Competition Rules All

The short story, Harrison Bergeron, was more focused upon the theme than on the plot or the characters. There are many themes that are prominent to the reader while reading this story and others that are more below the surface. The different themes that surround this horrible distopia of a nation are all a reflection of the loss of individuality and uniqueness.
The background of the story, as we discussed in class, shows that the demand of perfect equality inhibits progress. People in the novel are not able to move past the era in which they live because nobody is allowed to be better or achieve more than any other person. In essence, this is the perfectly politically correct nation. From a modern perspective, this theme of perfect equality and limited competition is a step up from the extreme necessity of political correctness that our nation is pushing at this moment. This is crossing the line of the need to make everyone content with who they are and make the world one in which everyone fits snuggly. Because there is no competition and no one person is better than another due to the handicaps given to them, the world ceases to progress while every one believes they are happy with the correctness imposed upon them.
The theme of a relationship in this egalitarian setting is a theme that lies below the reader’s radar until the story is read multiple times. From what the readers know of George and Hazel, the couple is not actually suited for companionship. It seems as though Hazel has no brain of her own, to the point that she needs no handicap to keep her from over thinking a situation. George, on the other hand, has a severe handicap in order to keep him from thinking rationally because he is naturally highly intelligent. The government is keeping him from being an intellectual in this equal society and he is therefore as unintelligent as his wife. Without his handicap, he would realize that he is much more suited to an intellectual setting than to that of simplicity and forgetfulness. In this sense, everyone in the nation is suited for each other because, if they are all truly equal, no one person is a better match for another and anyone would be able to marry another person just as happily as if they had married their perfect mate. With the knowledge that everyone is the same then there is no hope in looking for a sole mate or need to succeed in life in order to live well. If every person would succeed or fail in the same way because competition is eliminated, the education, progress, and life purpose would cease to exist.
There is also the notion, brought forth by Hazel and Harrison, that people are able to cheat their handicaps and therefore, the seemingly equal society is not always as equal as the people seem to hope. While there is a fine and jail time for removing or not using your handicap, many people would most likely tire of wearing all of the debilitating devices and would often remove their restraints. If this were true, then many people would most likely cheat the system because people are naturally curious creatures who are competitive. While George imagines the prospect of taking off the handicap will bring the society back to a “dark age” where competition rules people, many people most likely attempt to show their true worth while they are in their homes. Therefore, the society is, in body equal, but in mind as unequal as society is meant to be.
Because this story is an explanation of the horrors of true equality, the modern reader can understand where competition is truly a good concept, even when I can harm others. This story was written in the early 1960’s and therefore written by a different generation than my own, but as a modern reader, I can understand the purpose that the themes in the story convey. Competition and inequality are what make a society, a family, and an individual unique. Progress, purpose, and life pondering stop when there is not drive to succeed or punishment for failure. Society needs competition in order to thrive (707).