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Prereading
5Honr Sronr
"HarrisonBergeron"
by KurtVonnegut,
Jr.
Connections
Cross-curricular
Today,howIntelligence
is difficultto define, with a certainintelligence.
Science.
thatintelligerree
but it involvesthe spee da n d a b ilit yt o ever,manypeoplebelieve
by one'senvironment.
lt rs
understand
ideasand use them to solve is influenced
problems and crea t e n e w id e a s . alsobelievedthat a personcan improve
logical
abili- hisor herintelligence.
Traditionally,
I mathematical
ties and verbal/lingu is t ic
a b ilit ie sh a v e
Because
,mucf-of the informationabout
been usedto measur ein t e llig e n c eb;u t intelligence
is theoretical,
our understandwill contoday, many scienti s t sb e lie v e t h a t ing of the mind and its abiliti'es
humanshavemore tha n ju s t t h e s et wo tinueto grow and changeas we.discover
types of intelligence sO. t h e r t y p e s o f n e w t h in g sa b o u tt h e h u ma nmin d a n d
intelligence
or the how it works.We do recognizethat abiliincludevisual/spatial,
ability to understanda n d n ra n ip u la t e tiesvarywithineachperson.Forexample,
spaceand objects;bodily/kinesthetic,
or a personmay have high abilityin some
the abilityto use the bo d y in mo t io n ; areas,suchas mechanics,
and lowerabilmusical/rhythmic,
or the abilityto work it y in o t h e r a re a s ,s u c h a s g e om e t r y .
with pitchand rhythm;and interpersonalE v e ryp e rs o nh a s s o n rea re a i in w h i c h
and intrapersonal,
or,theabilityto under- theyarestrongerthan others.lt is imporstandoneselfandworkwith otherpeople. t a n t t o re c o g n iz et h e in t e llig e n c easn d
In the past,intelligence
was viewedas a b ilit ie s t h a t e a c h p e rs o n h a s . I n
staticand fixed,that is, it neverchanged. "HarrisonBergeron,"differentabilitiesare
It was believedthat peo p lewe re b o rn not appreciated.
fu You Read
"HarrisonBergeron"portraysa society
whosegoal is to makeeveryoneequal.
S pecialtalentsand cha ra c t e ris t icasre
squelched.Make a cha rt lik e t h e o n e
below.Asyou read,notethe specialskills
of the characters
or characteristics
and
wh a t h a n d ic a p st h e y a re g iv e n t o p u t
t h e mo n a le v epl la n ewit h o t h e rs .
!lA n+qTJRl!t , q above-averageintelligence
noisetransmitter
READER'S
JOURNAL
\,lhat abilitiesantl talentsclo vou haveth,rt r'ou think rnieht nor be
recognizedby others?\4hat clo vou think coulclbe cloneat school t<l
recosnizeever\rrnels
speciallbilitiesandintellisence?
\\'rite abotrtthese
journal.
in
questions V<[rr
"Harrison
Bergeron"
KunrVoNNecur,
Jn
'-l-th. year was 2081,and everybody think about anything except in short
I was finally equal.They weren't bursts. And George, while his intellionly equal before God and the law. gence was way above normal, had a litTh e y w e r e e q u a l e ve ry w h i ch w a y. tle mental handicap radio in his ear.
No b o d y w a s s m a rte r th a n a n yb o d y He was required by law to wear it at all
else.Nobody was better looking than times. It was tuned to a government
anybodyelse.Nobody wasstrongeror transmitter.l Every fwenfy seconds or
q u ic ke r t h a n a n yb o d ye l se .A l l th i s so, t h e t ra n s mit t e r wo u ld s e n d o u t
equalitywasdue to the 21lth, 2l2rh, some sharp noise to keep people like
and 2 13t h Am e n d me n ts to th e George from taking unfair advantage
Const i t u t i o n ,a n d to th e u n ce a si n g of their brains.
G e o rg e a n d Ha z e l we re wa t c h in g
v_ is ila n c e o f aUs e n ts o f th e U n i te d
television.
There were tearson Hazel's
StatesHandicapperGeneral.
Somethingsaboutliving still weren't cheeks, but she'd forgotten for the
quite right, though.April, for instance, moment what they were about.
On the television screen were balstill drove people crazy by not being
springtime.And it wasin that clammy lerinas.
