In Pastoralia, by George Saunders, an unnamed protagonist and his coworker, Janet, work as a caveman and cavewoman in an exhibit at an amusement park. The two live in separate quarters off the exhibit and must stay in character all day long, even though attendance to the exhibit is rapidly declining. The protagonist is a diligent worker who stays in character all day long, even without an audience present. Janet, however, is far less interested in performing this meaningless job with no audience presence and while enduring unfair working conditions, as the two workers begin to not receive their daily meal of a goat. Normally, Janet and the protagonist, upon waking, go to the Big Slot, where they receive a goat to skin and cook over a fire. However, the goat begins to not appear, and they must sustain themselves with crackers. Janet expresses her disgust in English; however, the protagonist does not break character, and instead simply grunts his dissatisfaction. When the two must write their daily performance reports of each other, the protagonist decides to not report Janet for breaking her character, although he considers it. As the novella continues, Janet becomes more dissatisfied with her job and continues to break her character, and the protagonist struggles internally with whether or not he should report his coworker.

Eventually, a supervisor of the company, Greg Nordstrom, invites the protagonist out to eat and proceeds to interrogate him about Janet's performance as a cavewoman. The protagonist refuses to sell out Janet, and instead warns her with a note that the supervisor is watching her and that she is in danger of being fired. Janet is grateful for the warning, and for the next few days she plays her role with more consistency and diligence. However, her son visits her one day, asking her money, and Janet breaks her role to speak to him and lend him money. The protagonist, again, decides to not report Janet. However, Janet learns through a fax that her son bought drugs with the money and has been sentenced to ten years in prison. Janet becomes distraught and finds herself unable to continue to perform to the expectations of the company. When visitors finally visit the exhibit, Janet breaks her character and offends one of the visitors, and the protagonist decides to sell out his coworker by reporting her on the daily performance report. As a result, Janet is fired and the protagonist is rewarded for his loyalty to the company. A new actress replaces Janet who is readily accepts the ridiculousness of her job expectations with great enthusiasm.