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Chapter 23
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Player Piano, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Technology and Progress
Happiness, Self-Worth, and Passion
Class Division and Competition
Corporate Life vs. Human Connection
Summary
Analysis
The Shah catches a cold on the way to Cornell University. Self-medicating by drinking a special liquor, he rides a limousine to a doctor’s office, drunkenly calling out to attractive women on the street. At a stoplight, he gets out and approaches a beautiful woman, saying, “Fit-fit, sibi Takaru?” Halyard tries to apologize, but the woman takes the Shah’s arm and gets into the limousine. As Halyard assures her that she doesn’t have to do anything she doesn’t want to do, they pull up to the doctor’s office—but the Shah suddenly feels better, so they keep driving.
Some of the novel’s characterizations of the Shah are a little uncomfortable because they portray people from non-western cultures as crass and ignorant. The book’s main intention, though, is to use the Shah’s unfamiliarity with American society as a way of looking at American customs from a new angle. It’s telling, then, that the Shah sees the United States as a culture divided into two classes: the elite and the enslaved. Of course, he’s right that there’s a lot of division in the United States, even if it’s not the case that working-class people have been enslaved. All the same, he thinks that members of the elite can do whatever they want—like have sex—with less powerful people. And though this is obviously not the case, the fact that he could make this mistake suggests that the United States must not be as advanced as Americans would like to think.
Themes
The woman starts crying, explaining that she’s not used to getting in the car with strangers. Halyard tells her they’ll drop her off somewhere, but she insists on “going through with it.” She explains that her husband is a writer and that his recently completed book was rejected by the National Council of Arts and Letters, who read submissions and decide which of the 12 existing book clubs would fit the book in question.
Nothing about the societal structure of the United States makes it easy for people who aren’t managers or engineers to succeed. This is made quite clear by this woman’s apparent willingness to have sex with the Shah in order to financially support her husband (she isn’t, it’s worth noting, a professional sex worker). When it’s this hard to earn a living, the book suggests, people have to get creative. And this is presumably why groups like the Ghost Shirt Society want to dismantle the current system.
Themes
Because the woman’s husband wrote a book that was 27 pages longer than the maximum length, and because it had an “antimachine theme,” the Council rejected it, telling him instead to go into Public Relations. However, the man refused, so he and his wife lost everything: their house, their insurance, their possessions. This is why she was on the street looking for ways to earn money.
Everything about society has become streamlined and strictly controlled—so controlled, in fact, that the woman’s husband isn’t even allowed to publish a book that is a mere 27 pages over the maximum length. Furthermore, the book’s “antimachine theme” also disqualifies it from publication, suggesting that this society is extremely closed-minded, especially where automation is concerned. Any truly advanced society would surely allow writers to freely express their unpopular opinions. This is especially the case in a place like the United States, which was founded upon the importance of free speech. In this futuristic version of the country, though, people like the woman’s husband are stripped of their livelihood simply for speaking out against society’s over-reliance on machines. This implies that the country isn’t actually all that advanced, despite all its technological progress.
Themes
Halyard is appalled that the woman’s husband would put her in such a precarious situation just so he could avoid working in Public Relations. But she says that her husband is one of the only people left with self-respect. Hearing this, the Shah removes a ruby from his finger and gives it to her, speaking comfortingly as he opens the limousine to let her out. Khashdrahr translates, telling the woman that the Shah wishes her good luck and that “some of the greatest prophets were crazy as bedbugs.” As soon as she leaves, the Shah starts sneezing again and reaches for his flask of liquor.
The Shah empathizes with this woman and her husband, indicating that he recognizes the absurdity of American society. Whereas Halyard can’t understand why the woman’s husband wouldn’t simply give up and work in Public Relations, the Shah seems to understand that people ought to do what they’re passionate about. Life, after all, is about more than simply filling a role in the workforce, though very few people in this futuristic version of the United States seem to grasp this idea, instead focusing narrow-mindedly on things like efficiency and productivity.
Themes
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