A buzzer sounded in George's head.
month that the H-G men took George
and Hazel Bergeron'sfourteen-year- His thoughts fled in panic, lilie bandits
from a burglar alarm.
old son,Harrison, awxy.
"That was a real pretty dance, that
It was tragic all right, but George
dance
they iust did." said Hazel.
and Hazel couldn't think about it very
hard. Hazel had a perfectlyaverage L transmitter. Mechrnism th:rt can generute end send
intelligence,
which meantshecouldn't out radio waves
tVonos
un . ceas . ing (un sis'ti odi., not ending
FOR
vig r i o lance (vij'a lans) n., the quality of being watchful and
a l e r t t o d a n o e ra n d tr o u b le
EvenYoev
Use
Whot trogedy
hove Georgeond
HazeFBergeron
experienced?Why
are they not
upsetobout this
event?
H A R R T s o NB E R C T R o N " 2 O 5
"Huh?" saidGeorge.
"That dance- it was nice," s ai d
Hazel.
"Yup," said Geor ge. He tr i ed to
think a lirde aboutthe ballerinas.Ther,'
weren't really very good-no better
than anybodyelsewould have been.
anyway.They were burdened with
sashweights2
and bagsof birdshot,and
their faceswere masked,so that no
one, seeinga free and gracefulgesturc
or a pretty face,would feel like something the cat drug in. Georgewastoy,ing with the vaguenotion that maybc
dancersshorildnt be handicapped.But
he didn't get very far wlth it beforc
anothernoisein his ear radio scattered
his thoughts.
George winced. So did two out ofthe eight ballerinas.
Hazel saw him wince. Hav i ng no
mentalhandicapherself,shehad to ask
Geor ge what the latest sou nd had
been.
"Soundedlike somebodyhitting rr
milk botde with a ball peen hammer,"
saidGeorge.
"I'd think it would be real interesting, hearingall the different sounds"
,"Id Hr""ll a [ttle envious."All tFi.
things they think up."
"fJm," saidGeorge.
"Only, if I wasHandicapperGeneral,
you know what I would do?" s ai d
Hazel.Hazel, asa matter of fact, bore a
strongresemblance
to the Handicapper
General,a woman namedDiana Moon
Glam per s."If I was Diana M oon
2. sashweights. Weights attached to a cord
Vonos
2 06
FOR
vague(vag)odi.,nol sharp,certainor precisein
thought,feelingor expression
Evsnyony
Use
wince (wins)rz,shrinkor drawbackslightly,usuallywith a grimace
uNt r F r vE/ y rs i o l s o F T H EF U T U R E
en . vi . ous (en'veas)odl.,showingor feeling
discontentand ill will because
of anothert
advantages
or possessions
G la m p e r s , " s ai d H a ze l , " I'd h a ve
chimeson Sunday-just chimes.Kind
of in honor of religion."
"I could think, if it wasjust chimes,"
saidGeorge.
, "Well-maybe make 'em real loud,"
said Hazel. "I think I'd make a good
HandicapperGeneral."
"Good asanybodyelse,"saidGeorge.
"Who knows befter'n I do what normal is?"saidHazel.
"Right," said George. He beganto
think glimmeringly about his abnormal son who was now in jail, about
Harrison, but a twenty-one-gunsalute
in his headstoppedthat.
"Boy!" saidHazel, "that wasa doozy,
wasn'tit?"
It wassuch a doozy that Georgewas
white and trembling, and tears stood
on the rims of his red eyes.Two of the
eight ballerinashad collapsedto th6
s t ud i o f l o o r , we re h o l d i n g th e i r
temples.i
"All of a suddenyou look so tired,"
said Hazel. "Why don't you stretch
out on the sofa,so'syou can rest your
handicap bag on the pillows, honeyb u n c h . " S h e w a s re fe rri n g to th e
forry-sevenpounds of birdshot in a
c anva sb a g , w hi ch w a s p a d l o cke d
around George'sneck. "Go on and
rest the bag for a little while," she
said. "I don't careif you're not equal
to me for a while."
George weighed the bag with his
hands."I don't mind it," he said."I
don't notice it any more. It's just a part
of me."
Vonos
FOR .
"You been so tired lately-kind of
wore out," said Hazel. "If there was
just some way we could make a little
hole in the bottom of the bag,and just
take out a few of them lead balls.Just
a few."
