Answer:
The punishment for removing weight from the 'handicap bag' was so harsh because if anyone would remove weight then others, too, would want to remove weights from their handicap bag, which will make their society step back to the Dark Ages of competition.
Explanation:
Harrison Bergeron is a short story written by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. The story is about a dystopian society, where people are living in 2081 and all people are equal in society.
There is an agency named the United States Handicapper General, which puts a 'handicap bag' around the neck of people who are more smarter and wiser than others. It is done so that people may not feel inferior to anyone.
The bag weighs around forty-seven pounds and is tied around the neck of <em>handicap </em>people. The punishment to remove weight from <em>'handicap bag' </em>is severe because if anyone would remove the weight from their bags then others would likely do the same, which will bring chaos in the society. This chaos most likely will result in going back to the <em>Dark Ages </em>where people were not equal and competitive.
<u>Textual evidence</u>
<em>'“If I tried to get away with it,” said George, “then other people’d get away with it—
and pretty soon we’d be right back to the dark ages again, with everybody competing against everybody else...'</em>
