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What is the purpose of each of George’s handicaps in "Harrison Bergeron"?

George Bergeron's handicaps are meant to reduce him to the level of an average person so that he will be equal to all others in his society.


The society of 2081 has managed to make "everybody...finally equal." Hazel, the wife of George Bergeron, is perfectly average, so she wears no handicaps. However, her husband George is highly intelligent and physically strong; therefore, he is required to wear various handicaps.


  • Mental-handicap radio - George must wear this radio in his ear. At intervals of twenty seconds, a transmitter sends a sharp noise that prevents him from having an unfair mental advantage. Some of the noises that are sent through George's mind are so strong that he is physically stunned. Whenever he has a thought, a sharp noise occurs or sirens sound so that he will not finish a thought or remember what it is.

  • Handicap bag - George wears a canvas bag that contains forty-seven pounds of birdshot. This bag is padlocked around his neck. If he tampers with this handicap, George can be sentenced to two years in prison and a thousand dollar fine for every lead ball he removes.

When George's bag becomes too heavy for him, his wife Hazel tells him to lie on the couch for a while:



"Go on and rest the bag for a little while....I don't care if you're not equal to me for a while."



But George is so indoctrinated that he tells his wife that if he lightens his load, then other people might do the same, and before too long, they would all be in the dark ages again in which inequality existed.

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