"Harrison Bergeron" and Equality

Paper Summary:

"Harrison Bergeron," a satirical short story by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., addresses the issue of inequality among people and what is to be done to redress it. The paper looks at how the theory of Social Darwinism can be examined through the characters and events in the story.

From the Paper:

"The leveling that takes place in the story is intellectual. Vonnegut makes great fun of anti-intellectualism, a very American form of leveling. In 1961 it was "uncool" to be smart. For example, in schools there were no gifted children. The concept was unknown in education. Teachers thought it was un-democratic to recognize one child as more intelligent than another. They pretended there were no differences between students. It is this kind of leveling that Vonnegut ridicules. In the story the characters think that "Ignorance is bliss." Harrison's father, for example, tells his wife not to think about sad things. Hazel, who is not exactly bright, says "Who knows better'n I do what normal is?" as though her ignorance and inability to reason were virtues."

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