Name______________________________________Date______________________Period___________
Choosing Appropriate Textual Evidence for Support
Directions: Put a star next to the evidence from the choices below that BEST supports the argument. For each
choice, tell why you would or would not use it.
Thesis: Kurt Vonnegut uses satire to mock society’s tendency to value or praise mediocrity.
EVIDENCE OPTIONS
Would you use this “evidence”? Why/Why not?
1. “George and Hazel were watching television.
There were tears on Hazel’s cheeks, but she’d
forgotten for the moment what they were about” (38).
2. “Hazel had perfectly average intelligence, which
meant she couldn’t think about anything except in
short bursts” (38).
3. “George was toying with the vague notion that
maybe dancers shouldn’t be handicapped” (40).
4. “ ‘That’s all right—’ Hazel said of the announcer,
‘he tried. That’s the big thing…He should get a nice
raise for trying so hard’” (41).
Thesis: Kurt Vonnegut uses satire to suggest that forced equality, especially in the realm of intellect, will limit
the potential of not only the individual, but society as well.
EVIDENCE OPTIONS
Would you use this “evidence”? Why/Why not?
1. “George was toying with the vague notion that
maybe dancers shouldn’t be handicapped. But he
didn’t get very far with it before another noise in his
ear radio scattered his thoughts” (40).
2. “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”
(40).
3. “On the television screen were ballerinas. A buzzer
sounded in George’s head. His thoughts fled in panic
like bandits from a burglar alarm.
‘That was a real pretty dance, that dance they just
did,’ said Hazel.
‘Huh’ said George” (38).
4. “’I don’t mind it [his weights],’ he said. ‘I don’t
notice it any more. It’s just a part of me’” (40).
EXIT TICKET: Locate two pieces of textual evidence from the story to support the following thesis.
Thesis: Kurt Vonnegut’s short story, “Harrison Bergeron,” asserts that forcing equality upon unique individuals
is dangerous and that true happiness and fulfillment are only to be found in recognizing and celebrating unique
potential and abilities.
Hint: Who is the only person(s) in this story who finds happiness, if only briefly?
EVIDENCE
1.
2.