Harrison Bergeron Equality

Everyone is equal, and the year is 2081. In Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.’s Harrison Bergeron, everyone is equal in every way, not just before the law and God. To make everyone equal the United States Handicapper General issues handicaps to citizens to suppress their abilities to make everyone have the same mental and physical capabilities. This equality moves all people, except those who work for the United States Handicapper General, from the bourgeoisie class and into the proletariat class, and causes conflict between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie. Instead of enhancing members of the proletariat class, a few members of the bourgeoisie class decided to handicap the proletariat and most of the bourgeoisie, to the average strength and intelligence. George and Hazel Bergeron are the parents of Harrison, who was taken away at the age of fourteen, in April 2081. They are not able to think about their son very well,
Harrison, a 7-foot, genius fourteen-year-old, with three hundred pounds of handicaps, was arrested for suspicion for plotting against the government. During a ballerina performance, Harrison escapes prison and barged into the studio and exclaims, “’I am the Emperor! Everybody must do what I say at once!’” (Vonnegut). He stamped his foot and he bellowed, “‘crippled, hobbled, sickened - I am a greater ruler than any man who ever lived!’” (Vonnegut). Harrison, having no actual power in society, thus a proletariat, is trying to depose the firm grip of the handicapping bourgeoisie class. But, the bourgeoisie does not want their ideology of equality to be relinquished, so after trying to imprison Harrison, resort to more violent measures. Diana Moon Glampers, the Handicapper General, “fired twice, and the Emperor and the Empress were dead before they hit the floor” (Vonnegut). Not only does this thwart the minute insurrection, it reinforces the grip the bourgeoisie has on the