"Harrison Bergeron" by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

"The year was 2081, and everybody was finally equal." Fiction, Science Fiction. The intelligence model was Hazel, Harrison's mother, who we can say has an intelligence below average. Everybody was handicapped so that they would look the same, do the same. No one better than anyone in anything. But all of this cannot be possible if there is not a mastermind behind: Diana Moon, the handicapping program directress.

Everybody is fine, nothing happens; they are used to getting punished for trying to think and do "unusual" stuff. They even agree on having handicaps. They support the equality. Specifically, George and Hazel, the main characters of our story.

Suddenly, Harrison, their son, who was taken away for having removed his handicaps, is announced on TV as a great danger for anyone who dares to cross his path. Harrison appears. He proclaims himself the emperor and frees the ballerina who was appearing in the previous show his parents were watching. She was the best ballerina for the number and kind of handicaps she was wearing. So he frees her and the music men, making them give their best, not their limited best. And so they do. Harrison and the ballerina dance and float in the air, kissing. In that moment, Diana Moon shoots them. They die. Hazel cries, but she cannot remember why. George misses the moment. Life continues.

Clear example of how excesses are not good. Even good things over their limits are not at all good. Equality made the world gray, without variety of people... it made the world a zoo, animals in their cages. Everything ruled by an absolutist and her fellow tyrants: Diana Moon. What is the purpose of having everybody limited from their capacities, from their dreams? It is a matter of control, of power, and that is what Diana Moon was. Harrison rebelled against that kind of world, wanting to break free. Revolution. He got death in exchange, and not a place in someone's memory at least, not even his parents'.

That is sad, wanting to make a world where everybody could develop a personality, develop themselves, and getting killed by a tyrant. Even though it talks about the future and an extreme situation, which obviously looks impossible to us, this story's elements show us not a very far away situation. Wanting control over all, rebellion, love, conformism, and just taking everything for granted... they are not very far away from us, and if we just look around, we will find all these.

I liked the story, and it is very interesting to read it and to think about it.