There are three types of irony, verbal, situational, and dramatic. Verbal irony is the use of words to mean something different than what the person says. Situational irony is when something different happens than what is expected. Lastly, dramatic irony is when is when the audience is aware of something the characters are not.
In the story "Harrison Bergeron," Vonnegut employs dramatic irony. The audience is aware that Harrison was murdered by the government, but the characters although they witnessed it, cannot recall mere moments later that their own son was murdered. He was murdered for rejecting the government and their control over trying to make everyone equal and the same mechanisms caused his own parents to forget him.
