Directions: After reading “Harrison Bergeron” you are going to go back and apply your understanding of the theme to the text. The Thematic Idea (Thematic Idea is the topic of the story) has been chosen for you, but now it is your job to create a theme/thematic statement and PROVE it by finding evidence to support. Essentially, the easiest way to remember a theme is that it is the lesson or point the author wants you to believe or know by the end of the reading. This evidence should NOT ONLY be from one particular part but should be from various points throughout the text.

Thematic Idea (Topic): Forced Equality/Sameness

HINT: In dystopian literature, usually the horrible reality is commenting on something in our society that is happening and is being exaggerated. In “Harrison Bergeron” we see how everyone is forced to be equal in EVERY way, this does NOT mean that Kurt Vonnegut (The Author) WANTS to be forced equality/sameness, but instead quite the opposite.
Sentence Frame for writing a theme. “The Author believes(topic)___about(Opinion) because...” Then, just delete the “Author Believes” part and now you have a theme!
Example: Finding Nemo
Topic- Perseverance
Sentence Frame- The author believes that with perseverance you can overcome any obstacle that life throws at you.
Delete “Author Believes”- With perseverance, you can overcome any obstacle that life throws at you.
So… now knowing this, what do you think is the THEME of “Harrison Bergeron”? (Remember: take the thematic idea and concise it down into what the message is from the author)

Thematic statement: The author believes...
The author believes that being equal is always about being the same because...

Theme: (this is where you delete “the author believes…”)
Being equal is always about being the same because...

Evidence -- How and WHY do you know -- choose 3 moments over the course of the story that develops the theme.
Quote w/page # and authors last name in parenthesis → (Vonnegut)
Explanation: A quote without reasoning isn’t anything but a quote. WHY/HOW does this moment DEVELOP the theme in Harrison Bergeron?