Parallels With The Sirens of Titan
A similar dystopian society to that of "Harrison Bergeron" appears in Vonnegut's 1959 novel The Sirens of Titan. When the Space Wanderer returns to earth he finds a society in which handicaps are used in order to make all people equal, eradicating the supposedly ruinous effects of blind luck on human society. The narrator claims that now "the weakest and the meekest were bound to admit, at last, that the race of life was fair".
The strong are burdened with "handicaps" (consisting of "bags of lead shot" hung from various parts of the body) and the beautiful hide their advantageous appearance through 'frumpish clothes, bad posture, chewing gum and a ghoulish use of cosmetics'.
However, unlike in "Harrison Bergeron", the citizens in The Sirens of Titan choose to wear these handicaps voluntarily as an act of faith towards the Church of God the Utterly Indifferent, although it is suggested that to not do so would result in heavy social condemnation. A further important difference between the two societies is that there are no handicaps for above-average intelligence mentioned in The Sirens of Titan. Thus in many ways it can be considered that "Harrison Bergeron" is a later version of the society seen in The Sirens of Titan, an idea supported by the later date, 2081, in which "Harrison Bergeron" is set.
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“If, while watching the sun set on a used-car lot in Los Angeles, you are struck by the parallels between this image and the inevitable fate of humanity, do not, under any circumstances, write it down.”
—Fran Lebowitz (b. 1950)