"Tvo years in prison and rwo thousand dollars fine for every ball I took
out," said George. "l don't call that a
bargain."
"If you could just take a few out
when you camehome from work," said
Hazel. "I mean-you don't compete
with anybodyaround here. You just set
around."
"If I tried to get awaywith it," said
George,"then other people'dget away
with it-and pretty soon we'd be right
back to the daSkages again, with
everybodycompeting againsteverybody else.You wouldn' t like that,
would you?"
"I'd hateit," saidHazel.
"There you are," said George. "The
minute people start cheatingon laws,
what do you think happensto society?"
If Hazel hadn't been able to come up
with an answer to this question,
George couldnt have suppliedone. A
sirenwasgoing offin his head.
"Reckon it' d fall all apar t," said
Hazel.
"What would?"saidGeorgeblankly.
"Sociery" said Hazel uncertainly.
"Wasn'tthat what you just said?"
"Who knows?"saidGeorge.
Why is George
unwilling to risk
bending the
rules?
Why is George
unoble to continue
his convenotion
with Hozel?
3. temples. Sidesof the forehead
gflm . mer . Ing . lI (glim'ar ing 16)odv.,taintty, dimly
*
EvEnvoev
Usr
H A R R T s o NB E R G E R o N " 2 O7
I
Whot doesHarison
Eergeronlook like?
Whot do his
hondicops suggest
obout hisnoturol
oppeoronceond
abilities?
For what must
the doncer
aplogize? Whot
does shedo to
remedy the
situotion?
T h e te l e vi si o npr ogr am was suddenly interrupted for a news bulletin.
It wasn'tclear at first as to what the
b u l l e ti n w a s a bout, since the
announcer,like all announcers,had a
serioussDeechimoediment.For about
half a minute, and in a stateof high
excitement,t}te announcertried to say,
"Ladiesand gentlepsp-"
He finally gaveup, handedthe bulletin to a ballerinato read.
"That's all right-" Hazel saidof the
announcer,"he tried. That's the big
thing. He tried to do the besthe could.
with what God gavehim. He should
get a niceraisefor trpng so hard."
"Ladies and gentlepsn-" said the
b a l l e ri n a ,re a d i n gthe bulletin. She
must havebeenextraordinarilybeautiful, becausethe mask she wore was
hideous.And it waseasyto seethat she
wasthe strongestand most gracefulof
all the dancers,for her handicapbags
were as big as those worn by twohundred-pound
men.
And shehad to apologizeat oncefor
her voice, which was a very unfair
voice for a woman to use. Her voice
w a s a w a rm, l u minous, timeless
melody."Excuse6s-" she said,and
she began again, making her voice
absolutelyuncompetitive.
"Harrison Bergeron,age fourteen,"
shesaidin a gracklesquawk,"hasjust
escapedfrom jail, where he was held
on suspicionof plotting to overthrow
the government.He is a geniusand
a n a th l e te , i s u n d er - handicapped,
and should be regardedas extremely
dangerous."
Vonos
FOR.
Evrnyo.qy
Usr
A police photogr aphof H ar r i s on
Bergeronwas flashedon the screenupsidedown, then sideway sups
, i de
down again,then right side up. The
pictur e showed the full l ength of
Harrison againsta backgroundcalibr ated in feet and inche s . F {e w as
exactlysevenfeet tall.
The rest of Harrison'sappearance
wasHalloweenand hardware.Nobody
had ever born heavierhandicaps.He
had outgrown hindrancesfaster than
the H-G men could think them up.
Insteadof i-little ear radio for a menial
handicap,he wore a tr6mendouspair
of earphones,
with thick
and spectacles
wavy lenses.The spectac l esw er e
intendedto make him not only half
blind, but to give him w hangi ng
headaches
besides.
Scrapmetal was hung all over him.
Ordinarily,there wasa certainslanmetry, a military neatnessto the handicaps issued to str ong pe opl e, but
Harrison looked like a walking junkyard. In the race of life, Harrison carried threehundredpounds.
And to offset his good looks,the HG men r equir edthat he wear at al l
timesa red rubber ball for a'nose,keep
his eyebrowsshavedoff, and cover his i
even white teeth with black capsat '
snaggle-toothrandom.
