Harrison Bergeron Speech/Literary Analysis





Good afternoon everyone, today I, Bradyn Sand, am here to talk about the short story, “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. Does equality sound good to you? It usually does but it’s not always like that, there can be many problems with sameness. Some main points about this are the handicaps and their effects, what equality actually means, and what equality does to society.


The handicaps in Harrison Bergeron are intended to make everyone equal in everything the people do. The handicaps range from weights being hung on the body of strong people to transmitters in smart peoples ears. These handicaps make it almost impossible for anyone to stand out. They also make strong people weak from carrying so much weight all the time and smart people average intelligence from the noises that disturb their thoughts. Vonnegut said, “ They were burdened with sashweights and bags of birdshot, and their faces were masked, so that no one, seeing a free and graceful gesture or a pretty face, would feel like something the cat drug in.” Some people think equality sounds very appealing but that’s not always true.


In “Harrison Bergeron” equality has a very peculiar meaning. Equality is bringing everyone down to the lowest level by using handicaps. As Vonnegut said, “They were equal every which way. Nobody was smarter than anybody else. Nobody was better looking than anybody else. Nobody was stronger or quicker than anybody else.” Most people think of everyone being perfect in equality but not Kurt Vonnegut Jr. He believes equality is bringing everyone down, which in turn affects the society.


Society is greatly affected by the equality in “Harrison Bergeron.” By bringing everyone down to the lowest level almost everything is affected negatively. Things take longer to make and aren’t as high quality as before. Also when everything is the same there is a a lot less demand for clothes and other such products.

In Conclusion, the equality described on “Harrison Bergeron” is not a good thing. Also there is a wide variety of handicaps and side effects of the handicaps. Equality is a also described very different in that short story than other peoples mind. Lastly, society is negatively affected by this “equality.” Does this equality sound fair to you? Thank you have a good day.