“Harrison Bergeron” is a story about a town that’s government handicaps and holds back anyone who is “better” than anyone else. This story follows George and Hazel Bergeron who’s son is very strong and protests against the government. In “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut, The author uses symbols in the forms of people or objects such as Harrison and the Handicaps To express the theme that equality shouldn’t mean not being your own individual self.
One of these symbols is George Bergeron and his handicaps , as he symbolizes individual suppression. As the author introduces George Bergeron, they described how George is very intelligent, yet revealed that he had Handicaps to decrease his intelligence. We see this in paragraph 4 when the author states, “And George, while his intelligence was way above normal, had a little mental handicap radio in his ear. He was required by law to wear it at all times. It was tuned to a government transmitter. Every twenty seconds or so, the transmitter would send out some sharp noise to keep people like George from taking unfair advantage of their brains.” This connects to our theme that equality shouldn’t mean not being your own individual self by showing how it can be harmful to people. As it was stated, George as an individual is someone with above average intelligence. That special thing about him is being taken away from him and harming him in the process. So yes, it’s equality, but now it’s harmful.
In addition, The ballerinas and their handicaps are another symbol that shows forced equality. As Hazel and George watch tv, ballerinas come in. The author states that these ballerinas are held back as to make them as good as anyone could have been. In paragraph 11 the author states, “They weren’t really very good-no better than anybody else would have been, anyway. They were burdened with sashweights and bags of birdshot, and their faces were masked, so that no one, seeing a free and graceful gesture or a pretty face, would feel like something the cat drug in”
This quote shows the reader how every single thing, no matter if it’s intelligence, looks, strength, or ability, is handicapped if it’s better than anyone else to make it “equal”. It’s stated that seeing someone better than you would make you feel bad. This also shows our theme because no person is allowed to be an individual due to equality.