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Chapter 12
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
Lying in bed, Paul finally feels content—not because he’s in the running for the Pittsburgh job, but because he finally has good reason to be upset. His boss, after all, has asked him to betray his own best friend, Ed Finnerty. Nobody could argue that this isn’t a terrible situation, so now Paul feels like he can justifiably get angry and quit. Feeling satisfied, he decides not to tell Anita about his plan to leave his job; she’s too excited. Plus, he wants time to covertly “re-educate” her so that she takes on different values—then she won’t be so upset that he’s leaving behind his corporate success.
It becomes clear in this chapter that Paul has made a decision to quit. This is because he can’t simply overlook his many misgivings about the effect of technological progress on society. On a more personal level, his decision to quit also has a lot to do with Kroner trying to force him to betray Finnerty. This goes against Paul’s values, since he—unlike many people in his life—cares more about his relationships with other people than he cares about his job. Anita, on the other hand, is so fixated on the idea of upward mobility that it’s highly unlikely she’ll take the news of Paul leaving his job in stride. For this reason, he wants to “re-educate” her, apparently believing (in a rather condescending way) that he’ll be able to completely change her entire system of values.
Themes
