Honors Short Story Study Guide
Name ______Example______________________
Period ________
Names of other members in your group: _________________________________________________________________________________
(maximum group members number is 5 –preferably 4)
Title of short story : “Harrison Bergeron”
Author : Kurt Vonnegut
Summary/Plot: In one good 6-7 sentence paragraph, give a brief summary of the story. Include the parts of plot in your summary and
underline each term: exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, denouement (resolution).
The exposition, reveals the year is 2081, and that the 211th-213th Amendments to the Constitution have made everyone “equal.”
George and Hazel Bergeron’s son, Harrison, has been arrested by the Handicapper General’s office. In the rising action we
learn about handicaps given to make people equal: George (who is intelligent) wears a transmitter to interrupt his thoughts,
Hazel, very plain and average wears no handicap. It is illegal to tamper with handicaps. The Bergerons are watching TV (ballet
with “handicapped” dancers) ; a news bulletin announces that fourteen-year-old Harrison has escaped and is considered
dangerous. Gigantic, genius, “Emperor” Harrison storms the TV set, chooses a ballerina as his “Empress,” and easily removes
their, and the musicians’, handicaps. They dance defying the laws of gravity, kissing as they reach the ceiling. In the climax,
the Handicapper General enters and shoots both with a shotgun. In the falling action, Harrison and ballerina both fall dead to the
floor, the HG forces the musicians to replace their own handicaps. The denouement shows that George has missed the action
(getting a beer), and Hazel, who is crying, is confused and not sure what she saw. George tells her to forget sad things and she
says “I always do.”
Discuss the story as a group, and in a brief paragraph, give your personal response. You don’t have to like the story, but you should be able
to articulate your feelings without using words such as “stupid” or “boring.” Use academic language to discuss your response to the story.
Support your response with evidence. (No need for direct quotations.)
Good but strange story. It makes me think about the difference between equality and equal opportunity. It seems obvious that we don’t really
all want to be equal—what a boring society if that were the case. However, we do want the same (equal) opportunity to succeed that others
have even if we choose to succeed differently. The odd section where Harrison and the ballerina are able to jump/dance so high they reach
the ceiling and hang there, makes it a bit more difficult to believe as something that could actually take place. I think I know why Vonnegut
does it –as a metaphor that without “handicaps” to hold us down, we can do unimaginable things. I understand, but it still makes me believe a
bit less. Maybe I have to be willing to “ suspend my disbelief” to make it “work.” Overall I like the story because it makes me think about
societal equality and how handicaps (whatever they might be) can hold us back from our potential if we are not careful.
Literary Device: Choose one of these for each story; you need to use ALL of the terms for this project. Define the term and discuss how the
author uses that device in his/her work. Find a quotation as support. Make sure to discuss how this device contributes to this story.
Device: TONE Definition: “The attitude a writer takes toward the reader, a subject or a character” ( 1198)
Quotation: “The year was 2081, and everybody was finally equal”( Vonnegut 1).
Discussion:
The tone in this story, at least in reference to the author’s attitude towards the idea of equality, can be said to be
sarcastic. Does Vonnegut truly believe that, due to these government assigned “handicaps,” ALL people were
totally equal? Vonnegut goes on to prove the absurdity of the claim and demonstrates that even with these falsely
imposed “handicaps” the characters are not equal—Hazel and George are good examples. Intellectually George is
superior to Hazel and the distracting noises don’t change that. Additional support of this occurs when Harrison
arrives and proves his superiority despite the staggering number and size of his handicaps. Vonnegut shows us the
absurdity of this idea by using a sarcastic tone throughout the story to prove his point: equality is not really what we
want.
Theme Sentence: The author believes that [total social equality] [creates] [eventual imbalance and abuse of power in the society it
hoped to equalize].
Remove “frame” for final:
“Total social equality creates eventual imbalance and abuse of power in the society it hoped to equalize.”