47 pages • 1 hour read
Kurt Vonnegut Jr.Harrison Bergeron
Fiction | Short Story | Adult | Published in 1960A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Symbols & Motifs
Earpiece
The earpiece is a symbol of control. The Handicapper General uses it to “keep people like George from taking unfair advantage of their brains” (18). Whenever George thinks too long about anything, the earpiece emits a painful sound to stop his thoughts. This sound prevents him from thinking about his son, the ballet dancers, and his obedience to the Handicapper General. The earpiece is meant to stop not just dissident thoughts but all thoughts, as critical thinking is a threat to the state. The story suggests that the sounds emitted by the earpiece are broadcasts of state violence. The government uses its weapons to kill both bodies and minds. Violence not only kills people like Harrison, but it also keeps people like George obedient.
Ballet
In a society that enforces equality, excellence is impossible even among professional dancers. To have a beautiful ballet, excellence must be embraced. Harrison embraces excellence. After declaring himself emperor, he dances a beautiful ballet that “defies gravity” with his empress. While average ballet is a symbol of enforced equality, beautiful ballet is a way to reject that rule and embrace excellence. Ending Harrison’s empire meant ending the dance. It was the excellence of Harrison’s dance with the ballet dancer that upset the Handicapper General. It created inequality. Harrison and the ballet dancer were capable of a beautiful dance. In creating a beautiful ballet, they embraced their excellence and created inequality.
Memory
Throughout the story, Hazel and George forget what they are talking about. The sharp sounds in George’s earpiece make him forget while Hazel forgets because she cannot “think about anything, except in short bursts” (18). Their inability to think about anything for a substantial period makes them equally unable to question their government. Even after watching a television broadcast that included their son being shot by the Handicapper General, neither character can contemplate what happened on the screen. George and Hazel end where they started. Hazel says, “It’s all kind of mixed up in my mind.” George replies, “Forget sad things,” and she answers, “I always do” (26).
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By Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
