Essay On Gender Roles In Kurt Vonnegut's Player Piano

Writing post World War II, Kurt Vonnegut’s Player Piano simultaneously works with the established and changing gender roles within U.S. society at the time and creates satirical commentary. Seemingly relegated to a position of powerlessness on their own, Vonnegut uses different female characters to portray how women in that time period could attain power (usually through marriage). Power (synonymously meaning influence) and the desire to attain power is seen in the prominent Player Piano women, Anita Proteus, Dr. Katharine Finch, and “Mom,”-- but also in less prominent female characters as well. Vonnegut’s different characterizations of these female characters reveal how different “types” of women were all oppressed under the collective thumb

Starting off with those who feared power are Barbara and Martha. Introduced in chapter nine of the novel and never reappearing, Barbara and Martha are two Homestead girls that sit with Dr. Ed Finnerty and Dr. Paul Proteus (the protagonist) at a Homestead bar (Vonnegut 102). Martha is friendly to Finnerty, but Barbara is suspicious of Paul and his intentions, asking him, “What are you doing over here—having a good laugh at the dumb bunnies?” (Vonnegut 103). Paul is an engineer and clearly from the other side of the river (Ilium). While Martha’s friendliness to Finnerty can be interpreted in multiple ways, Barbara is clearly anxious around Paul and his power and even asks him to let her out of their shared booth. Paul, however, is trying to get Barabara to like him– in order to prove something to himself. Barabara’s fear of power is evident in this chapter through her nervous interaction with Paul and is a stark contrast to a different original Homestead girl, Anita– who does not just “not fear” power but loves

And in this reliance, women act differently. Martha chose to be nice to Finnerty and seemed comfortable around him. While her friend, Barbara, was mean to Dr. Paul Proteus and seemed utterly afraid of him. And the Harrisburg girl was reliant on the Shah for her power, even uncomfortably putting herself in a position to have sex with him. Fortunately, the Shah simply gave the girl one of his ruby rings instead of having her sleep with him (Vonnegut 245). But regardless of what transpired between the two, the girl was dependent on the Shah for money– for power. Vonnegut was writing at a time (the 50s) when women were still rather limited in agency. Although post-WWII, women were more prevalent in the workplace (exemplified by Dr. Katharine Finch), the prevalence is lackluster in comparison to today