Is Harrison Bergeron the hero or the villain of the story?.
In the story Harrison Bergeron, by Kurt Vonnegut, the author calls attention to the heroic and villainous characters. As we examine the story, these two poles become challenging to identify and we become conscious of the fact that the protagonist, Harrison Bergeron, can easily be depicted as the hero and the villain. In spite of the fact that opinions may be at variance, I believe that Harrison Bergeron is neither the hero nor the villain. To begin with, he does not merit to be regarded as a hero, for his actions do not pertain heroism. Secondly, he falls victim to the corruption of power and dies for his cause; therefore it is unfair to declare Bergeron villainous. And last of all, it is in our nature to be both heroic and villainous; we are thus the nature of mankind.
Harrison Bergeron does not earn the privilege to be treated as a hero because, even though he does indeed denounce an authoritative and powerful political regime and jeopardizes his own life for the sake of freedom of speech, he declares himself emperor in the end. In traditional stories, the hero is more often than not a prodigious figure who is superior to ordinary people; and such was Bergeron as we are able to observe in the following passage: "He is a genius and an athlete, is under-handicapped, and should be regarded as extremely dangerous." He was forced to bear a massive quantity of handicaps, which the reader reckons is the result of his fine looks, athletic figure, and unique intelligence: "Nobody had ever worn heavier handicaps. [ ] Instead of a little ear radio for a mental handicap, he wore a tremendous pair of earphones, and spectacles with thick wavy lenses.
