Harrison Bergeron

Group Activity
Your handicap is ___ (see below).
INSTRUCTIONS:
1. In your group, each person must adopt the handicap
assigned to him or her.
2. With each member handicapped, your group must work together to answer the
following questions (on a separate sheet of paper).
3. Turn in one copy of the responses to your Handicapper General (Ms. Smith).
GROUP QUESTIONS:
1. Do you think that impediments push us to greater heights? Why or why not?
2. Do you think our society is similar or different from the ideas that Vonnegut presents?
Why or why not?
3. Hazel says about the bumbling announcer, He tried. Thats the big thing. Do you think
that people should be rewarded for trying rather than accomplishing things? Why or
why not?
4. Is competition good, bad, or a little of both? Why?
5. Imagine you are the Handicapper General. How would you hinder the talents of the
following individuals?
1. Michael Jordan
2. Albert Einstein
3. Pablo Picasso
4. Martha Stewart
6. Who do you think has it worse: Hazel or George? Why?
HANDICAPS:
A. You have beautiful handwriting; thus are only allowed to write with your non-dominant
hand.
B. You are terrible at spelling and cannot spell any word correctly.
C. You have a beautiful voice, so you are not allowed to speak above a whisper.
D. You have trouble sitting for very long and must stand every five minutes (bell).
E. You have a simple vocabulary like that of a kindergartneryou only speak in
monosyllabic words (words with one syllable).
F. You have to say I Love English! every 5 minutes (bell).