Comparison Of Communism In Kurt Vonnegut's Player Piano

In the novel Player Piano by Kurt Vonnegut, communist ideals are exhibited throughout the novel. Communism came about from Karl Marx ideas of having a classless society, as written in the Communist Manifesto. A main idea in this essay is that society is splitting into the bourgeoisie (capitalist) and the Proletariat (workers). The bourgeois in the novel could be the engineers or the machines while the Proletariat is the homestead. The Communist Manifesto can also be shown in the novel Animal Farm by George Orwell, with the animals being the proletariat and the humans classified as the bourgeois. Orwell and Vonnegut have similar ideas when it comes to the communist ideas written by Karl Marx. The characters in both these novels can have

The system’s run by the EPICAC, far more powerful than the president as it controls all the lives of every person in the US. One of the true followers of the EPICAC is Kroner. Kroner is one of the highest officals in the company. He believes that the machines running the government is the best option, blind to everything else. This character of Vonnegut’s can be compared to Napoleon. Napoleon leads the corruption to happen after the revolution happened. He trains the litter of puppies for his own good and does not care about the others. This can be shown in Player Piano with how the system does not care about the homestead, but rather the engineers. The engineers are the best of the best, while the homestead people are less than par. The Marx ideals can be shown through both these novels in this scenioro with his early writings. Marx states that the system of private ownership deprives the diginity in order to survive. Kroner and Napoleon only do whats best for themselves and what they believe in just like Marx’s early

Finnerty is an old friend of Paul’s from college, who is fed up with the current system. As coming up from a poor family and only became successful from his brillant mind he saw both sides from the spectrum. He sides with the Ghost Shirt Society, and guides Paul to become the leader. Boxer corrilates with Finnerty with that they represent the Proletariat. The Proletariat represents the working class. In the statement “ Both Marx and Vonnegut understood that the dissatisfied population will boom and, when it becomes conscious of itself, find it has nothing to lose but its chains" made by Matthew Gannon, could add in Orwell as well. Gannon idea that the working class is bounded by chains can be shown in both novels. In Vonnegut’s novel, the homestead is the Protelariat or the working class. The homestead could be classifed as bounded by chains in that they are the only ones to see the social problems caused by the mechanics. There is nothing they can do about it because once in the homestead, they very rarely leave. Having Paul in on the Ghost Shirt Society gives them the opportunity to break free of the chains. The chains that appear in Orwell’s novel is that the mistreatment they experience from Mr. Jones. The “in” that the characters in Orwell’s novel was Old Major. Old Major being so old was able to obtain all the information needed for the revolution to happen, or