Harrison Bergeron

Harrison Bergeron – General Understanding Quiz

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Approximate Reading Times

Quick Read: under 5 minutes
Short Story: 5 to 30 minutes
Novelette: 30 to 90 minutes
Novella: 1.5 to 2.5 hours

Other stories you may like:

The Patient Cat
Grade 3-4 Story by Laura E. Richards. A cat shows patience in waiting for a nest full of bird’s eggs to hatch. It also shows patience in not pouncing as soon as the chicks are born, and waiting until they get fat. But unfortunately, it waits a little too long.
Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime
Novelette by Oscar Wilde. A gullible young aristocrat believes a charlatan palm-reader’s prediction that he will commit a murder. Convinced that he is merely fulfilling his destiny, the young man defers his upcoming marriage and feels no guilt in planning and preparing for murder, or indeed remorse afterwards.
In the Penal Colony
Novelette by Franz Kafka. A psychopathic officer on an isolated prison island acts as judge, jury and executioner. Central to the story is a gruesome torture machine that seems to know its time has come and chooses to self-destruct along with the only person left who cares about it.
Aftermath
Short Story by Mary Yukari Waters. In the aftermath of World War 2, a young Japanese mother struggles to deal with the loss of her husband, her young son’s growing Americanisation and dimming memories of his father, and the fundamental shifts taking place in Japanese society.
The Homecoming
Chinese Folktale. A woodcutter who took an interest in everyone’s business but his own finds many changes on returning home after being missing for thousands of years. His disappearance occurred after he stopped to offer unwanted advice to two strange men playing Xiangqi (Chinese chess) in a forest.

The Man with the Rose
Short Story by Manuel Rojas. A priest is predictably dismissive when a man says he has “black magical” powers. The man begs to be put to the test, claiming that, if locked in a room for an hour, he can retrieve any distant object the priest nominates.
Patriotism
Novelette by Yukio Mishima. A young Japanese army officer must choose between duty and loyalty to his friends. His only honorable way out is seppuku (harakiri). The story’s lovemaking scenes are tastefully erotic, and the description of seppuku is gruesome in its detail. Not for easily offended or queasy readers!
The Birds
Short Story by Daphne du Maurier. A family, along with all of Britain, come under sustained attacks by flocks of crazed birds. Seen as an analogy of the terror caused by World War Two blitz bombing and the developing Cold War, the story carries even more ominous implications for today.
The Outlaws
Short Story by Selma Lagerlöf. Two medieval fugitives meet and become close friends while hiding out in the Swedish wilderness. The men differ in physique, confidence, class, religion and the seriousness of their crimes. The only thing they have in common is that their charges arose because of manipulating women.
Thank You, M’am
Grade 7-8 Story by Langston Hughes. A woman catches a teenage thief as he tries to steal her handbag. She knows what it is like to grow up poor and, instead of handing the lad over to the police, takes him home for a meal and friendly chat.