TOMOZEI ALINA

A CONTRASTIVE STUDY OF VONNEGUT’S “HARRISON BERGERON” AND

MORRISON’S “RECITATIF”

Although the two short stories, “Harrison Bergeron” and “Recitatif”, are situated in
very different time periods, they both touch upon the same idea of the individual’s status
within society. “Recitatif” explores the social and racial inequities dividing the American
society in the 50s, 60s, 70s, while “Harrison Bergeron” takes place in a futuristic, dystopian
society of the year 2081, where individuals are stripped of free will. Despite such disparities,
both short stories dive into the themes of society, human nature, freedom, equality, rebellion
and the intermingling of an individual and his respective authority.

Both stories depict societies tainted by equality or the quest for equality. Total
equality, physical and mental, has been achieved in “Harrison Bergeron” by torture and
limitations (“handicaps”): “Nobody was smarter than anybody else. Nobody was better
looking than anybody else. Nobody was stronger or quicker than anybody else”. In this
dystopia, equality is the result of legal and political authorities drowning freedom and
individuality. The perfect examples of “normality” are embodied by Hazel Bergeron and
Diana Moon Glampers, the Handicapper General. The two characters, along with the news
presenter with a speech impediment, are symbols of mediocrity, relating and appealing to
everyone who is average or below average. The world is in such a state of sedation and self
unawareness that even the methods used by the government to control it are pretty crude and
primitive: earsplitting noises blasted by radio transmitters, bags of birdshot and scrap metal,
masks, ordinary guns and so on. The citizens have internalized the propaganda for equality, so
that no brain implants, no advanced surveillance on the population are needed to enforce the
law. George Bergeron, although an intelligent man, has succumbed to the belief that
uniformity is the only way forward and is reticent to the mere idea of removing his handicaps
in private; doing so would lead to society falling apart and reverting back to the “dark ages”.
The same idea is echoed in “Recitatif”, although to a lesser extent: when Twyla and Roberta
arrive at St Bonny’s and Twyla refuses to share a room with a girl of another race (Morrison
never truly reveals which of the two girls is white and which one is black, adding to the
readers’ sense that they’re viewing a society challenging conventional understandings of race
and prejudices), Big Bozo (the authoritarian figure) warns them that any fight would be
punished and would result in an interdiction to watch The Wizard of Oz. Also, years later,
when Twyla’s son, Joseph, is on the list of children to be bused to another school, Twyla is
seen as apathetic and unbothered by this change, as she doesn’t see a substantial difference
between the schools. Unlike Roberta, she doesn’t fight forced racial integration, as she
believes the measure serves the greater good. If Hazel Bergeron stands for “normality” in
Vonnegut’s story, Twyla’s husband’s family is chosen for the same effect in Morrison’s
narrative. Being normal, in Morrison’s imagined world, is defined as feeling as “comfortable
as a house slipper”. James’s family have always lived in Newburgh and consider the town an
“upstate paradise”, even though half its residents are on welfare. There seems to be a sort of
sedation pervading Morrison’s society similar to Vonnegut’s, as everyone’s views of it are
very narrow and influenced by a desire for personal comfort – economical comfort and
especially psychological comfort. Twyla suppresses her feelings of anger towards the mother
that abandoned her and refuses to acknowledge Mary’s “dancing” for what it truly is, opting
instead to view it as a “disease”; she often dreams of the orchard where she, Roberta and
Maggie, the lady at the shelter kitchen (her disabilities - just mere reflections of the issues
plaguing those around her), were bullied by the “gar girls” (gargoyles), but she’s not sure why
and claims “nothing really happened there”. Twyla isn’t aware of the significance of the
orchard, nor does she seem to be eager to explore the depths of her unconscious mind.

If the two short stories present the dangers of equality and self unawareness in a
society, they also make sure to address the issue of rebellion against the norm. Vonnegut’s
rebel, Harrison Bergeron, although the symbol of the perfect human specimen and of what
society could achieve if freed of its handicaps, ends up being just another side of the
authoritarian coin. He proclaims himself to be the “Emperor” and he demands that everybody
do his bidding; he has no one’s interests at heart but his. The tyranny of mediocrity is replaced
by the dictatorship of the intellectual and physical elite, equally as harmful. There is no real
balance or middle ground in Vonnegut’s story.

Morrison’s characters don’t have a better grasp of the rebellion against equality.
Rebellion in “Recitatif” is not used to fight the shortcomings of society and to better it, but to
assert individual superiority and to protect one’s own interests. While both Twyla and Roberta
are orphans and of average intellect (they both perform badly at school), Twyla initially
rejects Roberta because of racial prejudice (her mother had taught her that people of Roberta’s
race never wash their hair and smell funny) and, throughout the years, Twyla mocks Roberta
for her inability to read – Twyla only accepts Roberta because she knows “not to ask
questions” (which is, after all, the main theme of the story); while the other girls at St Bonny’s
are also orphans and vulnerable, they put up a tough front and bully Twyla and Roberta
because they are not “real orphans with beautiful dead parents in the sky”, thus idealising
their own suffering and denying the abuses they had undergone in their homes; while being
bullied themselves, Twyla and Roberta have no reaction when Maggie is pushed and kicked
down by the gar girls and even end up suppressing or distorting this memory over time. There
is a constant fight against accepting one’s condition and reality. As Twyla and Roberta grow
up and undergo transformations, they remain divided by economic and racial segregation.
Roberta undergoes a form of rebellion both against her past, her social and economic
condition and the government’s policies and Twyla rebels against Roberta and what she
stands for.

Vonnegut’s story ends up tragically, with the rebellion being shut down by the
Handicapper General, however, Morrison’s establishes some sort of reconciliation and
balance, as Twyla and Roberta come to accept things as they have really occurred and
confront their inner demons.