Do you think people's expectations and treatment of Harrison and his eventual actions could be considered a self-fulfilling prophecy? Why or why not?

I have found this question online. It refers to the short story "Harrison Bergeron" by Kurt Vonnegut.

Answer and Explanation:

Yes, I believe people's expectations and treatment of Harrison and his eventual actions could be considered a self-fulfilling prophecy.

A self-fulfilling prophecy is a result of the Pygmalion effect theory, which claims we are influenced by other people's expectations of us. When we begin to believe what others think of us to be the truth, we change our behavior in accordance to it. We end up fulfilling the prophecies others have made about us, that is, we confirm their expectations.

That is what Harrison, the main character, does. In the story, the American government has decided to promote equality in a most absurd manner. People who are considered beautiful or intelligent, for instance, are forced to wear handicaps so that others will not feel inferior. Harrison is only 14 years old, and he is forced to wear loads of handicaps, not only to make him less handsome and strong, but also to make him less intelligent. For that reason, Harrison begins to see himself as truly superior to others. What the government does to him leads him to believe he is special, and that the world deserves to see that.

Harrison escapes from jail, appears before cameras, removes his own handicaps, and dances with a ballerina. Both are shot dead by a government official. If Harrison were truly superior in intelligence, he would most likely not have done that, since he knew he would be breaking the law and the outcome was quite obvious. It was because he was treated as intelligent, not because he was truly intelligent, that Harrison did what he did and was killed for it.

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