Diana Moon Glampers Essay Example

much of a good thing may cause matters to go wrong. In a world of absolute equality, each human being would never be looked upon as anything more or less than the person beside him or her.

Unfortunately, this advantage may only go so far. For example, how can an intelligent being be given as much credit as the simple minded human beside him? This is the case with Harrison Bergeron's parents. Harrison's mother, Hazel, is described as having "perfectly average intelligence,…And [while] George['s]…intelligence was way above normal" (Vonnegut 234). In order to stabilize their intelligence to the same level, Harrison's father has to wear "a little mental handicap radio in his ear" (Vonnegut 234).

This society's method in maximizing complete equality is to have the intelligent people wear earphones (which give off horrible sounds) to distract one's trail of thought, which in turn, may unfairly give him the better advantage over the simple minded--such as Glampers and Hazel. Diana Moon Glampers symbolizes this world by not only being the one to support these customs, but by also shooting down and killing the one who is considered the symbol of freedom and difference--Harrison Bergeron.

Through Diana Moon Glampers, the Handicapper General and the murderer of freedom and individuality, Vonnegut is warning society to not lean completely towards being "equal in every which way" or else society loses its chances to excel past what it has become. He satirically suggests that in order for everyone to be equal, the ones who exceed the mark must be brought down to the standard. As a result, there is a loss of the exceptional talent and beauty.

Moreover, just as Diana Moon Glampers

represents the fairness of society, Harrison Bergeron symbolizes the individuality in the world. In a society of excessive equality, Harrison Bergeron is the one who represents uniqueness through his physical and mental characteristics. Harrison is no ordinary being of society. In fact, he is described as "a genius, an athlete,…and should be regarded as dangerous…. Instead of a little ear radio for a mental handicap, he wore a tremendous pair of ear phones, and spectacles with thick wavy lenses….

Scrap metal [is] hung all over him…. he wear[s] at all times a red rubber ball for a nose, keep[s] his eyebrows shaved off, and cover[s] his even white teeth with black caps at snaggle-tooth random" (Vonnegut 236). His physical appearance alone would definitely offset him from the rest of the crowd. Just by walking down the street, one could sense his greatness by his excessive handicaps. Furthermore, his mental capacity is great enough to override the annoying sounds that the H-G men create.

The reader can obviously see that Harrison has something more to offer, yet his society is binding him down and taking away his individuality: "Harrison's only crime was taking control of the television studio, but his motives outweighed the crime. He was shot for exposing the world to beauty" (Marton). In this sense, Harrison represents uniqueness of an individual. He is the one willing to exploit his society and have variation as being a celebration of oneself not a crime, or is this possibly his only motive?