Wednesday, April 30, 2014

In "Harrison Bergeron" by Kurt Vonnegut, what behavior do you think might be viewed as abnormal and illegal?

In the short story "Harrison Bergeron," everything that exceeds the lowest common denominator set by Handicapper General Diana Moon Glampers is considered abnormal or illegal.


Arts, in particular, would be considered abnormal or illegal. There are specific examples of this: the musicians and the ballerinas. These performers are handicapped despite the fact that the purpose of arts is to be aesthetically pleasing. But the ballerina who reads the report about Harrison "must have been extraordinarily beautiful, because the mask she wore was hideous," and "was the strongest and most graceful of all the dancers, for her handicap bags were as big as those worn by two-hundred-pound men." What would this mean for other artists? Were there composers or painters? Was any new art being composed? Would this art be beautiful?


Another thing that might be considered abnormal or illegal is contrary thought. One of the ideals in American democracy is the ability to disagree and have differences and eventually compromise. However, there is no compromise needed in the year of 2081 because everyone is forced to agree. George Bergeron states this idea concisely when Hazel suggests he remove some of the led balls in his handicap:



"If I tried to get away with it ... then other people'd get away with it—and pretty soon we'd be right back to the dark ages again, with everybody competing against everybody else."


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