Player Piano

Paul and Anita lay in bed discussing the goodbye Kroner gave Paul. Paul is disinterested, but Anita urges him to remember everything. She’s interested in whether Kroner mentioned anything about Paul’s possible transfer to Pittsburgh.

Paul thinks back fondly on Finnerty, and dreams of quitting, as Finnerty has. Anita reminds him of his father, and Paul remembers how easily he rose in the ranks in Ilium. Anita mentions that “at just the right angle, [Shepherd]’s the spitting image of [his] father” (64).

Private Elmo Hacketts, an infantryman in the army, stands face-to-face with the Shah of Bratpuhr. They are performing their ceremonial marching for the Shah. Hacketts dreams of leaving the army in twenty-three years and getting his pension:“He had only twenty-three years if some sonofabitching colonel or lieutenant or general came up to him and said, ‘Salute me,’…he’d say, ‘Kiss my ass, sonny…’” (65).

The Shah still calls the army Takaru, or slaves. Hackett, while performing his marches, dreams of living in another country and getting some “laying and glory” (67). The Shah remains convinced that the army is Takaru. He waves goodbye as they depart.