"Harrison Bergeron," by Kurt Vonnegut.

Biography of the Author:


      Kurt Vonnegut was a modern humanist and science-fiction author. His writing career was characterized by many novels and short stories focused on governmental tyranny and his experiences as an infantry soldier in World War II.
      Kurt Vonnegut was born in Indiana in 1922. He was a student at Cornell university, and it was there that he enlisted in the US army previous to the start of the war. Vonnegut was captured in the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944. During his period of imprisonment he witnessed the firebombing of Dresden in 1945. His experiences while imprisoned inspired at least six of his works.
     When Vonnegut returned from Europe he attended the University of Chicago and earned a degree in anthropology. Although his original thesis was rejected, he later submitted his first novel, "Cat's Cradle," which earned him the degree. He later was offered a job at the University of Iowa's writer's workshop, where he wrote "Slaughterhouse Five." He continued to write almost until the date of his death in 2007.

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Response:


Q: What parts of the story are the most exaggerated? What do you think was the author's purpose in using exaggeration so extensively?
A: The most exaggerated parts of the stories are the literal disadvantagement the citizens of the country invented in the novel, via the use of weights and sound disorientation. This is a metaphor for social disadvantagment that would be enforced by this kind of regime. 


Q: What do George and Hazel's reactions at the end of the story reveal about the quality of life in their society?
A: Their reactions reveal that their society is numbed of these incidences by their 'handicaps,' and also by  the acceptance of what in today's governments would be considered  dictatorship. 


Q: What is the situational irony in this story? What would you expect a society to be like in which everyone is equal?
A: The irony is that, rather then equalizing everyone to have the same opportunities, as the handicapps were most likely intended, they rather set the society back and ended up in the handicapping of everyone. In a society where everyone is equal nothing would be accomplished as there is no competition and no way for one, better idea to break through the squalid markets at the bottom of the commercial food chain. 


Q: What point do you think the author is making through the irony? 
A: The point the author is making is that in a society where everyone is made to be equal is a worse society then one where some people are born with advantages others may no have. 


I: Why do you think the author wrote the text? 
A: To show that a society with no competition allowed is only setting itself backwards. 


II: What does the author want you to think? 
A: The author wishes the reader to dislike immensely the forced limitations and the dictatorship of the government in the story. He wants the reader to, in essence, hate the people who set the limits on the average citizens. 


III: Do you belong to any of the groups in the text? 
A: As the story is set in an alternate reality, it is difficult to imagine yourself as one in the groups. However, in such a situation I would undoubtably be among those rebelling against the government. 


IV: Does the story remind you of a real-life event (your own or others)? 
A: Although this does not directly relate to an event, it is possible to compare it to some dictatorships present in small areas of the Middle East and South America. In some areas this kind of "handicapping" has been attempted, although it never ends the way it was portrayed to the international community. Socialism, also called Communism, sometimes implies this tactic of suppressing their political opponents, etc. 


V: Does the story remind you of another book or movie on a similar topic? 
A: This story reminds me of the novel series "The Hunger Games," where citizens are ruled over by a irrepressible dictatorship, the ruler of which forces them to send children into what effectively is a large Roman Coliseum to fight to the death over a period of several days. The story reminded me of these novels because the ordinary citizens do not have access to a vast amount of modern technology that the Capitol (the ruling centre) has available to them.  


VI: How does the story help you think of social issues and social justice? 
A: As the story is a very "what if..." scenario, direct comparison is difficult, however the situation is not unlike those present in dictatorships around the world. 


VII: What action(s) might you take from what you have learned? 
A: As the situation described in the story does not exist, there need no actions to be taken, however if faced with this situation I would undoubtedly stand up to this government. 


VIII: What big question has this text left you with? 
A: This story is complete in itself and does not leave me with any questions.