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Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegutwas first published in October 1961. It is a dystopian sciencefiction story. The story also presents a social satire. The storywas first published in a magazine called Fantasy and ScienceFiction.

Later on, Harrison Bergeron wasrepublished in a collection titled Welcome to the Monkey House inthe year 1968.

The author had written this story as asatire of works on authoritarian dystopias and the common views andfears of egalitarian politics. The author presents a highlyimaginative dystopian society and titular character, HarrisonBergeron.

It is also considered as an allegory ofcaution against socially enforced equality. The author veryspecifically tries to point out the dangers of the enforcedequality which is the central theme of the story.

Harrison Bergeron is oftenconsidered as the authors most significant short story. The storyis set in a dystopian America in 2081.

Most of the critics and scholars ofteninterpret this story as a blistering critique of authoritariangovernments.

The blend of satire and science fictionis definitely highly admirable and quite meaningful.

This story is, in fact, the expansionof an idea that had been first introduced in Vonneguts novel TheSirens of Titans, in abbreviated form.

Harrison Bergeron was adapted into atelevision movie in the year 1995.

The year is 2081. Theconstitution of the United States has been amended and the newamendments to the Constitution make all Americans fullyequal.

The amendments dictate that no citizenof America is allowed to be smarter, better-looking, or morephysically able than others.

These equality laws areenforced on the citizens of America by the agents of theHandicapper General.

These agents compel thecitizens to wear Handicaps which are the masks for the people whoare too beautiful.

The intelligent citizens are also madeto have radios fixed inside their ears, and the strong or athleticare forced heavy weights.

Harrison Bergeron, the titlecharacter, is fourteen years old. He is quite intelligent andathletic teenager.

One April, he is forcibly taken awayfrom his parents, George and Hazel Bergeron. The government agentsvisit their house and take Harrison away.

The Bergeron parents are hardly awareof the tragedy. Harrisons mother, Hazel, has average intelligence,which is actually a euphemism for stupidity, and his father,George, has a handicap radio fixed by the government in his ear bythe government to control his above-averageintelligence.

One day, Harrisons parents,Hazel and George, happen to be watching ballet on television.Seeing the dancers, they comment on them.

It transpires that the dancers areweighed down to counteract their gracefulness and they are maskedto hide their attractiveness.

George tries to think, but the handicapradio fixed in his ear keeps on interrupting him by emittingdifferent noises. Hazel becomes more curious to know abouthandicaps. Her imagination and curiosity are piqued.

Hazel notices that George is gettingexhausted. Seeing that, she requests George to lie down and resthis handicap bag, which weighs 47 pounds locked around Georgesneck.

Hazel suggests to her husband to take afew weights out of the bag, but George does not agree because heknows that his action will be illegal.

The scene shifts to atelevision studio. A new reporter finds it hard to read thebulletin. The news reporters hands the bulletin to the ballerinawho is wearing the most grotesque mask and heaviestweights.

The ballerina begins to read in herunacceptably natural, beautiful voice, but she suddenly apologizesand switches to a more unpleasant voice.

The news reader announcesthat Harrison has escaped from the prison. They show a full bodyphotograph of Harrison on television.

The photograph clearly indicates thatHarrison is seven feet tall and he is loaded with three hundredpounds of handicaps.

When George sees his son, he recognizeshim only for a moment, because his thoughts get eliminated by hisradio. Harrison has rebelled against the government. He storms thetelevision studio in an attempt to overthrow thegovernment.

Harrison calls himself the Emperor. Herips off all of his handicaps and frees himself from the forcedrestrictions and burdens. He also removes the handicaps of aballerina who he declares his Empress.

Harrison orders the musicians to playthe music. He promises to pay the musicians royalty if they givetheir best performance.

The musicians begin to play the music,but Harrison is not happy with their initial attempt. He takescontrol of the situation for a while, and the music begins toimprove.

Harrison listens to the music, and heseems to be moved by it. Both Harrison and his Empress dance whileflying to the ceiling. They pause for a while in the mid-air andkiss.

The Handicapper General, Diana MoonGlampers, enters the television studio. Diana kills Harrison andthe Empress with a shotgun.

Now Diana has the control of thesituation. She orders that musicians to put on their handicaps. Thetelevision goes dark.

George does not know about the incidentwhich has recently taken place in the television studio. When hecomes back from the kitchen, he asks his wife, Hazel, why she wascrying.

Hazel informs him that something sadhas happened on television. She says that she cant remember whathappened. George tries to comfort her. Eventually, they go back totheir normal lives.

Harrison Bergeron

Harrison Bergeron, the title character,is the son of George and Hazel Bergeron. He is fourteen years old,but he is seven feet tall.

Harrison has extraordinaryqualities as a human being. He seems to be the most advanced modelthe human species can ever produce.

The story presents Harrison as a geniusat the beginning of the story. He happens to be absurdlystrong.

Harrison is also a dancer.He gets arrested for his extraordinary qualities, but he breaks outof prison.

Having come out of the prison, hestorms into the television studio and declares himself as theEmperor. He becomes a self-proclaimed emperor.

He plans to overthrow the government.He makes a television reporter his Empress. The author seems toimply that if Harrison cant overthrow the government then no onecan do it.

The Handicapper General enters thestudio and kills Harrison. His assassination is shown live ontelevision. It means that the last and best hope of America hasfailed. Now all Americans are compelled to live with the laws ofequality.

George Bergeron

George Bergeron is the father ofHarrison. He is Hazels husband. He is a man with extraordinaryphysical characteristics; however, he must wear weights around hisneck to disturb his intelligence.

He cant remove the weights from hisbody because it would be illegal according to the new laws of thecountry.

George is a highly intelligent man. Heis a deep thinker, but the government does not want him to be abetter thinker than others because there is the law of equality.George is compelled to wear a radio that stops him form thinkingdeeply.

George is naturally inclined towardsintense thoughts, but the noises which are broadcast attwenty-second intervals by the radio interfere with Georgesthought process and he is not able to think.