In English class, we had to read Harrison Bergeron. It was a decent story, but there were many questions about it. One of the students asked about the handicaps rule. "So, if everyone is supposed to be equal, what happens if someone breaks their leg? Does everyone in the world have to wear a leg cast, so that one with the leg broken doesn't feel out of place?" There were many other gaps/things to think about with the story:
2) What do they consider average intelligence? Harrison's mother, Hazel, cries after she watches her son get shot. Then the tv stops working and neither Hazel nor George remember their son dying. Hazel is supposed to have "average intelligence," and by today's standards this means that she couldn't just forget something as big as her son getting shot within a few minutes!
3) What about the authority figures? If everyone is supposed to be equal, why are there authority figures? Or are there authority figures at all? Maybe they just have a bunch of rules set up and everyone is supposed to follow them, and anyone can be a Handicap General. But there is a flaw in this: if anyone can be a Handicap General, that means someone like Harrison could be a Handicap General and shut down the system.
4) Why don't the smart people just write down their thoughts? There oughta be one genius in the story that could come up with this! Instead of just thinking and then losing the thought, why not keep a note pad and write down all thoughts or events. Eventually, they could come up with some way of overthrowing the government.
5) How did this even start? A more complicated question, but to put it simply, how did everyone in the world just agree to these laws? Were they tricked into putting on those ear devices? Or did the Handicap Generals just break into their house and shove them on?
I'll come up with more later. This is fun.
