The Ironic End of "Harrison Bergeron" Revised Intro

“Harrison Bergeron”, written by Kurt Vonnegut, is a short story that tells of the ironic shortcomings of a seemingly perfect man who dies in the hands of his suppressive American government in 2081. Harrison Bergeron, born in a nation that makes equality the main focus of life, defies his oppressive government on live television by tearing off his handicaps that weigh him down and cloud his handsome figure. The suppresive government fights back by shooting him. Using Harrison Bergeron, Vonnegut toys with our expectations of the story’s end by adding irony to Harrison Bergeron’s actions to comment to those who believe that all civilizations should primarily focus on equality. Vonnegut uses Harrison Bergeron to show his audience how irony can change one’s perception of the future, and how irony can be used to show the hidden truth behind the clouded expectations.

“Harrison Bergeron”, a short story written by Kurt Vonnegut, tells of a seemingly perfect man who ironically dies at the hands of his oppressive American government in 2081. Harrison Bergeron, born in a nation that makes equality the main focus of life, defies his oppressive government by tearing off his handicaps to show the world that a government created around equality hinders progress and the drive to shine above rest. The oppressive American government fights back by shooting him on live television to show everyone that death is the result of inequality. Vonnegut toys with our expectations throughout the story by portraying Harrison Bergeron as an incredible, indestructable hero who can defy a nation and its rules but is killed in an instant by a handicapped woman with a shotgun. Using Harrison Bergeron, Vonnegut shows his audience that if equality became the main focus of government, progress stalls, and we lose our greatest advantage above all other creatures, our imagination.