When young Harrison rebels by taking off his handicaps in an attempt to overthrow the government, his dream of freedom dies with his fateful end. Equality cannot be controlled for it is an allusion of grandeur that is rebelled against for the freedom individually.
Harrison represents a spark of defiance and individuality; he has none of the pusillanimity and passivity that characterizes the rest of the characters in the story.
He is an over-dramatized, towering, brave, breathtakingly strong, and attractive alpha male. Harrison is everything that the futuristic American government aims to hide from the average world. George, an intelligent man, must wear weights around his neck to dampen his strength and radio that obstruct George from thinking deeper than the average person in society. Despite his negative feelings towards his handicaps, George is not valiant and believes in obeying the law and avoiding risks; he also believes that by standing this burden of wearing his handicaps, he is doing his duty as a citizen and for the wellbeing of society.
Hazel, the wife of George and the mother of Harrison, is scattered brained, dumb, and represents the average American without handicaps. Hazel represents the dumbing down of the handicapped citizens, forcing humankind to not adapt and evolve to new challenges; sending the entire race back to an era of unintelligent beings.
By forcing society to conform to average intelligence, beauty, and strength, rebellion sparks from those who dare to challenge the inequality of forcing all to be the same.
How it works. Beautiful people are made to wear disfiguring masks or to mar their faces. The government has been able to control the equality of its citizens by making it illegal to be different, and by fear tactics, such as prison, money, and death, to keep those with illegal advantages from rebelling for their freedom.
These laws were put into place so average citizens would not feel inferior to their counterparts. With the ability to control the thoughts, and actions of its citizens, the government is able to destroy any amount of individuality that could be used against the average person living in society. Harrison represents the spark of defiance and individuality that still exists in some Americans.
He has none of the cowardice and passivity that characterize nearly everyone else in the story. Rather, he is an exaggerated alpha male, a towering, brave, breathtakingly strong man who hungers for power.
To achieve physical and mental equality among all Americans, the government in Vonnegut's story tortures its citizens. In Kurt Vonnegut's story " Harrison Bergeron ," the title character is considered a threat to society because he cannot be contained by both the physical and symbolic handicaps this totalitarian society places on him.
Harrison's rebellion reveals that he is an independent thinker who is willing to take extreme risks to alter the trajectory of his life. Harrison is also depicted as a fearless leader who is passionate about usurping power and ruling the United States as its emperor. George and Hazel are Harrison Bergeron's parents in Vonnegut's short story. Vonnegut writes that Hazel has normal intelligence, which means that she can only think of certain things in short bursts and does not have a long attention span.
The internal conflict in Harrison Bergeron is that the handicaps inside or around on people are affecting their internal thoughts and conflicts. The External conflict of the story is that Harrison Bergeron breaks out of jail, and then attempts to overthrow the government.
Noticing his exhaustion, Hazel urges George to lie down and rest his " handicap bag", 47 pounds 21 kg of weights locked around George's neck. She suggests taking a few of the weights out of the bag, but George resists, aware of the illegality of such an action. The word best describes the mood of the bergeron household is: Soft, Suave, mild or subdued. Suffer under repression for long enough, and you'll eventually be willing to do just about anything to be free.
Once he strips himself of his handicaps, Harrison forces the orchestra to play his favorite music and claims a ballerina as his Empress. Well, she volunteers. Then they dance and fly into the air. That's right: fly into the air. Harrison is breaking the rules of his government, and he's breaking the rules of gravity: "Not only were the laws of the land abandoned, but the law of gravity and the laws of motion as well" This pretty much answers George's question from earlier: "The minute people start cheating on laws, what do you think happens to society?
The minute Harrison cheats on the laws, the very fabric of reality starts to tear a little bit. The idea that cheating could lead to the loss of gravity is what we call a slippery slope argument: one little thing could send us sliding right down into anarchy and debauchery. Want an example?
Some people argue that a law guaranteeing marriage equality i. But where would Flipper wear his engagement ring? What we think is that this scene makes that whole "'Harrison Bergeron as a satire of conservatives' ridiculous fears of socialism" argument stronger.
But then again, maybe Vonnegut is saying that we do need rules and laws to hold society together, or gravity will literally break loose. You'll have to decide. Parents Home Homeschool College Resources. Study Guide. By Kurt Vonnegut. Previous Next. Hazel says she would enjoy hearing the noises that the handicappers dream up. George seems skeptical. If she were Handicapper General, Hazel says, she would create a chime noise to use on Sundays, which she thinks would produce a religious effect.
Hazel says she would be a good Handicapper General, because she knows what normalcy is. Before being interrupted by another noise, George thinks of his son, Harrison. He says he hardly notices the weight anymore. Hazel suggests taking a few of the weights out of the bag, but he says if everyone broke the law, society would return to its old competitive ways. Hazel says she would hate that.
On TV, an announcer with a speech impediment attempts to read a bulletin. Hazel commends him for working with his God-given abilities and says he should get a raise simply for trying so hard. The bulletin says that Harrison has escaped from prison. A photo of Harrison appears on the screen. He is wearing the handicaps meant to counteract his strength, intelligence, and good looks.
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