A Dream of Inequality
            
             Kurt Vonnegut Jr. is not only the only American who survived the firebombing of Dreseden by British and American planes at the end of World War II. He is also one of the few people from any country that survived. For ten days and nights bombers dropped phosphorous bombs on the German city. Temperatures exceeded 2000 C°. Ordinary civilians in bomb shelters were turned into ashes. Vonnegut was under the ground in a meat locker and he lived. This experience must have prepared him to write short stories such as "Harrison Bergeron" in which the lives of ordinary people have been turned into a living hell by a totalitarian government set on achieving "equality." Vonnegut's main device in the story could be called "concretization." He portrays the leveling devices of the totalitarian society in absurdly concrete form as a way of making his unforgettable point to the effect that not all men are created equal.
             Harrison Bergeron has been taken away from his parents at age 14 to be incarcerated because he is a kind of superman in a society that insists on mediocrity. His father and mother don't really know what is going on because the equalizers that have been installed (to make them "equal") have interfered with their thoughts, perceptions, and memories. Harrison's father is smarter than most so the government have put a sound device in his ears that makes painful noises if he has any subversive thoughts. He also has to wear canvas bags filled with lead pellets to weigh him down. In this frightening world beautiful women must wear ugly masks to cover up their beauty. There is a dictator figure called "Diana Moon Glampers" who is the "Handicapper General" in this horrifying society. It is her job to make sure that no one excels. It is her action to achieve this in the case of Harrison Bergeron that provides the tragic moment of...