He is above average in many respects: he is seven feet tall, highly intelligent, and extraordinarily handsome, athletic, strong and brave. Furthermore he is willing to live as a full human being and does not want to obey the laws of the Government, who have taken upon themselves the responsibility of creating "equality" for the whole American society. He has been jailed by the Handicapper General’s office for planning to overthrow the government. He is a threat to them not only in his lifetime but also in the future because he could produce generations of superior children. In order to eliminate any "unfair advantages" he has, the Handicapper General forces him to put on the most extreme handicaps: he does not only wear the small mental handicap radios to interfere with any intelligent thoughts, but also huge earphones and spectacles which are intended to make him half blind and to give him tremendous headaches. He has to carry three hundred pounds of additional weight to impede his strength and wear a red rubber nose and black caps for his teeth to make him less handsome. When he escapes from jail, the Government describes him as “a genius and an athlete” and tells people that he should be regarded as extremely dangerous. In fact, Harrison has great self-confidence and when he escapes from prison and enters the television studio, he is fully convinced that he is able to overthrow the Government. In addition to this talent and egotism, he also possesses artistic and romantic characteristics. He sings and dances with his empress in a somewhat divine way; they are even able to seemingly "neutralize" gravity. He represents the part of American people who still long for greater goals, for a better way of living, and for progress. His character represents an attempt to become a Messiah, trying to free people from a totalitarian system.
George Bergeron is Harrison’s father and Hazel’s husband. He is a very smart and sensitive character but he is handicapped artificially by the Government. Just as his son, he has to wear mental handicap radios in his ears which keep him from thinking intensely and analytically. Because he is stronger than the average man, he has to wear weights around his neck. When his wife, Hazel, suggests that he could take these weights off for a little while to relax, he turns the idea down. He wants to obey the laws of the Government and is not willing to risk the punishment for a little comfort. He believes that the situation in 2081 is better than it had been back in the days when there was still competition in society. He has a lot of respect to the rules and represents the common passive citizen who does not show any critique towards a Government which manipulates people and fights individuals. Obeying the rules, he is not even capable of recognizing the tragic situation when his son has been shot to death. This fate is a harsh critique and makes the readers question their own passiveness towards the Government.
Hazel Bergeron is Harrison’s mother and George’s wife. Hazel has a perfectly average intelligence which means that she cannot think deeply about anything. Helpless as she is, she is still a very sweet and well intentioned character. She is a loving wife and mother and tries to comfort her husband by suggesting him to take his handicap weights off. She also cries when she sees what happens to her son but her brain does not allow her to keep in mind what she was crying about. So in the end all of her kindness does not count because her stupidity outruns her good intentions. It is important to note that Hazel has a lot in common with the Handicapper General Diana Moon Glampers. This seems to symbolize that America is ruled by persons of average intelligence as Hazel’s, as a possible satire of the competency of those running the government.
Despite appearing in person for only four sentences, Handicapper General Diana Moon Glampers represents the oppressive government. It is mentioned early on that Hazel resembles Diana, and Hazel mentions improvements she would make to Diana's handicap regulations. She shows a bitter ruthlessness, in that she kills Harrison and his Empress without warning, and threatens the musicians with a similar fate before the Bergeron's television tube burns out (leaving their fate ambiguous). Diana's first and middle names could possibly be a reference to Diana, the Roman huntress goddess of the moon. [1]
A beautiful dancer who was burdened with an especially ugly mask and excessive weights ("as big as those worn by two hundred pound men"), as she is the fairest, most beautiful and most graceful of the dancers. She reads an announcement card after the stammering announcer is unable to. It is very likely, but not stated, that she is the same dancer who Harrison Bergeron takes as his Empress, who is later shot by Diana Moon Glampers for not wearing her handicaps.
Vonnegut's story is politically satirical. The demand of absolute equality is the elimination of natural differences. Citizens lose their freedom and their rights as individuals. The result is a nation of dumb and slow human beings who follow their leaders without question. “Harrison Bergeron” can therefore be read as a harsh critique of communism,[2] which champions equality. It is a satire of America's misunderstanding of what a socialist society would entail, as well as a communist one.[3] More broadly, Pinternagel also notes that Vonnegut’s short-stories are based on topics like techno-fascism and anti-intellectualism.[4]
Vonnegut is influenced by his early work as a journalist. His sentences are short and easily understood so as to be largely accessible.[5] A dystopian setting enhances his social and political critique by imagining a future world founded on absolute equality. Yet Vonnegut also punctuates his dystopia with humor. Even the most horrifying scenes are underlined by jokes or absurdity. When the news announcer is supposed to read a news bulletin he must hand it to a nearby ballerina because he has a speech impediment. The ballerina then has to alter her voice because it would be "unfair" to use her natural voice. This absurdity highlights the madness of the world of "Bergeron," while also giving voice to Vonnegut's consistent pessimism.
A similar dystopian society to that of Harrison Bergeron appears in Vonnegut's 1959 novel "The Sirens of Titan". When the Space Wanderer returns to earth he finds a society in which handicaps are used in order to make all people equal, eradicating the supposedly ruinous effects of blind luck on human society. The narrator claims that now, 'the weakest and the meekest were bound to admit, at last, that the race of life was fair'.
The strong are burdened with 'handicaps' (consisting of 'bags of lead shot' hung from various parts of the body) and the beautiful hide their advantageous appearance through, 'frumpish clothes, bad posture, chewing gum and a ghoulish use of cosmetics'.
However, unlike in Harrison Bergeron, the citizens in the Sirens of Titan choose to wear these handicaps voluntarily as an act of faith towards the Church of God the Utterly Indifferent, although it is suggested that to not do so would result in heavy social condemnation. A further important difference between the two societies is that there are no handicaps for above average intelligence mentioned in the Sirens of Titan. Thus in many ways one could consider Harrison Bergeron to be centred around a more progressed version of the society seen in the Sirens of Titan, an argument which is supported by the later date in which Harrison Bergeron is set, 2081.
The story has been adapted to the screen at least four times.
PBS adapted several stories, including "Harrison Bergeron," in Between Time and Timbuktu (1972), with Avind Haerum as the title character.
Showtime produced a full-length made for television adaptation titled Harrison Bergeron in 1995, starring Sean Astin as the title character. The adaptation varied from the plot considerably, featuring Harrison being recruited by the National Administration Center, a secret cabal of geniuses within the government who ensure that the handicapped America functions. Working for the television division, Harrison becomes dissatisfied with the status quo and attempts to start another American revolution by taking over the nation's television broadcasting. He broadcasts old unhandicapped movies and music, while encouraging people to remove their brain handicapping "bands" on their heads.
In 2006, a short film also titled Harrison Bergeron was released. This film received direct praise from Vonnegut himself, who said, "I am glad to see the appropriate measures taken with my story."
In 2009, another short film titled 2081 was released, based on the original story.
Klinkowitz, Jerome (1998): Vonnegut in fact. The public spokesman of personal fiction. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press
Leeds, Marc (1995): The Vonnegut Encyclopedia. An Authorized Compendium. Westport, London: Greenwood Press
Leeds, Marc; Reed, Peter J. (1996): The Vonnegut Chronicles. Interviews and Essays. Westport, London: Greenwood Press
Petterson, Bo (1994): The World according to Kurt Vonnegut. Moral Paradox and Narrative Form. Åbo: Åbo University