English II: Harrison Bergeron Test Preview

Those of you who took the hint in class and "pondered question 11" have already seen tomorrow's essay prompt. For those of you who didn't, it goes something like this:

According to one critic, Vonnegut presents television as "a kind of desensitizing, numbing, and clearly thought-stifling, rather than a thought-provoking, medium" that shares some of the blame for the state of Harrison's society. In a well-developed essay, agree or disagree with this critic's claim. Support your argument with text evidence from the story as well as empirical evidence from your own life-experience.

You'll have all period to write your essay, but tonight you may want to re-read the story and outline your essay ahead of time.

You will also need to use compound sentences in your essay, so review the semicolon (meaningful sentence-style) and comma+FANBOY methods. (BTW, that was a compound sentence.)

Harrison Bergeron Study Questtions

Please support all answers with evidence from the text. Use this online copy of "Harrison Bergeron."

1. Why does George have to wear a handicap radio, but Hazel does not?


2. Harrison is wanted by the government for doing what?


3. What happens to Harrison at the hands of Diana Moon Glampers, the Handicapper-General?


4. In the end, why do Harrison's parents not react more strongly to what they see happen to their son on TV?


5. Think back to the 5-sentence summary you wrote in class. What is the story's resolution? Why does the story ending in such in keeping with everything else that happens in the story?


6. What is the climax of the story (this was one of your five sentences in your summary). Is it truly the point of highest interest and/or tension in the story. You may revise your assessment of the point of climax if necessary.


7. What conclusions can you draw about the quality of life held by the characters in Harrison's society. Be sure to back up your assertion with evidence from the text.


8. What conclusion does Vonnegut want you to draw about the outcome of making everyone in society "equal"? Again, back up your assertion with text evidence.


9. If Harrison became emperor, would society be better with him in charge? Predict what would happen next in the story if Harrison had taken power instead of being shot by the H-G. What would be better? What might be worse?


10. Consider what might have taken place for society to end up in Harrison's world. As this story takes place 70 years from now, what parts of society today could lead us down a path to "equality by averaging"?

English II: "Harrison Bergeron" Vocabulary and Meaningful Sentences

Write meaningful sentences for each of these vocabulary words:

• Abandon (v.)/Abandoned (adj.)
• Burden (n.)/Burdened (adj.)
• Consternation (n.)
• Cower (v.)
• Neutralize (v.)
• Plot (v.)/Plotting (adj.)
• Resemble (v.)/Resemblance (n.)
• Synchronize (v.)
• Vigilance (n.)/Vigilant (adj.)
• Wince (v.)

Remember:

• a meaningful sentence is made up of two independent sentences combined with a semicolon (;)


• the first sentence includes a vocabulary word


• the second sentence contains the definition of that vocabulary word


• the first word of the second sentence is not capitalized


• you should underline the vocabulary word and its definition

For instance, if the vocabulary word was:

Vigilant (adj.): Alert, aware, watchful. .

a meaningful sentence would be:

The security guard was vigilant; he was alert for any danger.

Due: Wednesday, August 31st.

English II: Read "Harrison Bergeron"

Before clicking on the link below, please answer this question:

What story has had the most significant effect on your life? Why/How?

Please read the short story "Harrison Bergeron" by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. Then, reflect on your response(s) to the question "What is (and isn't) Equality?"

English II: Equality

What does equality mean to you? Give two examples of what you mean and one example of what someone might think you mean, but would actually be a non-example.

For instance, if you were to define what a sandwich is you might say it's "two pieces of bread with some sort of delicious edible filling between them, like peanut butter and jelly on white bread or corned beef and swiss on rye. Someone might say that a hamburger is a sandwich, but the hamburger bun, while made of bread, really puts it in a different category."

Be prepared to share your definitions in small groups and defend and/or revise your work.