Player Piano - Just a Quote

He tried again: “In order to get what we’ve got, Anita, we have, in effect, traded these people out of what was the most important thing on earth to them – the feeling of being needed and useful, the foundation of self-respect,” (175).
This quote sums up the basis of this dystopia. In this scene, Paul is trying to explain to Anita why he is showing her the Homesteaders. On the other side of the river, fellow Americans are not being malnourished or physically abused; however, they are being deprived of purpose to their lives.
Machiavelli once said that “The ends justify the means.” In Player Piano, the ends is a functional society with a thriving economy. The means are taking a test and whoever cannot do well on it is sentenced to the lower class full of empty promise. So in this case, Machiavelli’s words are not true because holding a position should be based on talent, skills, and an overall understanding of an occupation rather than just a number. Paul is telling Anita that the Homesteaders’ dignity is the cost for their prosperity and success, a cost too high to be worthwhile. Paul sees the Homesteaders as his fellow Americans, and therefore feels guilty for letting this happen to them, but Anita represents the rest of the high social class by seeing them as people who are where they belong. Paul knows that the Homesteaders need more than just food, shelter, and water to survive, but Anita cannot grasp this. She cannot comprehend how purpose is nonexistent in the life of a Homesteader. Anita believes she is being punished by Paul, but in reality all Paul wants to do is show her the truth to the Ilium Works along with the rest of America in this society, which is failure of providing everyone with equality, the foundation of America.