| Summary: | 碩士 === 國立中正大學 === 比較文學研究所 === 99 === As we know, the outburst of World War Two inexorably disturbed the value system on a global scale. Although American society launched with a flourish right after the war, many of intellectuals started to question the advent of technocapitalist society. Kurt Vonnegut wrote his first novel, Player Piano, in the midst of this baffle and agitation. What is under examination is the faith in progress advanced by technology and capitalism. In the novel, Vonnegut dramatizes the negative phases of technocapitalism –sameness, uniformity, and generality. In this sense, the thesis means to argue that Player Piano unfolds a one-dimensional society resulting from excessive development of technology and capitalism. In addition, the failure of the Ghost Shirt Society’s sabotage serves as a clue to manifest how this one-dimensionality leads to a repetitive mode of history that prevents humans from developing alterity.
Roughly speaking, the thesis is classified into three chapters. In the first chapter, Vonnegut’s dystopian vision of technology is shown as overthrowing Marx’s assumption of technology in liberating humans from alienation. Humans still “[serving] as appendages to machines” (PP 315) explains Marx’s underestimation of capitalist consumption enhanced by technological achievements. Next, Herbert Marcuse’s analysis of advanced industrial society will be used to explore the features of one-dimensionality accompanied with the text details. In the final chapter, Vonnegut’s historical view will be discussed with Francis Fukuyama and Jean Baudrillard’s ideas of “the end of history” to reveal his concern for the value of being human overwhelmed by machines. Therefore, in the conclusion, a brief exploration of posthumanism will be presented to help us understand Vonnegut’s humanist aspect and desire of creating a new unification of relations between humans and technology.
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