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Chapter 17
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
On Wednesday, Paul has Mr. Haycox prepare the farm for a romantic evening with Anita. However, Anita is extremely uninterested in the surprise Paul has in store for her, constantly trying to turn the conversation back to the Meadows and how Paul should probably be resting up and focusing on his duties as captain of the Blue Team (she even tries to get him not to have any alcohol so that he’ll be more competitive on the playing field). Ignoring her, he convinces her to get in the car, and then he drives her across the river, hoping to instill in her the same admiration he has for the people of Homestead. Unsurprisingly, she’s appalled to be on the other side of the river.
Yet again, Anita cares more about Paul’s career than she cares about their relationship. Paul just wants to connect with her, hoping she’ll get excited about the idea of living a simpler life on the farm. This, however, is a wildly unrealistic hope, considering that Anita thinks almost exclusively about status and how to attain upward mobility in the corporate world—the exact things Paul hopes to leave behind. In other words, while he romanticizes the idea of farm life, she romanticizes the idea of Paul asserting his power at the Meadows and proving himself worthy of the Pittsburgh job.
Themes
Paul knows that Anita has a particular dislike of the people in Homestead because she herself never went to college. This means that, if she hadn’t married Paul, she would most likely be living here right now. As he tries to convince her to simply sit in the car and watch people go about their lives, she feels as if he’s trying to humiliate her. What he really wants, though, is to show her that they should reassess the way they think about the world. Society’s obsession with automation has robbed people on this side of the river of their sense of being “needed and useful,” which is, Paul argues, “the foundation of self-respect.”
This moment sheds light on why, exactly, Anita is so fixated on status and success: she wants to make up for the fact that she herself comes from a humble background. Her scorn for the people of Homestead is thus a form of insecurity, as she knows that she wouldn’t be part of the elite class of engineers and managers if it weren’t for her marriage to Paul. With this in mind, she’s uninterested in empathizing with the people on the other side of the river, since she has gone to great lengths to disassociate with them. Paul, on the other hand, has nothing to prove, which is why he recognizes the downsides of taking away the general population’s sense of feeling “needed and useful”—an idea that underlines how important it is for people to feel like they have a purpose in life.
Themes
Anita still doesn’t understand why Paul has brought her to Homestead, but she begins to see that he genuinely feels guilty for living such a privileged life. This, in some ways, comes as a relief, since she thought he had brought her here to punish her—she thought he was suspicious that she has been having an affair with Shepherd. This catches Paul off-guard. “I’ll be jealous of Shepherd when you’re jealous of Katharine Finch,” he laughs, but she takes immediate offense, taking issue with the idea that someone like Katharine could ever be a source of competition for her. She also vehemently says that Shepherd is much more attractive than Katharine.
The mere fact that Anita brings up the possibility of having an affair with Shepherd is a little suspicious, since she seems to spend so much time with him. Not only that, but she and Shepherd are actually very well-matched, considering that they both think about upward mobility and corporate success more than anything else. Strangely enough, it’s almost as if Anita wants Paul to be jealous, since bringing this topic up in the first place is like luring Paul into competition with Shepherd. No matter what Paul does, it seems, he can’t avoid a rivalry with Shepherd, despite the fact that he’s completely uninterested in this kind of competition.
Themes
Paul feels like Anita doesn’t have any empathy for the people on this side of the river. Just to insult her, he says the only reason she doesn’t live here is that she married him—and the only reason they got married in the first place is Oligomenorrhea: a “delayed menstrual period.” This comment derails the argument, as Anita threatens through tears to get out of the car and walk if Paul doesn’t drive her home. Fuming, Paul puts the car into gear, but as they cross the bridge in silence, he begins to feel sorry for what he said. Finally, he apologizes and asks if he can make it up to her by showing her the surprise he has in store. She’s hesitant at first, but when he tells her it cost $8,000, he can tell she’s interested.
Perhaps because he’s unhappy that she essentially forced him into a romantic rivalry with Shepherd, Paul purposefully tries to hurt Anita’s feelings. He does this by naming her biggest insecurity, which is the idea that she doesn’t actually belong in the elite upper class. (He also implies that they only got married because they mistakenly thought Anita might be pregnant.) Needless to say, this is a cruel thing for Paul to point out, especially since his argument basically suggests that she’d be nothing without him. And considering that Anita cares about status above all else, this is probably the worst insult he could possibly give her. This is also why her anger lifts when she hears that Paul bought her something expensive, since this suggests that she’s worthy of an $8,000 gift. Indeed, she doesn’t forgive Paul because he makes a genuine apology, but because he ends up validating her obsession with power, wealth, and status.
Themes
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Paul drives to the farm. Haycox has cleaned it thoroughly and outfitted it to look quaint and charming. In fact, it’s so charming that Anita is beside herself—she loves it. After walking around and admiring all the antiques, she expresses just how excited she is, telling Paul that she loves him. Before long, though, he realizes that she has no intention of living here. What she wants is to take all of the antiques home. She thinks that Paul bought the farm to tear it apart and take away anything of value. When she learns that he wants to live here full-time, she can’t believe it.
In this scene, Paul wins back Anita’s affection, but not for the reasons he hoped. Paul, for his part, wants Anita to appreciate the farmhouse for its machine-free simplicity, but Anita takes a liking to it because it contains valuable objects. In other words, she likes the farm for all the wrong reasons, demonstrating once again that she only cares about superficial things like wealth and status. Paul wants to preserve the farm’s rustic qualities, but Anita wants to do the opposite: she wants to plunder it for anything of value. In that sense, Anita’s reaction to the farm mirrors her attitude about Paul: instead of loving him for who he is, she wants the superficial trappings she can gain through his status.
Themes
Frustrated, Paul says that he doesn’t care what Anita thinks. He’s going to quit his job and live on the farm no matter what she says. Anita then reveals that Shepherd told her Paul would surely quit, though she didn’t believe him at the time. When Paul tries to convince her that things in society are unethical, she disagrees, arguing that working-class people can still succeed if they’re smart—this is the “American way.” This statement depresses Paul, but Anita pulls him toward her and seduces him, and though he doesn’t want to, he relents. Cooing in his ear, she tells him that he’s not going to quit. As if hypnotized, Paul just says “Mmmm.”
In this moment, the novel spotlights the true power dynamic at play in Paul and Anita’s relationship. Indeed, Anita is unwilling to even entertain the idea of Paul quitting his highly respected job, and though Paul might like to think the decision isn’t up to her, he still melts in her arms when she seduces him, suggesting that he’s not quite as strong-willed as he’d like to think. And yet, this doesn’t change the fact that he and Anita have opposing ways of looking at the world. What’s ironic, though, is that Anita isn’t necessarily wrong when she says that anyone can succeed if they’re smart—this, in fact, is the exact problem with this societal structure, which divides people up based on their intelligence. The problem isn’t that intelligent people have trouble succeeding, it’s that anyone with a low IQ has been cut off from attaining upward mobility. Therefore, Anita’s comment further reveals that she only cares about people who are already in the elite upper class.
Themes
