Pages:69-74 Short Story: “Harrison Bergeron” Author: Kurt Vonnegut
Short Story Analysis
Conflict
What is the conflict?
Harrison Bergeron vs. society
Is it internal or external? Explain.
The conflict is an example of an external conflict because Harrison is in active opposition to societal standards.
Events in the Plot (List the major events of the story on the lines below.)
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George and Hazel Bergeron’s fourteen year old son, Harrison, has already been arrested.
Harrison is too smart, too strong, and too handsome; he also challenges his society’s commitment to complete equality.
Harrison escapes from jail.
Harrison takes over the television studio.
Harrison and a ballerina are shot for insubordination.
George and Hazel do not remember their son’s shooting a few moments after the shooting.
Inciting Incident, Climax, and Resolution
Inciting Incident: What event introduces the action (and often the conflict) in the story?
Harrison escapes jail.
Climax: What event is the high point of interest or suspense in the story?
Harrison and the ballerina dance without their handicaps and kiss the ceiling during their leaping.
Resolution: What event ends, or resolves, the conflict?
Diana Moon Glampers shoots Harrison and his ballerina.
Setting
In what place does the story occur?
United States of America; the living room of George and Hazel Bergeron; a government controlled television studio
At what time does the story occur?
2081
What mood is created by the descriptions of the setting?
Grim, depressing, smothering
Character
Who is the protagonist in the story?
Harrison Bergeron
What do we know about the character through direct or indirect characterization?
Harrison Bergeron is a fourteen year old boy of seven feet in height. In addition to being a genius, he is strong, athletic, and handsome. He walks deliberately, and he resents the
government’s handicapping of him.
What conflict, or problem, does this character face?
Since Harrison is above average in intelligence, strength, and beauty, he is handicapped more than any person ever has been before.
What motivates this character? In other words, what causes the character to act as he or she does?
Harrison desires to be free to be himself in a world where no one is allowed to stand out past another.
Does the character change in the course of the story? If so, in what way? What causes the character to change?
No, Harrison is a flat and static character. He dies asserting his freedom.
Are there any other important characters? If so, are they flat, round, static, and/or dynamic characters?
George and Hazel Bergeron are flat and static. Hazel is flat and static because she is naturally average; however, George is flat and static because of his handicap radio that scatters his
thoughts.
Point of View and Theme
Is this story told from the first person subjective, first person detached, first person observer, third person limited, third person
omniscient, or third person objective point of view?
Objective third person point of view
What important idea about life or human nature is shown by this story?
Uniformity and strict laws lead to a loss of personal freedom and individuality.
Short Story Devices
(Look for the following devices at work in the story. When found, write the page number, the abbreviated passage, and a brief explanation.)
Framework story
Flashback/ Flash-forward
SF
SF
SF
We are told about Harrison’s arrest in a flashback in order
to explain Hazel’s tears because she does not
remember.—p. 70--flashback
“The minute people start cheating on laws, what do you
think happens.”—George—p. 71—foreshadows Harrison’s
entrance
Ambiguity
Allusion
Irony
V/MM/I
V/MM/I
Foreshadow
MM
“Thor, the god of thunder”—p. 72
Tone
Diction
See Mood
precise
“’Yup’”—slang—p.70
Repetition
Metaphors & Similes
Nobody was smarter than anybody else. Nobody was
better looking than anybody else. Nobody was stronger or
quicker than anybody else.” –anaphora—p.69
“His thoughts fled in panic, like bandits from a burglar
alarm.”—simile—p. 69
“…tore the straps of his handicap harness like wet tissue
paper…”—simile—p. 72
Imagery
Symbolism
V/MM
MM/SD
FL
V/MM
FL
I
Emperor, dukes, and earls represent the power of the
individual (creativity and individual talents allows for
greatness set apart from others)
Connotation
V/MM
Personification
FL
Additional
(oxymoron, pun, hyperbole, alliteration etc.)
satire
“…so that no one, seeing a free and graceful gesture or a
pretty face felt like something the cat drug in.”—cliché—p.
70
“Clanking, clownish”—alliteration—p.72
“his handicap harness”—alliteration—p. 72
“handicap harness”—assonance—p. 72
“…crashed to the floor”—onomatopoeia—p.72
“his head harness”—alliterarion—p.72
“blindingly beautiful”—alliteration—p. 73
“blindingly beautiful”—consonance—p. 73
Diana Moon Glampers is a very elaborate name; it stands
out in a society where everyone is supposed to be equal.
She also seems to have a lot of power within a society
where everyone is supposed to be equal in every way.—
satire
KEY: SF (story form), V (voice), MM (mood, meaning), FL (figurative language), I (interpretation), SD (sound devices)
Short Story Devices
(Look for the following devices at work in the story. When found, write the page number, the abbreviated passage, and a brief explanation.)
Plot Model
Climax: Harrison and the ballerina dance
without their handicaps.
Falling Action: Harrison and the
ballerina kiss the ceiling.
Rising Action: Harrison announces
himself to be emperor.
Inciting incident:
Exposition: George and Hazel
Bergeron are watching ballerinas on
television.
Harrison escapes jail.
Resolution: Diana Moon
Glampers shoots Harrison and
his ballerina.
Denouement: Hazel and George do not
remember their son’s death. Harrison dies in
vain.