Why I Recommend Reading “Harrison Bergeron” By Kurt Vonnegut , by Kavin Sivakumar

 Why I Recommend Reading “Harrison Bergeron” By Kurt Vonnegut

by Kavin Sivakumar

“Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut is a short story that is filled with dramatic moments, thought provoking scenes, and the story includes a meaningful themes and messages. Although the story was written in 1961, the themes of the story are still meaningful and relevant.​​ The story takes place in a futuristic society where everyone is forced to be “equal”. This story makes you think and realize that being equal with everyone doesn’t mean everyone is treated fairly. 

One of the reasons that I would recommend this short story is it showed how the world would look like if everyone was “equal”. In this story they made everyone who are smarter, stronger, or more talented than others wear handicaps that makes everyone average and equal to each other. For example, if someone was stronger than average they had to wear weighted bags and if someone was smarter than average they had to wear a device that disturbs them from thinking for long periods of time. I believe that many people my age get restricted from what they can do by their friends or family which can make them feel related and feel like the characters who got handicapped in this story. 

Another reason I would recommend the short story “Harrison Bergeron” is it shows what having too much power can do to one person. In this story there is one character who controls all the handicaps around the country however she herself doesn’t wear any of the handicaps that she makes others wear. This shows that she thinks she is above the law and that everyone else should follow these laws but her. She keeps her power through fear of the people because if someone doesn’t wear their handicaps then she throws them in prison and she isn’t afraid of what people think of her because she can just use the handicaps she puts on everyone to make them forget that she is evil and has too much power. 

The short story is engaging and it is easy to follow because it doesn’t have any confusing vocabulary words. The story is only a couple of pages long so it is possible to finish reading the whole book in under an hour. Even though the story is only a couple of pages long it still manages to have deep messages and dramatic moments that will leave the reader thinking. This makes the story more memorable than other stories with longer text. 

Overall, “Harrison Bergeron” is a great short story to read if you have some time to spare. The story manages to be engaging with the reader while only being a couple of pages long. There are many moments in the story that will make you think if being “equal” actually means being fair. The story also has many other lessons such as what too much power can do to one person and what will happen if someone thinks they are above the law. All of these factors are what makes “Harrison Bergeron” such an amazing short story to read.