First published in 1961, Vonnegut’s satirical story imagines a future in which America’s quest for egalitarianism has resulted in laws preventing anyone from being “better than average.” Our title character is born strong, handsome and intelligent — and in order to make him equal to others, he is given golf-style “handicaps.” He has to wear glasses that make it hard for him to see (and that give him headaches). He has to wear weighted clothes and a rubber mask to counteract his strength and good looks.
The US Declaration of Independence states as a self-evident truth that “all Men are created equal,” but in Vonnegut’s story, that idea is extrapolated to an absurd degree — offering some answers that may be uncomfortable to us.