Read the excerpt from "harrison bergeron." “you been crying? ” he said to hazel. “yup,” she said. “what about? ” he said. “i forget,” she said. “something real sad on television.” “what was it? ” he said. “it’s all kind of mixed up in my mind,” said hazel. “forget sad things,” said george. “i always do,” said hazel. how does this interaction between george and hazel develop kurt vonnegut’s social criticism? it demonstrates potential problems that occur in a competitive relationship. it illustrates the need for maintaining equality in a society. it suggests that women are more emotional than men. it shows how technology can dehumanize and desensitize people.

It shows how technology can dehumanize and desensitize people.

"Harrison Bergeron," by Kurt Vonnegut, presents a society which seeks perfect equality among all citizens. This means that no one is allowed to be too beautiful, too able or too intelligent. People are used to wearing "handicaps" in order to enforce this equality.

In this excerpt, Hazel just witnessed something sad: she saw her son and a ballerina being killed by government officials on TV. However, neither Hazel nor George (who did not witnessed it), can feel the pain and sadness this deserves because their intelligence and their humanity has been so greatly compromised by the harsh conditions of the society they live in.

21 balloons is the story of professor william sherman's travels.

in 1883, he set off from san francisco for a balloon ride over the pacific and was found a month later floating with 21 balloons in the atlantic ocean. this seemed an astounding feat and everyone wanted to know what had happened.    

professor sherman was loyal, however, and said he would tell his tale first to the western american explorers club in san francisco, of which he was a member. this built up suspense for several chapters before he began to tell of the wonders of his adventures and the amazing island of krakatoa, an island which had just been blown up by a volcano.  

the residents of krakatoa are all millionaires who live under a "gourmet government" of their own devising. we get to see all the incredible adventures that creative people with unlimited resources would create according to the author.