HARRISON BERGERONStudy Guide

OPPRESSIONThe exercise of authority or power in a burdensome, cruel, or unjust manner.

CALIBRATEDcompared measurement

CONSTERNATIONfeelings of anxiety or dismay

COWERcrouch in fear

HINDRANCEsomething providing resistance or obstruction

LUMINOUSlit up or shiny

SYNCHRONIZINGcoordinating events

VIGILANCEstate or quality of being watchful; watchful concerning danger

WINCEto draw back as if in pain

ANACHRONISMSomething misplaced in time period/setting

example: the shotgun or the milk coming in bottles

ALLUSION reference to another work of literature, history, religion, mythology,

politics, sport, etc.

example The H-G Men in Harrison Bergeron are a reference to the practices of the 1940s-50s G-Men & FBI.

SETTING Where the story takes place.

What is the setting of the story? A futuristic United States

SATIRE A literary work holding up human vices and follies to ridicule.

What is the author satirizing? A Utopian society where everyone is equal. This was a satire of the Communism and the Soviet Union. Even a satire on the American ideal and phrase that, “all men are created equal.” If they aren’t born “equal,” society will make them equal.

POINT OF VIEW the narrative voice of the story.

From what point of view is the story told? Third Person Omniscient

THEME Controlling idea of the story.

What is the theme of the story? “All men are created equal”

1. WHAT HAS GUARANTEED EQUALITY IN THE STORY? The people in the story are all equal: mentally, physically, etc. This is

ensured by the handicaps given to people who prove to be “different.”

 

2. HOW OLD IS HARRISON? Fourteen

3. WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO HARRISON AND WHY? He has been taken away by the H-G Men for “plotting to overthrow the

government.” In reality it was because he was smart, good-looking, and athletic.

 

4. HOW HAS THE GOVERNMENT MADE GEORGE AND HAZEL EQUAL? WHAT DOES GEORGE HAVE TO WEAR? AND WHAT DOES THIS DO? Hazel has a perfectly average intelligence, so she only thinks about things

in short bursts. George is more intelligent, so he has to wear a little radio in his ear. Every few seconds it emits a loud sound of some sort so that he can only think about things for that long. Then he loses that train of thought.

5. WHAT DOES HAZEL SAY SHE WOULD DO IF SHE WERE HANDICAP GENERAL? On Sundays, the only sound that would come through the transmitters

would be chimes in honor of religion.

6. WHAT IS THE NAME OF THE HANDICAP GENERAL? Diana Moon Glampers

7. WHAT IS THE CONSEQUENCE FOR TAKING LESSENING THE WEIGHT OF THE HANDICAP BAG?- Two years prison and a $2,000 fine for each ball removed.

8. WHAT REASON DOES GEORGE GIVE FOR NOT TRYING TO CHEAT? He believes that if he tried to get away with it, then everyone else would

try to get away with it. This would send them back to the “dark ages” where everyone was competing against one another.

• BECAUSE OF THIS REASON, WHAT CAN WE INFER ABOUT GEORGE’S OPINION OF THE CURRENT LAWS? He believes that the laws are there for a benefit and for a purpose. These

laws should not be challenged, because then who knows what would happen to society

9. WHY WASN’T THE NEWS BULLETIN CLEAR AT FIRST TO THE GEORGE AND HAZEL AND OTHER VIEWERS? All of the news announcers have speech impediments

10. WHY DID THE BALLERINA APOLOGIZE ABOUT HER VOICE She had a very pleasant voice; it was an “unfair” voice for a woman to use.

11. WHAT IS THE NEWS BULLETIN? The Harrison Bergeron had escaped from jail and he is considered armed

and dangerous.

12. DESCRIBE HARRISON BERGERON WITH ALL OF HIS HANDICAPS? He was 7’ tall, but he was weighted down. Scrap metal was hung all over

him to make him stoop, and move slower. He was good-looking, so to “fix” that he was ordered to wear a red rubber ball on his nose at all times, keep his eyebrows shaved off, and cover his white teeth with black caps to make him look snaggle-toothed.

13. WHAT DOES HARRISON DECLARE ON TELEVISION? That he is the Emperor and he is looking for an Empress.

14. WHAT HAPPENS TO HARRISON? BE SPECIFIC After Harrison and his “Empress” free the band from their restraints and

begin dancing & floating toward the ceiling, Diana Moon Glampers comes in with a ten-gauge shotgun. Harrison and the girl are shot out of the sky and die before they ever reach the ground. The TV dies out and Harrison’s parents forget what they just witnessed.