Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. In the short story "Harrison Bergeron" by Kurt Vonnegut I perceive the theme to be the importance of individuality, and a need for individual difference for fear of losing our humanity when nowadays equality for all is an issue. In many aspects, equality must be striven for. People have always been different and will always tend to remain that way. Individualism is a doctrine and marks the differences between people recognizing the value of diversity in modern society. "The year was 2081, and everybody was finally equal. They weren't only equal befo