Title: Piecework

Author: James Lovegrove

Date of First Publication: 2000

Place of Publication: Hideous Progeny

Type: Short Story

Characters: No Character

Themes: ANDROID; RACE/POLITICS; POSTHUMAN

Critical Summary: James Lovegrove’s “Piecework” takes place in the future and follows Karel, a working-class young man on a job with the Reclamation Vehicle, a crime-scene clean-up vehicle. However, his job includes collecting the body parts of the deceased, for the purpose that they can be recycled for future recipients. In one specific job, Karel and his co-worker Hans arrive at a luxurious apartment where Sofia requires the clean-up of her dead brother Luciano. Apparently, he partied too much which resulted in him drowning in a pond. As they work, Hans and Karel comment on the reckless behavior of the rich and their lack of concern for mortality. We learn that Hans has some body parts that come from other people. They were expensive, and don’t exactly match his skin tone, but they allow him to continue to work and live. As they leave, Hans struggles to fix the Reclamation Vehicle, which eventually knocks Karel down and grinds his legs. He wakes up in a hospital with Hans telling him they reported the faulty vehicle to the department and it will be fixed. Karel was given Luciano’s legs because they were a perfect match. This fix allows Karel to be an everlasting worker, however, he dreams of penthouses and parties. Although he envies the rich, he pities them because they will never know the pride that comes from working.
This short story revolves around the Android theme because it makes readers with the question: when does one stop being human? In this futuristic world, humans are living beyond the life expectancy to the point where they are like cars with different body parts a vehicle would get after a collision with death. Scavenging for deceased body parts is not a taboo here. In fact, there is even a department for that, funded by the government.

This brings us to another theme present between the mad scientist and his monsters combined with politics. In “Piecework”, the government is aware that the dead are being brought back to life and even promotes this unorthodox idea. The government is involved in a citizen’s death; they even have a specific unit whose job includes crime-scene cleanup and proper care and transportation for the body parts of the deceased. Their goal is to keep people alive, so they can continue to work. Living seems so infinite that Hans and Karel glorify death as a luxurious phase where they will not have to work. TBecause they promote life after death, the privileged class take death lightly by behaving recklessly and as a result; the upper class of humanity has been transformed into monsters.

Administrative Notes:  Trish Martinez, CSUF; Beck Serna (editing)