Harrison Bergeron

Kurt Vonnegut’s famous short story explores the negative aspects of a “dystopia,” (the opposite of utopia) defined as “an imaginary place or state in which the condition of life is extremely bad, as from deprivation, oppression, or terror” (American Heritage Dictionary). Vonnegut illustrates how egalitarianism, “a belief in human equality especially with respect to social, political, and economic affairs; a social philosophy advocating the removal of inequalities among people” (Merriam Webster Dictionary). The author depicts the United States in the year 2081 where equality in this futuristic society has been interpreted literally to mean ________.

• a. fairness

• b. sameness

• c. honesty

• d. chance

The story begins with the setting and reveals how “equality” came into being with the 211th, 212th and 213th Amendments to the _______.

• a. Emancipation Proclamation

• b. Constitution

• c. Monroe Doctrine

• d. Declaration of Independence

Choose the evidence that establishes the setting for “Harrison Bergeron?”

• a. “All this equality was due to the 211th, 212th, and 213th Amendments to the Constitution, and to the unceasing vigilance of agents of the United States Handicapper General.”

• b. “Some things about living still weren't quite right, though. April for instance, still drove people crazy by not being springtime.”

• c. “If I was Diana Moon Glampers,’ said Hazel, ‘I'd have chimes on Sunday-just chimes. Kind of in honor of religion."

• d. “He began to think glimmeringly about his abnormal son who was now in jail, about Harrison, but a twenty-one-gun salute in his head stopped that.”

When Harrison Bergeron is “taken away;” his parents, George and Hazel, cannot “think about it very hard. Hazel [has] perfectly average intelligence” and can only think in “___ ___.”

• a. short bursts

• b. dim light

• c. abstract notions

• d. black and white

George’s intelligence is “way above normal,” and he must wear “a mental handicap radio in his ear at all times.” It is tuned to a _____ transmitter that sends out sharp sounds every twenty seconds.

• a. white noise

• b. electric shock

• c. government

• d. hard rock

When Hazel comments that the dance on the television is “nice,” George replies, “Yup,” but he actually thinks the ballerinas aren’t “really very good—at least no better than anyone else would have been.” The ballerinas are “burdened with sash weights and bags of ______.”

• a. iron cubes

• b. birdshot

• c. bolts and nails

• d. river stones

In addition to wearing weight, the ballerinas must also wear ________, so the television viewers (the general public) would not see “a free and graceful gesture or a pretty face.” The Handicapper General makes sure everyone is “equal,” so no one is perceived as better than anyone else.

• a. paper bags

• b. hoodies

• c. masks

• d. make-up

When a handicap radio sound is particularly jarring, loud or harsh, Hazel calls it “a _______.”

• a. doozy

• b. looper

• c. splitter

• d. wingnut

Hazel tells her husband to remove a few of the handicap balls from the “forty-seven pounds in the canvas bag, which was padlocked around George’s neck.” However, he knows the punishments for removing a handicap are severe: “two years in ______ and two thousand dollars fine” for each ball removed.

• a. house arrest

• b. isolation

• c. prison

• d. probation

Select that best piece of evidence from the story that supports the idea that George accepts the government amendments that help to equalize the abilities of its citizens?

• a.“And George, while his intelligence was way above normal, had a little mental handicap radio in his ear.”

• b. “It was such a doozy that George was white and trembling, and tears stood on the rims of his red eyes.

• c. “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."

• d. “Two years in prison and two thousand dollars fine for every ball I took out,’ said George. ‘I don't call that a bargain."