The story is set in the future, and the law of the time has allowed everyone to be equal. To maintain the equality of the citizens, a Handicapper General keeps those with talent, or brains, or good looks down through means of weights and annoying noises and masks.
Anyway, Harrison is this great looking, strong, smart, talented dude and he is weighed down with all this stuff, including annoying noises that go through his head every few minutes to prevent him from formulating a solid thought (that would make him superior to the rest). Either way, he falls for this ballerina who is also uglified to an acceptable level by the Handicapper General.
He runs off with her, they tear off all their shackles to normalcy and float to the ceiling in a beautiful dance before being blown away by the Handicapper General, this time she’s wielding a shotgun, however.
It’s a great story. I haven’t read it since I was a kid, but it still sticks with me.
I figured that Kurt Vonnegut must have come up with the concept when he was attempting to craft beautiful copy against the chaotic backdrop of an advertising agency, where there are crazy noises and buzzing buzzing and new distractions every minute to try to throw off your concentration.
So long Kurt, R.I.P.
p.s. Checking it out now, I can't find the agency he worked for, but he did write press releases apparently.
