In Kurt Vonnegut's "Harrison Bergeron," when Harrison takes over the studio where the ballerinas and musicians are performing, the narrator describes several "superhuman" qualities about him. Here are several:
1. He is described as "seven feet tall" and has so many handicaps on him it'd be impossible for an ordinary human to function:
"Nobody had ever born heavier handicaps. He had outgrown hindrances faster than the H-G men could think them up. Instead of a little ear radio for a mental handicap, he wore a tremendous pair of earphones, and spectacles with thick wavy lenses. The spectacles were intended to make him not only half blind, but to give him whanging headaches besides."
2. When in the studio, Harrison demonstrates incredible strength by tearing "the straps of his handicap harness like wet tissue paper, [...] straps guaranteed to support five thousand pounds."
3. After grabbing the ballerina who would become his "empress," she and Harrison abandoned "the law of gravity and the laws of motion." They leaped to the ceiling and kissed it where, "neutralizing gravity with love and pure will, they remained suspended in air inches below the ceiling, and they kissed each other for a long, long time."
The superhuman efforts are ironic in how easy it is for the handicapper general, Diana Moon Glampers, to kill him ("She fired twice, and the Emperor and the Empress were dead before they hit the floor."). It shows that despite the extraordinary abilities that we think separate us from the rest of the world, it is still relatively easy for the powers that be to destroy those with these qualities. In addition, no one will remember the efforts of Harrison, as illustrated by his parents inability to remember what had just happened on screen.
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