What is the theme of "Harrison Bergeron"?

The
primary theme in 's "" is that human beings will always reject control and oppression
of their individuality. The handicapper general, a woman by the name of Diana Moon Glampers,
enforces this desire to reduce individuals to a generic person without individual thoughts in
the name of "equality." However, the eponymous Harrison Bergeron rejects and strips
himself of the "handicaps" placed on him by Glampers, but ends up dead.

In this story, Vonnegut is successfully able to weave two competing ideas: the human
desire to be an individual and the political desire for control. Despite the fact that citizens
seem to prefer control in order to be "equal" (George Bergeron tells his wife this
when she suggests removing some of his handicaps: "If I tried to get away with it ... then
other people'd get away with itand pretty soon we'd be right back to the dark ages again, with
everybody competing against everybody else. You wouldn't like that, would you?"), there
also seems to be the incorrigible human desire to express oneself. When Harrison arrives in the
TV studio, he finds a dancer and musicians willing to remove their handicaps in order to create
something beautiful. Even Hazel Bergeron, who has no handicaps because she
is already at the lowest common denominator, cries when Harrison is shot
because she understands that something "sad" has just occurred.

There are many sub-themes here, including the questions surrounding this idea of
equality, but the primary theme is definitely the human desire to express one's individuality
and talents regardless of oppression.