Equality In Kurt Vonnegut's Harrison Bergeron

In Kurt Vonnegut’s “Harrison Bergeron” the reader delves deep into the depths of a futuristic society where the government focuses its time towards making everyone’s talents equal to one another. This was done so through the use of several amendments and of handicaps enforced by the government . The story of “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut consistently portrays the theme of equality which was done so through the use of handicaps like a 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.” (Vonnegut 1). The quote refers to the noise that the government transmits to keep individuals, like the protagonist George, from using their full potential. Every twenty seconds or so the transmitter sends out a sharp noise to prevent any cognitive thinking. This was to enforce equality amongst one another, as the society values equality above all. This quote also highlights the oppressive nature of the government and its control over the people. As they enforce handicaps like the transmitter to keep

It refers to the ability of individuals such as George to use their intelligence and cognitive abilities to a greater extent than others. In this dystopian society equality is above all else and the word “advantage” can be understood in a negative context, implying that using one’s abilities to its fullest is a threat to the society, and government.

The quote refers to the theme of equality as it mentions how the government enforces equality and how it has changed the way people think about words such as advantage. Firstly the quote mentions how they enforce equality and that is the means of the transmitter which would stop anyone who has it for more than 20 seconds. The connotation of advantage was shown to be negative making it seem like it is a bad thing to be better than someone