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Chapter 28
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
Still under the influence of the powerful drug that was slipped into his drink, Paul moves through a dream-like state of consciousness. Everything feels easy and pleasant as he listens to an unidentified voice drill him with questions. The voice asks if he really got fired, and he says that his dismissal was a ruse so that he could infiltrate the Ghost Shirt Society. Except, he says, what the people who fired him don’t know is that he legitimately quit his job. The voice asks why he quit, wondering if it’s because his job was evil and “morally bad.” But Paul simply says he was tired of working and that his job felt “pointless.”
Paul’s answer about why he quit his job sheds light on his dissatisfaction with the corporate life he used to lead. He reveals that he didn’t necessarily quit because he thought he was participating in a morally corrupt organization, but because he didn’t feel like there was any point to his job. This relates to Lasher’s earlier observation that people have to feel “useful” or “needed” in order to be happy. Although Paul might have had certain misgivings about the company’s negative impact on society, the real reason he was unhappy in his job was because he didn’t actually feel passionate about it. In this way, he experienced the same lack of purpose as the people who were replaced by machines.
Themes
Paul suddenly finds himself talking to Finnerty, who tells him that he’s on the Ghost Shirt Society’s side now. The Society believes that “the world should be restored to the people.” Paul likes this idea, nodding pleasantly as Finnerty tells him that he—Paul—is the one who will help the Ghost Shirts make this a reality. Paul agrees, and then he hears Lasher’s approving voice saying that he will be a good addition to the Society.
As Paul slowly wakes up after being drugged, he discovers that he’s basically already part of the Ghost Shirt Society. Once again, then, he ends up in a situation without making a decision of his own. In the same way that he got swept up in Kroner’s plan to infiltrate the Ghost Shirt Society, he now gets swept up in the Society itself. The difference, though, is that the Ghost Shirts actually stand for something that aligns with his own values. And yet, it’s still the case that he doesn’t really decide for himself to join them—he’s just suddenly part of the organization.
Themes
Paul asks about the Ghost Shirt’s Society’s name, and Lasher explains that it was borrowed from a Native American religious movement from the late 1800s. At this point in history, white settlers had taken so much from Native Americans that there was hardly anything left of their culture and way of life. This means that entire Native American communities were deprived of the very things that gave meaning to their lives. To fight against this loss of culture, a new religion formed: the Ghost Dance Religion. This brought on new rituals and new “Messiahs” who planned to lead a revolution. The idea was that this group would charge into the white settlers’ oncoming gunfire wearing “ghost shirts” that would protect them from the bullets.
The Ghost Dance was an actual Native American religious movement in the early 1890s. The dance was intended to call forth the spirits of the dead, who would fight alongside Native American tribes against white settlers. This was an attempt to put an end to the westward expansion of the settlers and bring good fortune to Native American tribes. In the context of Player Piano, this movement is relevant because characters like Lasher and Finnerty believe automation has harmed society in ways that are similar to the destructive impact of the white settlers on Native American communities.
Themes
Lasher says that machines in the present are the same as the oppressive white settlers of the 19th century. They’ve completely changed the world, wiping away an entire system of values that helped people give meaning to their own lives. This is why Lasher and Finnerty have decided to fight back against the mechanized world. And Paul will be the Messiah who rallies everyone to action. He doesn’t have to do anything, they assure him—he’s just the face of the operation, since everyone knows who he is. Paul starts to say something, but Lasher and Finnerty leave before he can object.
Lasher makes a comparison between the violence against Native Americans and the detrimental effects of automation, but some readers might argue that this analogy is a little overstated. Since technological progress hasn’t led to widespread violence, it’s difficult to compare it to the genocidal events that Native American communities faced in the 18th and 19th centuries. At the same time, it is the case that all these technological changes have disempowered people and changed the nature of their lives, taking away the working class’s ability to feel useful and—as Lasher has previously said—“needed on earth.” In this way, automation has led to a cultural overhaul that vaguely resembles the massive changes that took place as white settlers founded the United States and set new societal norms.
Themes
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