Question

george came back in ... and paused while a handicap signal shook him up. and then he sat down again. \you been crying?\ he said to hazel.

\yup,\ she said.

\what about?\ he said.

\i forget,\ she said. \something real sad on television.\

\what was it?\ he said.

\its all kind of mixed up in my mind,\ said hazel.

what ironic contrast does vonnegut include in this scene?

george tells his wife to forget sad things, but readers would expect george and hazel to want to remember their son.
george is smarter than hazel, but neither of them can remember what they just watched on television.
readers would expect a sad ending to the story, but instead it ends on a positive note.
hazel says that everything is \mixed up in her mind,\ but the reader knows that she is actually much smarter than she thinks.

Explanation:

Analyze the text and context

The passage is from Kurt Vonnegut's short story "Harrison Bergeron." In this scene, George and Hazel's son, Harrison, has just been shot and killed on live television. Because of their government-imposed mental and physical handicaps, they are unable to retain or process this tragedy. Hazel was crying but immediately forgets why, stating only that it was "something real sad on television."

Evaluate the options

• Option 1: "George tells his wife to forget sad things..." This does not match the dialogue in the excerpt, nor does it capture the central irony of this specific exchange.
• Option 2: "George is smarter than Hazel, but neither of them can remember what they just watched on television." George is established as having above-average intelligence (requiring a mental handicap transmitter that disrupts his thoughts), while Hazel has perfectly average intelligence (unable to think about anything except in short bursts). Despite George's superior natural intelligence, the handicap signals prevent him from holding thoughts, leaving both of them completely unable to remember or comprehend the murder of their own son. This creates a tragic and ironic contrast.
• Option 3: "Readers would expect a sad ending..." The story does not end on a positive note.
• Option 4: "Hazel says that everything is 'mixed up in her mind,' but the reader knows that she is actually much smarter..." Hazel is not secretly highly intelligent; she represents the enforced average baseline of this society.

Select the correct option

Option 2 accurately identifies the ironic contrast between George's superior intelligence and their shared inability to remember the tragic event they just witnessed.

Answer:

• George tells his wife to forget sad things, but readers would expect George and Hazel to want to remember their son.
• George is smarter than Hazel, but neither of them can remember what they just watched on television. (Correct answer)
• Readers would expect a sad ending to the story, but instead it ends on a positive note.
• Hazel says that everything is "mixed up in her mind," but the reader knows that she is actually much smarter than she thinks.