"If you seethis boy," said the ballerina, "do not-I repeat,do not-try to
"
reasonwith him."
There wasthe shriekof a door beine
torn from its hinges.
Screamsand barking cries of con:
slernation came from the television
16 o ped . i . ment (im ped'a mant) n., something that delaysor obstructs
lu r mi . nous (ld6'ma nas)odi.,clear.bright
hin . drance (hin'drans)n., obstacle
q/m . me . try (sim'etre) n.. balance,proportion
n., great
con . rter . na . tion (kin'sterna"shan)
fearor shock
:i
'.i
.at
,i
208
Lr Nt rF /y E/ y rs ro rrl so F T H EF U T u RE
a
'1
?
.B
s e t . Th e p h o tograP h of Harrison
Bergeron on the screen jumped again
and again, as though dancing to the
nrne of an earthquake.
' George Bergeron correctly identified
i h e e a ithq u a ke , and well he might
l'rave-for many \,r'asthe time his own
home had danced to the saurecrashing
tune. "-NIv God-" said George, "that
luust be Harrisonl"
The realizationwas blastedfrorn hrs
r n i n d i nstan tl y by the sound of an
automobilecollision in his head.
\{&ren George could oPen his eYes
asain, the photograph of Harrison rvas
g o n e. A livin g , breathins Harrison
tilled the screerl.
C l an kin s, cl ownish, and hnge,
H a r r iso n sto o d in the center of the
snrdio. The knob'of the uprooted snrc l i o d o o r w as still in his hand.
Ballerinas,technicians,urttsicians,and
a n n oun ce r scowered on their knees
befbre him, expectingto die.
"I am the Ernperorl" crieclHarrison'
" D o you he a r ? I am the E mP erorl
Ev e r yb o d y r nu st c{n what I sav at
once!" He starnpedhis foot and the
studio shook.
he
" Eve n a s I stand [g1s-':
b e l l or ve d , "cr ip pled, hobbled, sickened-I am a greater ruler than atl\"
tnan who ever lived! Now rvatch me
beconrewhat I ct'nbecome!"
Harrison tore the strapsof his handicap harnesslike tvet tissuepaper'-tore
stiaps zuaranteed ro support live thousandpounds.
H a ir iso n 's scrap-iron handicaps
crashedto the floor.
Harrison thrust his thumbs under
the bar of the padlockthat securedhis
headhar ness.The bar snappedlike
celer y.Har r ison sm ashedhis headwall'
against-the
phonesandspectacles
nose,
rubber-ball
his
He flung away
that would have awed
rer.ealedt
-ttt
Thor, the god of thunder.
"I shallnow selectmy Empress!"he
said,looking down on the cowering
Vonos
cow . er (kou-ar) v., crouch or huddle, as from fear
FOR
bel . low (bel'o) v,, utter loudly or powerfully
Who doesGeorge
realizehas entered
the television
studio?
Evenvorv
UsE
H A R R I s ( ) t JS E R c E R {) N " 2 O9
Whot does
Horrison do ofter
freeinghimselfof
hishondicaps?
What doesDiono
Moon Glompers
do? Why doesshe
perform this
oction?
p e o p l e . " L e t th e fir st wom an who
daresrise to her feet claim her mate
andher throne!"
A moment passed,and then a ballerina arose,swafng like a willow.
Harrison pluckedthe mental handica p fro m h e r e a r, s nappedoff her
physicalhandicapswith marvelousdeli ca cy. L a st o f a l l , he r emoved her
mask.
Shewasblindinglybeautiful.
'(Irtr61v-"said Harrison, taking her
hand, "shallwe show the peoplethe
meaningof the word dance?Music!"
he commanded.
The musiciansscrambledback into
th e i r ch a i rs,a n d H ar r ison str ipped
too. "Play
th e m o f th e i r h a n dicaps,
yo u r b e st," h e to l d them , "and I' ll
ma ke yo u b a ro n s and dukes and
earls."
The music began.It was normal at
first-cheap, silly, false.But Harrison
sn a tch e dtw o mL si ciansfr om their
chairs,wavedthem like batonsas he
sangthe musicashe wantedit played.
H e sl a mme dth e m back into their
chairs.The musicbeganagainand was
much improved.
