Ms. Haynes
Expository Composition
San Fernando High School
Math / Science / Technology Magnet
1.
What are the implications of the opening sentence, "The year was 2081, and everyone was finally equal"? What happened?
Are capitalism and American democracy dead? Did Soviet-style totalitarianism finally prevail? What does the elimination
of advantages, difference, and competition suggest concerning the nature of the changes that have taken place?
2.
Are such changes impossible under American capitalism or are they likely results of just such a system? What human
tendencies underlie the sort of world described by Vonnegut? Are these the end results of the progressive spread of middle
class greed, envy, and pettiness?. What does the experience of America in the late twentieth century suggest? What does the
popularity of shows like Oprah's, Dr. Phil’s, and Ellen’s hint at? Why are such figures role models? What is given center
stage in such shows? What about Barbie dolls redesigned to look more like "real" people? How about certain trends in
elementary/secondary and even higher education (e.g. grade inflation)? What of practices in organized sports for youth such
as giving equal playing time regardless of ability, of not keeping score (and acting as if one didn't know what the score was);
of giving medals to players on teams regardless of how they finished in their league?
3.
What are the functions of the agents of "the United States Handicapper General"? What threats to society do such agents
combat? What political processes could lead to such absurdities? How is radical mediocrity achieved and enforced?
4.
What actual developments, policies, trends involving government-enforced equalizing, "handicapping," in America might
Vonnegut be parodying in "Harrison Bergeron"? What conceptions of equality motivate such policies and trends?
5.
Former U.S. Senator from Nebraska Roman Hruska was (in)famous for saying, during the hearing for a poorly regarded
(and ultimately unsuccessful) nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court: "Well, mediocrity should be represented in the Court,
too." How does that sort of thinking relate to what Vonnegut's getting at with this story?
6.
How are George and Hazel Bergeron described? What sort of life do they lead? What is Vonnegut parodying here? What
does the story warn against? To what extent do television, radio, and the mass media generally function like George's mental
handicap radio?
7.
Why is Harrison Bergeron such a threat to society? How old is he? How has he been "handicapped"?
8.
What is the significance of the real Harrison suddenly appearing on the TV set where his escape from prison was being
reported? Why does he repeatedly say, "I am the Emperor!"? Is Vonnegut suggesting a return to feudalism and its
aristocratic political institutions?
9.
What is Harrison trying to accomplish?
10. What is the significance of Harrison telling the musicians, "I'll make you barons and dukes and earls"? What different values
underlie such ennoblement? What role do beauty and aesthetics play in Harrison's rebellion?
11. What is the meaning of Harrison's and the ballerina's flight-like dance and kissing? What is meant by the statement, "not
only were the laws of the land abandoned, but the law of gravity and the laws of motion as well"?
12. What is the meaning of Harrison and the ballerina being shot down by Diana Moon Glampers, the Handicapper General?
What are the suggestions of her name? What ethos is conjured by the mythological associations of the Greek goddess Diana
and the moon (e.g. virginity, coldness, sterility).
13. Why does Hazel Bergeron forget what she is crying about? What is the meaning of the last words of the Bergerons, "that
one was a doozy"?
14. What's striking about Vonnegut's story is its hyperbole: equality is enforced in every identifiable respect. What are the
appropriate limits to ensuring equality and why?