The short story, titled "Harrison Bergeron" by Kurt Vonnegut takes place in the year 2081. The government has made everyone equal by placing handicaps on the people who are smarter or prettier than the average person. However, this story focuses on one family. The mother and father of the family are watching television, and on television are a number of ballerinas. The father of the family has a handicap while the mother does not. Their son is in jail, when all of a sudden he appears on the television because he has escaped from jail. He rips off all of his handicaps, declares himself emperor and asks the ballerinas which one wants to be his empress. One of them says that she will, and they begin to dance. They begin to float and eventually kiss the ceiling. Just then the handicap general enters the building and shoots both the ballerina and the son. They are dead before they hit the ground. The mother is crying, but she cannot remember why she is crying and the father's handicap......
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Approximate Word Count: 846
Approximate Pages: 4 (260 words per double-spaced page) |