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The Power of the Arts
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Harrison Bergeron Quotes
George was toying with the vague notion that maybe dancers shouldn't be handicapped. But he didn't get very far with it before another noise in his ear radio scattered his thoughts.
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George Bergeron
Related Symbols:
Handicap Devices
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Page Number and Citation:
8
Explanation and Analysis:
As George watches the ballet, he can’t help but notice how the dancers’ handicaps inhibit their performance and his thoughts begin wandering towards a critique of absolute equality as it exists under the HG’s rule. However, this critique is interrupted before it begins when George’s mental handicap device interrupts his thoughts. The noise coming through George’s radio exemplifies the powerful interrelation between governmental authority, national media, and ideology which ultimately prevent citizens from being able to form dissenting opinions or even having minor criticisms of the status quo. In this quote, while George has a flicker of recognition that equality comes at the cost of art and individualism, this never develops into a deeper thought, which shows readers that critical thought is another cost of enforced equality.
“The minute people start cheating on laws, what do you think happens to society?” If Hazel hadn't been able to come up with an answer to this question, George couldn't have supplied one. A siren was going off in his head. “Reckon it'd fall all apart,” said Hazel.
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Explanation and Analysis:
The music began again and was much improved. Harrison and his Empress merely listened to the music for a while-listened gravely, as though synchronizing their heartbeats with it. They shifted their weights to their toes. Harrison placed his big hands on the girl’s tiny waist, letting her sense the weightlessness that would soon be hers. And then, in an explosion of joy and grace, into the air they sprang! Not only were the laws of the land abandoned, but the law of gravity and the laws of motion as well.
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Explanation and Analysis:
Diana Moon Glampers, the Handicapper General, came into the studio with a double-barreled ten-gauge shotgun. She fired twice, and the Emperor and the Empress were dead before they hit the floor.
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