Harrison andhis Empressmerelylistened to the music for a while-listenedsravelv.asthoush svnchronizins
with it.
their heartbeats
They shifted their weights to their
toes.
Harrison placedhis big handson the
girl's tiny waist,letting her sensethe
w e i g h tl e ssn e ss
th a t would soon be
hers.
Vonos
FOR
Evrnynny
Usr
2 1O
And then, in an explosionof joy and
grace,into the air they sprang!
Not only were the laws of the land
abandoned,but the law of graviry and
the laws of motion as well.
T h e y re e le d , wh irle d , s w i v e l e d ,
f lo u n c e d , c a p e re d , g a mb ol e d , a n d
spun.
They leapedlike deer on the moon.
The studio ceiling was thirt)' feet
h ig h , b u t e a c h le a p b ro ug h t t h e
dancersnearer to it.
It became their obvious intention to
kiss the ceiliirg.
They kissedit.
And then, neutralizing gravity with
love and pure will, they remained suspendedin air inches below the ceiling,
and they kissed each other for a lonp
long time.
I t wa s t h e n t h a t Dia n a M o o n
Glampers, the Handicapper General,
came into the studio with a doublebarreled ten-gauge shotgun. She fired
t wic e , a n d t h e E mp e ro r a n d t h e
Empress were dead before they hit the
floor.
Diana Moon Glampers loaded the
gun again. She aimed it at the musicians and told them they had ten seconds to get their handicapsback on.
It was then that the Bergerons' television tube burned out.
Hazel turned to comment about the
blackout to George. But George had
gone out into the kitchen for a caq of
beer.
George came back in with the beer,
pausedwhile a handicap signal shook
gravee ly (gr6vl€) odi.,seriously,
with
solemnly;
dignity
syn r chro. nize (sing'kraniz') v.,causeto
agreein time or rateof speed
uNt r Frv E/ v l s ro ru so F T H EF rrru Rr
gam . bol (gam'bal)v.,jump and skipaboutin
play,frolic
neu e tral . ize (nfu'tra liz') v.,makeineffective
him up. And then he sat down again.
"\bu beencrying?"he saidto Hazel.
"Yup,"shesaid.
"What about?"he said.
' "I forget," shesaid."SometJring
real
sadon television."
"What wasit?" he said.
" I t 's a l l k i n d of mi xe d u p i n my
nrittd,"saidHazel.
"Forgi:tsadthings,"saidGeorge.
"I alwaysdo," saidHazel.
"That's my girl," said George. He
winced.There was the soundof a riveffing gunain his head.
"Gee-I could tell that one was a
doozy,"saidHazel.
"You can say that again," said
George.
'6Qss-" saidHazel,"I could tell that
one wasa doozy."
r
Whot doesieorge
askHozel?Whot
odvice does he give
her? What is Hozel's
response?
4. rivetting gun. Instrument used to place rivets or
bolrs into steel beams
About the Author
l(urt Vonnegut,lr-, (1922- ) haswrittenmany novels
f\ including Slaughterhouse
Five,PlayerPiono, and Cot's
Crodle.
His
experiences
in
World
War ll had a deep effect
:.
on hiswriting.He wascapturedby the Cermansand put
in prisonin Dresden,Germany,where he witnessedthe
fire bombingof D re s d e nV
. o n n e g u t ' swrit in g is o f t e n
plaful, but he iayshe is a moralizingwriterwith a gloomyoutlook.
Vonnegutthinksthat our only hope for survivalis with a sad,but
comic,awareness
of humanfolly.
,,H A R R IS 'JN
B E R GE R ON
2tl
8ft GradeLAL
ACTIVE Reading
Inferences
Name
Date.
Tifle
A: Ask threethick questions
1.
2.
3.
C : Createthreeconnections
l.
2.
3.
T: Track downmeaning- list threeimportantdetails
l.
2.
a
J.
I; ldakinglrtrererrces
BIock
Visualize- Createa drawingfrom a scenein the storywith a captionor quoteexplaining
what you havedrawn.
Eureka - Write a 6-8 sentenceparagraphexplaininghow everythingcametogetherin the
Whatdid you understandat the end of the story that
story.What is the author'smessage?
you didn't know at the beginning?
Youcanturn your Inferencewith the interpretive
question, It says,I say,And so into a paragraph.Rememberto givethe story title.