Harrison Bergeron

“That dance—it was nice.”

Hazel makes this comment to George as they watch ballet on television. The ballet is void of excellence, showing the consequences of guaranteed equality. George and Hazel will never see an excellent or impressive performance.

“It was such a doozy that George was white and trembling, and tears stood on the rims of his red eyes.”

George wears an earpiece that stops him from thinking. The earpiece sometimes emits a sound that tortures him. Hazel calls the loudest sounds “doozies.”

“Two years in prison and a two thousand dollars fine for every ball I took out.”

George makes this comment when Hazel encourages him to tamper with his handicaps. In expressing his fears of consequences, George shows how oppressive the government is.

“If I tried to get away with it […] then other people’d get away with it—and pretty soon we’d be back to the dark ages again, with everybody competing against everybody else. You wouldn’t like that, would you?”

George explains why it would be wrong to allow himself to be excellent. The comments show his complacency toward the oppression he faces. In fact, he prefers it to the alternative.

“He tried. That’s the big thing. He tried to do the best he could with what God gave him. He should get a nice raise for trying so hard.”

Hazel’s comment about the news announcer expresses the core ethic of the society: excellence does not matter. The effort is everything.

“Harrison Bergeron, age fourteen […] has just escaped from jail, where he was held on suspicion of plotting to overthrow the government. He is a genius and an athlete, is under-handicapped, and should be regarded as extremely dangerous.”

This is the first characterization of Harrison. He’s described by a ballerina who’s straining her voice so it does not sound too beautiful. She warns he is extremely dangerous because of his intelligence, athleticism, and lack of artificial handicaps.

“He was exactly seven feet tall.”

The police photograph of Harrison reveals his height. The desire for equality here conflicts with the fact of human diversity. Harrison’s exceptional height mirrors his exceptional intelligence.

“The rest of Harrison’s appearance was Halloween and hardware. Nobody had ever borne heavier handicaps.”

This description of Harrison by the story’s narrator gives a notion of his excellence. Although he is only 14, nobody has borne heavier handicaps, yet he’s still called “under-handicapped” by the ballerina.

“I am the Emperor! Everybody must do what I say at once!”

When Harrison gains control of the television studio, his rule seems as tyrannical as the state’s. While he may wish to liberate humanity, his methods are harsh and cruel.

“He flung away his rubber-ball nose, revealed a man that would have awed Thor, the god of thunder.”

After Harrison removes his handicaps, the narrator compares him to a God. He is incompatible with a world that strives for equality.

“The music began. It was normal at first—cheap, silly, false. But Harrison snatched two musicians from their chairs, waved them like batons as he sang the music as he wanted it played. He slammed them back into their chairs. The music began again, and was much improved.”

Harrison demonstrates excellence in music and as well as extraordinary physical ability. Yet, his rule is hardly less oppressive than the government’s. He uses this excellence to correct the musicians with violence, although he promises them royal titles.

“And then, neutralizing gravity with love and pure will, they remained suspended inches below the ceiling and kissed for a long, long time.”

The level of excellence Harrison and the ballet dancer show defies the laws of physics as well as the laws of the state. Their existence is a threat to a state that strives for equality. 

“She fired twice, and the Emperor and the Empress were dead before they hit the floor.”

The Handicapper General brings Harrison’s rebellion to an end. A society dedicated to equality cannot tolerate the excellence that Harrison and the ballet dancer demonstrate, and they are murdered by an agent of the government.