What critique of society does Kurt Vonnegut convey through the satire "Harrison Bergeron," and how do the characters develop this message?

Harrison Bergeron

What critique of society does Kurt Vonnegut convey through the satire "Harrison Bergeron," and how do the characters develop this message?

He is trying to convey the message that even though humans try to build a society in which everyone is equal, we will fail to accomplish it because this action will not make our society a better one, instead, it will make it even worse than if it was an unequal society like before. Even if the mindset behind making everyone equal is based on a good cause, its wrong appliance will cause the society to crash. Such as forcing people to give up their talents, qualities, good looks, strength etc., just for the sake of everyone being equal is just taking away someone’s uniqueness which is wrong in all ways. All the characters are developing this message by following the government orders. For example, attractive people such as the ballerinas are ordered to wear mask so that no one feels superior then the other because of their physical look. On the other side, people who are born smarter than the other are also forced to become handicapped so that the government can make sure that they won’t plan any actions against them by using their critical thinking and logic. If we take a look at the character names Harrison. Even him, he was held handicap for his intelligence and sent to prison. But this character revelled and developed this message by having the courage to stand actions the government by getting rid of his handicapped that he got because of him being smarter than the average. Not only did he do that, but he also decided to refer himself as the emperor, it has been mentioned on paragraph 54 (“I am the emperor!” cried Harrison. “Do you hear? I am the emperor! Everybody must do what I say at once!”)

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