Read the following excerpt from Kurt Vonnegut's "Harrison Bergeron": "You been so tired lately kind of wore out," said Hazel. "If
there was just some way we could make a little hole in the
bottom of the bag, and just take out a few of them lead balls.
Just a few.
"Two years in prison and two thousand dollars fine for every
ball took out," said George. "I don't call that a bargain.'
"If you could just take a few out when you came home from
work," said Hazel. "1 mean--you don't compete with anybody
around here. You just sit around."
"If I tried to get away with it," said George, "then other
people's get away with it- and 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?
"I'd hate it, said Hazel.
'There you are,' said George. The minute people start
cheating on laws, what do you think happens to society?"
If Hazel hadn't been able to come up with an answer to this
question, George couldn't have supplied one. A siren was
going off in his head.
"Reckon it'd fall all apart," said Hazel.
"What would?" said George blankly.
"'Society,' said Hazel uncertainly. "Wasn't that what you just said?
"Who knows? said George:
Analyze Vonnegut's use of irony to convey meaning in this story. In particular, explain how the dystopian setting contributes to the author's message. Provide evidence for your analysis from the text.