is employed
in 's "" in order to expose the ridiculous idea that people can ever be made truly
equal. Vonnegut's satire is developed through the use of humor, exaggeration, and the three
types of : verbal irony, situational irony, and dramatic irony.
The opening
sentence of "Harrison Bergeron" contains verbal irony :
"The year was 2081, and everybody was finally equal." This statement is ironic because
the author states that there is "equality," but he means something entirely different.
The equality is a coerced equality, which, of course, is no equality at all. Laws have been
passed that are enforced by agents of the government, handicaps have been placed on people, and
only desensitizing television programs are broadcast. In one instance of the desensitization of
people, Hazel Bergeron, who does not wear any handicaps because she is already
"normal" (she has non-threatening looks and mediocre intelligence), watches heavily
handicapped ballerinas...
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