Sunday, August 25, 2013

What are the similes Vonnegut uses when he describes George Bergeron's thoughts?

In "Harrison Bergeron," each of the similes Vonnegut uses to describe George Bergeron's thoughts suggests the illicitness of having an original or unique idea. For example, as George watches ballerinas dance on screen, which could lead to his appreciation of their beauty or of their movement, "A buzzer sounded in George's head. His thoughts fled in panic, like bandits from a burglar alarm."


While the first simile compares how George's thoughts fled, the second simile...

In "Harrison Bergeron," each of the similes Vonnegut uses to describe George Bergeron's thoughts suggests the illicitness of having an original or unique idea. For example, as George watches ballerinas dance on screen, which could lead to his appreciation of their beauty or of their movement, "A buzzer sounded in George's head. His thoughts fled in panic, like bandits from a burglar alarm."


While the first simile compares how George's thoughts fled, the second simile Vonnegut compares the handicap to is something that sounds bad. When Hazel, George's wife, suggests that a handicap could be something pleasant, "like chimes." George rejects this suggestion saying he could actually think with chimes. Instead, the latest sound from his handicap "[s]ounded like somebody hitting a milk bottle with a ball peen hammer." Again, this simile suggests something possibly painful and occurs while George is having an illicit thought as he "was toying with the vague notion that maybe dancers shouldn't be handicapped."

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