Question

Imagine that you were in the same situation as Harrison Bergeron would you have acted the way he did or would you have done something different? Why?

Answer 1

If in Harrison Bergeron's position, one's actions would depend on personal values and the perceived effectiveness of resistance, potentially favoring subtler long-term strategies over immediate, radical action in such a dystopian society.

Step-by-step explanation:

The story of Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. presents a dystopian society where individuals are forced to be equal in every conceivable way. In this hypothetical scenario, considering myself in Harrison's position, my actions might differ based on a variety of factors such as personal values, the perceived effectiveness of resistance, and the possible consequences of such actions.

Though Harrison's method was dramatic and ultimately fatal, an alternative approach could be to seek change through subtler forms of resistance. For example, forming a coalition with like-minded individuals to slowly alter public opinion might be a more sustainable strategy.

The risks associated with outright rebellion in such an oppressive society could make one consider a long-term approach rather than immediate, radical action.

Answer 2

If I were Harrison in exactly the same situation, I would have chosen to save other people. Since Harrison has to be smarter than the rest of the people in the story because of the insane number of handicaps he wears, I think I would have spent time prior to escaping finding a way to free other people of their handicaps and overtaking the government, especially the Handicapper General, Diana Moon Glampers. Instead of going on national television to find an empress, I would have escaped underground and found others to help me or I would have found a way to get the weapons/fighters/etceteras to help me actually overthrow the government. I would have tried to find ways to help people celebrate their unique talents while also finding a way to make sure that people aren't discriminated against so that society could be fair to all people and still rich with culture and art and things of beauty.
As the story is told, Harrison and the empress were killed by Glampers, and because of the handicaps, nobody even knows it happened, not even his parents...and it happens on live television! There is no way a revolution could be started if there aren't people to keep the fight going. It makes a lot more sense to overthrow the government first and then find someone to dance with.
For me personally, I would want to use my talents to help other people, and, since the story seems to want the reader to think about how important individuality is, I think I would want my story to be one that embraced my talents and strengths in a way that would really help other people.