Mind Games

            

            The short story, Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut is set in the future of year 2081. Amendments 211, 213, and 213 state that every American is fully equal – in all ways, and the Handicapper General and a team of agents strictly and immorally enforce these laws. There seems to be massive, unavoidable (government) corruption present at this point in time. The average American is too dumb and helpless to question the laws and the intelligent man is prohibited from doing so. Technology such as television and sound is now being used to shape and manipulate society.

            Media, especially television, is extremely powerful during this period of time.

The government uses television to broadcast warnings about “dangerous” people like Harrison Bergeron. A ballerina had announced, “Harrison Bergeron has escaped from jail, where he was held on suspicion of plotting to overthrow the government” (Vonnegut 591). This announcement was followed by a police photograph of Harrison, which was shown upside down, sideways, and right side up. This photo was a way to intimidate television viewers, when in reality Harrison meant no harm to these people. Harrison was shown with his handicaps that totaled up to nearly three hundred pounds (Vonnegut 592). This gave the television viewers a visual example of the handicaps imposed on those who are above average and do not suppress their own abilities. Something that I found extremely interesting was that of all places that Harrison could have gone after escaping he came to the television set. This displays the importance of media and technology because, as one of the most powerful beings, Harrison decided to deliver his message on television, in front of the world. Diana Moon Glampers, the Handicap General, also shoots Harrison and his Empress (the ballerina) with a double-barreled ten-guage shotgun and then aims the gun at the musicians telling them that they had ten seconds to get their handicaps back on – all on television (Vonnegut 593). Television is used to terrorize the citizens and the live execution of Harrison and the ballerina shows society what would happen if they tried to challenge the law. Furthermore, televisions significance is emphasized because the entire short story takes place as George and Hazel are sitting in front of the TV.

            The government constantly transmits noises into mental handicap radios that intelligent humans are required to have. “Every twenty seconds or so, the transmitter sends out a sharp noise to keep people like George from taking unfair advantage of their brains (Vonnegut 589). The fact that the lives of intelligent humans are heavily regulated on a daily basis is evident and quite obvious to the reader. Something that may go unnoticed to many readers is that Vonnegut intensifies the noises in the story as the plot nears its peak (paralleling the violence and tragedy of Harrison’s life). When the story begins, there is only a buzzer sound in George’s head as he is watching ballerinas on television. He tries to think a little about the ballerinas. “George was toying with the vague notion that maybe dancers shouldn’t be handicapped. But he didn’t get very far with it before another noise in his ear radio scattered his thoughts” (Vonnegut 590). He is now hit with a sound of a bottle being smashed with a hammer, which is slightly more intense then the buzzer. As the story progresses, George begins to think about his son Harrison, who was now in jail, “but a twenty-one-gun salute in his head stopped that” (Vonnegut 590). This was such a “doozy” that George was white and trembling, and tears stood on the rims of his red eyes. When George begins to think about the laws of equality, and wonders what would happen to society “the minute people start cheating on laws” a siren goes off in his head. These last two sounds foreshadow the death of Harrison because he cheats the law, and is then killed by a shotgun. When George sees Harrison on the TV screen, George hears an automobile collision in his head, and when he opens his eyes, the photograph of Harrison is gone. I find this ironic, especially because the government basically prevented Harrison from knowing his son was on television (through noise). Hazel’s lack of memory and the array of sounds that impact George’s memory prevent them from knowing about Harrison’s death.  The final sound is a “handicap signal” which isn’t specifically identified. Vonnegut’s inability to mention this sound may suggest that it is so awful, just like Harrison’s death, which George and Hazel cannot comprehend. The last noise George hears is a riveting gun, which echoes the way Diana Glampers killed Harrison.