1. I think that now they all do live in a totalitarian world where everyone is forced to be equal except for that one person in charge, the Handicapper General. The elimination of advantages, difference, and competition has taken away the individuality of each person and hindered the God-given gifts of all of the people. The world is so dull now.
2. In my opinion, these changes are completely impossible to happen under American capitalism. This is the most extreme thing I have ever heard, and I believe if something like this would even start to form, that the American people would stand up to this and stop it before it got so extreme. Vonnegut is showing the human tendency for wanting power, and also the human tendency for most to just go with the flow and not stand up for themselves when they are threatened by a greater power. I do not think this is the end result of middle class greed, envy, and pettiness, I think it has more to do with showing how government is taking more control of things. The experience of America in the late twentieth century suggests that our nation is moving more towards a nation controlled by the government and influenced by a certain few people. The popularity of shows such as Oprah suggests that our nation is influenced and wanting to hear from a few really popular celebrities. America is being influenced a lot by the media. I think the idea of Barbie Dolls being redesigned to look like real people is somewhat manipulating to little children because Barbie Dolls are also created to look skinny and perfect, so the children want to be like the Barbie Dolls. In education, some teachers grade with a curve and boost students’ grades. This shows that maybe students are lacking and being lazy in school and are getting unfair help in their grades. The standards for education are dropping. In sports, I think it is important in youth competitions to give kids about equal amount of playing time just so that they all have equal chance to improve and reach their potential, but then as they get older, I think it is important to show them that they all do not get equal playing time because just like a sport is a competition, life is a competition.
3. The functions of the agents of “the United States Handicapper General” are to make sure every person in society is living equally by forcing handicaps on people, and if someone tries to disassemble his or her handicap, the agents punish these people. These agents threat society in that they are not equal with the other people because they enforce the rules. This leads to moral problems. Political processes that could lead to such absurdities I guess could be government taking over health care, or maybe the government controlling all economic activity or something like this. This could be the starting point, but in my opinion, it will not get this bad. Radical mediocrity is achieved and enforced through making the people scared to go outside of the norm, and if someone does, then force takes over.
4. Vonnegut could be referring to the issue of universal health care, or things like free public education for all children. I think that the conception that all people should have equal opportunity to succeed or to fail motivates these policies and trends, but in the story it is more of an idea of equal outcome where everyone should have the same result in what they do with their lives.
5. There is equality in terms of money between the buyer, the seller, and the wage laborer because the money flows through all of these people from one to the other. Yes, capitalist social forms create some sort of inequalities. That is simply the way life is. When we try to create some sort of equality with a particular matter, we usually create some sort of equality in another matter. Our own personal freedoms are another way we can look at this matter. I have certain freedoms, but they are limited by the freedoms of another because if I exercise my freedoms as fully as I can, I may infringe upon the freedoms of another. Yes, I think that government enforcing equality in the story points to such an irreversible tension because without some sort of authority, there is not equality, there is chaos.
6. Vonnegut is showing in his story that mediocrity simply does not work. When you make everyone mediocre in all aspects of life, they are not really good at anything, and the world is then quite unsuccessful and boring.
7. Hazel is described to have only average intelligence and could only think about things in short bursts, and George’s intelligence was way above normal, but he was ordered by the government to wear a mental handicap. They live a boring life. Vonnegut is showing how life would be so boring if everyone was equal. The story warns against society and the media looking down on individuality. Television, radio, and the mass media generally function like George’s mental handicap radio in that they impair our senses to violent and bad things that we see and hear, and then we just forget about what we’ve seen or heard.
8. Harrison Bergeron is such a threat to society because he is fighting for his individuality and making a stand and encouraging others to break the law and be individuals. Harrison is fourteen years old and has been handicap using a lot of different material. He has tons of scrap metal on him everywhere and around his head and neck. He has really strong glasses that make it so that he is half blind and should give him headaches, and he had big headphones on instead of just the little hearing handicap that George had.
9. I think that Harrison’s showing up on the TV where they were reporting his escape is significant in that it shows to all of the people that his individuality is real. I think it is showing that it takes a strong person to be individualistic, and he was not afraid to show it to the world. I think that he keeps saying, “I am the Emperor!” because it shows that he does have great power and influence in breaking away from the norm, and that should make him Emperor. Vonnegut could be suggesting a return to feudalism, but I think it is more geared toward simply suggesting that society become more individualistic.
10. I think that Harrison is trying to be a hero, but I do not think that his initial intentions were to woe a woman into being with him, that just came second. I think that he is similar to Sammie in that they both want to be heroes, but Sammie wanted to be a hero to be noticed by the girls while Harrison wanted to be a hero to inspire others to break the norm. The young are pitted against the old in that the young are more rebellious and want their freedom, and the old are usually more content to go with the flow of things and how they have been for the past so many years. The damsel in distress translates to socioeconomic terms in that it takes just a small group of people to start a wave of rebellion to save the nation from a totalitarian way of ruling. It is suggested in this story that the means of production is owned by a small group of people in authority.
11. I think Harrison telling the musicians that they will be made barons, dukes, and earls is significant in that he did not tell them all that they would all be dukes, or all be barons. He gave them different things to be so that they would be individuals. Beauty and aesthetics play a role in Harrison’s rebellion in that when everyone was made equal, some people had to wear masks and such to hide their beauty; however, when the ballerina took off her mask to be with Harrison, everyone could see how beautiful she was when she made the choice to be different and an individual.
12. For me, the meaning of Harrison and the ballerina’s flight-like dance and kissing was that when they became individuals, they were on top of the world. They could do anything they wanted when they defied the laws of their society and did what they thought was right.
13. Harrison and the ballerina being shot down symbolizes that there is going to be opposition when you decide to go out of the norm and be individualistic. The name Diana Moon Glampers suggests that she is a cold-hearted, mean person. She is similar to Lengel in that they both believed that rules were rules and couldn’t be broken. If someone tried to be different and outside of the norm, then he or she deserved to be punished at all costs.
14. Hazel forgets what she is crying about because she has a handicap of only remembering things for a little while, just like when we watch TV we seem to forget after a short time what we saw. I think the line, “That one was a doozy,” is significant in that it just shows how we get used to things and then we do not even take it seriously anymore. We just continue on with life as if nothing is wrong.
15. The thing that is striking about his hyperbole is that if equality is so great, then it should not be enforced so harshly. Also, if there is complete equality, then there should be nobody there to enforce the equality on everyone. I think that complete equality and force do not work with each other. I do not think that there is a set limit to ensuring equality. There is always going to be some sort of opposition and diversity. The only thing that makes sense to me is to give everyone an equal opportunity to succeed and to fail, and then their outcome is up to them.
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