Harrison Bergeron

Harrison Bergeron is a dystopian short story about the fallacy of making everyone equal in society. This equality is then used to control all its citizens. With this satire, Kurt Vonnegut raised questions about "the irrational fears of socialism".

Themes: Rules and Order; Technology (think about television in this one); Competition; Appearances: Equality.

Thinks to think about or look for: Symbols, allusions, irony (it is a satire and satires usually use irony to help the author make fun of society in order to suggest change); also, think about the narration. Who are the protagonists? Is this 3rd-person limited?

Assignments w/ story: Short Story Outline, Blog Post (point of view assignment), Storyboard. There will also be a future essay quiz topic that relates to this story.

Some sources:

Laughing with Them, Not at Them (essay on Harrison Bergeron)

Harrison Bergeron (link to the short story online)

Harrison Bergeron (another link to an online doc)

Harrison Bergeron - The Movie