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Chapter 9
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 next day, Paul doesn’t arrive at work until the afternoon. Shepherd is at Paul’s desk doing paperwork; it seems he’s been there for a while and is looking over the security report showing that Paul let Finnerty in unsupervised. Shepherd also took a call from Kroner, who wants to see Paul tonight. And the police found Paul’s pistol by the river. When Paul asks if Shepherd told Kroner he was hungover, Shepherd assures him that he covered for him by saying that he was out because of his nerves.
Shepherd once again tries to undermine Paul. This time, he even tries to slide into Paul’s job while Paul is absent—a sure sign that he’ll take any opportunity to steal Paul’s power. The fact that he’s looking at the security report about Finnerty also confirms that Paul’s oversight in letting his friend into the plant will surely come back to bite him—and so, it seems, will his lost gun. All of these things threaten to derail Paul’s career, but Paul doesn’t react very strongly to this (perhaps because he’s not very invested in his career to begin with).
Themes
Kroner calls back and invites Paul and Anita to dinner, claiming he just wants to catch up. After the call, Paul ushers Shepherd out of the office, at which point he receives a call from the police, though he avoids the situation by simply leaving the office himself. When he gets home, Anita tells him his clothes for dinner are laid out on the bed, noting that Shepherd called to tell her about the plans with Kroner. She then asks Paul if he spent time with any young women last night. He admits that he did but that he doesn’t remember anything. She’s not that disturbed by this information, instead bringing out a piece of paper, upon which she has written a detailed outline of all the things Paul should remember for dinner with Kroner tonight.
Once more, Shepherd won’t stop meddling in Paul’s life. In particular, he has no problem reaching out to Anita and informing her of all the things Paul himself doesn’t tell her. In this sense, Anita and Shepherd are actually very similar, since they both care about career advancement and status more than anything else. To that end, Anita hardly even seems to care that Paul was with other women at the bar last night, instead focusing solely on her biggest concern: that he earn the Pittsburgh promotion.
Themes
Returning to the subject of the young women he saw the night before, Paul assures Anita that he didn’t touch either of them. Anita says that what she was really wondering was if anyone saw him with them—this, she says, would be a terrible thing to get back to Kroner. When Paul matter-of-factly says that he slept with one of the women, all Anita says is, “I thought you did. That’s your affair.” She doesn’t seem very interested in the conversation anymore—until, that is, Paul says that Shepherd saw him and the other woman after they slept together. This horrifies Anita, so Paul quickly tells her he’s kidding.
The only thing Anita cares about is whether or not someone saw Paul cheating on her. The idea that he cheated on her in the first place (which, of course, he didn’t) doesn’t even bother her. However, because she’s concerned about their family’s public image, she would find it dreadful if anyone found out about any kind of affair. This just further illustrates where her priorities are: she wants upward mobility and a good reputation above all else, and she only pays attention to the aspects of her marriage that will help her in this regard.
Themes
