Total Equality in 'Harrison Bergeron'

There are many lessons to be learned from the story “Harrison Bergeron”. They may be individual lessons or they may be lessons that society as a whole can learn. The story shows the reader what it is like to live in a world where everyone is totally equal. Not one person is smarter, stronger, or prettier than the person beside them. One main lesson that society can learn from this story is that total equality may not be the world everybody wants to live in because everyone is going to be handicapped, and people will not get to be themselves.

In the story everybody is totally equal. Not one person is better than the next. One of the ways they achieve this is by making almost the entirety of the nation wear handicaps. A handicap in this story is a hindrance to the person wearing it. Some people have to wear more handicaps than others because they are above average. For example, George has to wear a radio transmitter headset that plays loud noises so he can not think to is full capacity since he has above average intelligence. The only way to make everybody equal is to implement things such as these handicaps in the story. In the world today, people want equality but they do not think about what it would actually take. This story is an extreme example of equality but it can show a glimpse of what might happen if equality was achieved.

Another lesson society could learn is that even though people are equal, they may still not be. In the story, the most handicapped person, Harrison Bergeron, has to wear a full headset instead of just and earphone, he has to wear thick glasses instead of just small ones, and he also has to wear the most weight out of anybody. These handicaps may make his mental capacity equal to the perfectly average person. But, him and the perfectly average person are still not equal because he has to wear all of these handicaps while the average person has to wear none. The lesson in this situation is that even though everybody is considered equal, people may still not be equal. Therefore, total equality may not be possible the way people want it to be.

There are also some individual lessons that can be learned from this story. For example, in the story George is above average while Hazel is perfectly average. Therefore George has to wear more handicaps than Hazel does. Hazel says, ”I do not care if you are not equal to me for a while” (Vonnegut 40). Even though George is above average and more handicapped, it does not interfere with them caring for each other. That shows that even though they are not equal in handicaps that does not take away from their relationship. That is a lesson that every individual needs to learn. Just because someone is worse off does not mean they are different.

Many lessons can be learned from the story “Harrison Bergeron”. Many of which include personal lessons and lessons for society. One of the main lessons to be learned is they equality does not mean totally equal. There are many other factors that play into becoming equal. This story is a good example of what total equality means and it does not mean the same thing as many people think it means. 

Works Cited

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