In his 1961 short story “Harrison Bergeron,” Kurt Vonnegut depicts a dystopian future where the American ideals regarding equality are taken to a ludicrous extreme. America is not just a land of equality of opportunity, but equality in every facet of life. No one can be smarter, stronger, or more beautiful than anyone else. To achieve equality among America’s citizens, the government passes a series of constitutional amendments that require the use of "handicaps": devices that dull people’s natural strength, intelligence, or beauty.
George Bergeron was born with higher than average intelligence. Therefore, he must wear a transmitter that blasts an annoying noise into his ear every twenty seconds. The noise is so loud that it causes George to forget what he was thinking about. Unable to think deeply, his intelligence matches that of his "normal" wife, Hazel.
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