Symbolism In Harrison Bergeron

The second most significant symbol in Harrison Bergeron is the beer. The beer is shown to the audience when George gets a beer from the refrigerator after the television tube burnt out. The author’s purpose for the beer is to show how people forget depressing losses to make them feel better. The beer symbolizes that forgetting things is a way used to cope with loss. This can be see in Harrison Bergeron when after George’s son dies it states “George had gone out into the kitchen for a can of beer” (Vonnegut 6). This happens after Harrison dies on the television so the main reason he went to the kitchen was to forget about the death of his son. Again this can be seen in Harrison Bergeron when George talks to Hazel,”"Something real sad on television."