The Handicapper Vonnegut's Harrison Bergeron

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“Harrison Bergeron” and the politically correct versions of fairy tales share a similar idea of everyone being equal. Vonnegut describes how exactly people are made equal, in every way; whether it be in beauty, strength, or intelligence. The first paragraph of the story explains how everybody became equal.
“The year was 2081, and everybody was finally equal. They weren’t only equal in the eyes of God and the law. They were equal in every which way. Nobody was smarter than anybody else. Nobody was better looking than anybody else. Nobody was stronger or quicker than anybody else. All the equality was due to the 211th, 212th, and 213th Amendments to the Constitution, and to the unceasing vigilance of the agents of the United States Handicapper …show more content…
Most would assume on a quick perusal of “Harrison Bergeron” that Vonnegut supports complete equality; however, he doesn’t, as demonstrated by these quotes from the passage. “George was toying with the vague notion that maybe dancers shouldn’t be handicapped.” and “ He began to think glimmeringly about his abnormal son who was now in jail, about Harrison,....” The first quote shows how Vonnegut doesn’t believe in a truly equal society and that even if it was there would still be people who would have thoughts against it. The second quote shows that he loves his son and when you put the quotes together you can infer that George talked and nurtured his son’s “rebellious” ideas of removing handicaps. The movie alludes to this idea by having Harrison nod at the camera as if saying “Look, Dad, I did it. Look what you helped me accomplish. Thank you.”
So in summary, both the fairy tales and “Harrison Bergeron share the same ideas of society pushing itself toward total equality. The fairy tales show that the idea seems impossible and stupid while Vonnegut shows that we could accomplish it but that there will always be dissenters, rebels, protesters. Both are asking the reader to stop and think about where society is headed and for the reader to ask him/herself “Where are we headed as a society and do I want to be a part of
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