HARRISON BERGERON

Vonnegut shows that equality is a good idea, but does not always work in reality. Equality made smart people dumb, beautiful people ugly, and fast people slow. If one had a characteristic that made one better than someone else, that person was handicapped to maintain equality. Vonnegut shows that inequality makes life interesting and exciting. The theme of the story is that individuality is a good thing. Individuality may maintain inequality, but it keeps life from becoming boring. The story is told from the point of view of Mr. and Mrs. Bergeron. It is more effective to tell the story from their point of view rather than Harrison’s, because Harrison is smart and the reader would not get the full effect of the invasion of privacy or handicaps placed upon advanced individuals. Diana Moon Glampers is not realistic, because one person cannot go around shooting people for breaking the law. She does not need to be realistic, because keeping her unrealistic emphasizes a point. The point Vonnegut emphasizes is of one person ruling everything. In today’s society, Diana Moon Glampers represents George W. Bush. Bush now had the power to invade our privacy by tapping into our phone lines without a warrant. Glampers invades privacy through the earpieces the smart people have to wear. Glampers will always be in the heads of the smart people. Vonnegut shows that men and women will always be equal despite technology through Hazel. Hazel says, "I mean-you don't compete with anybody around here. You just set around" (HARRISON BERGERON). This shows that as a married couple these two individuals do not compete and without competition there is equality.